Last week our Sturt Bowling Club Singles Champion Jonathan Webster competed in the prestigious Bowls SA Champion of Champions tournament and provided this fascinating commentary on his two dramatic games and what he learnt.
Jonathan's report
Being able to represent Sturt Bowling Club at the recent Champion of Champions was an honour and a privilege.
This was my third go at the title, and there is never an easy game playing fellow club champions!
First game
For my first game, I was drawn against Don Richards from Morphett Vale.
Out at Rosewater, the greens were running above 16 seconds, and I took far too long to adjust to the speed. My opponent flew out to a 14-2 lead!
One thing I always aim to do when struggling is to slow down everything I do, to ensure I give myself the best chance of success. A toilet break and a snack helped me reset, and I managed to flick a switch and finally get going.
Winning eight ends in a row felt fantastic, and by this time we were the last game on the green (surprising for me, I know!). We had quite a crowd looking on, including great champions like Scotty Thulborn and Wayne Ruediger.
Don bounced back, and after some tight exchanges, he led 20-18.
The penultimate end was full of touchers, and with my last bowl, I managed to dead draw the jack to save the game.
In the last end, I dropped my first bowl right on the jack and put pressure on immediately.
Don drew second shot with his last bowl, which left me with a tricky decision.
I had two bowls behind the jack, and Don had none, so I decided to draw onto my shot bowl (taking the risk of knocking it out), aiming to push the jack back.
I played it perfectly, and the foot of jack movement gave me the 2 shots I needed for victory!
Second game
Being the last off from game one only gave me five minutes break before game two started.
My opponent was Ash Whiley from McLaren Vale, who I quickly found out was both unassuming and a ripping bowler! He preferred short ends and jumped out to a 7-1 lead with some of the best draw bowls I've seen.
I dropped a 4 when Ash had all his bowls within a foot of the jack. When I finally won back the jack, I had to go long and found that I was able to edge Ash over this length.
I fought back to 10-14 and was happy with my 3 shots sitting near the jack when the final turning point of the game happened.
Ash, who hadn't driven at all to this point, seemed frustrated with not being able to draw close and reverted to an all-out drive. He played it well and got the perfect result to snatch 3 shots for himself.
From here, I just ran out of steam and couldn't quite draw close enough to steal the ends I needed. I did manage to kill two ends when 'game down' though, which is always fun to do!
Alas, Ash sealed the game with some more pinpoint draw bowling.
Key learning
Although my run ended earlier than I would have liked, I took so much away from the day, and I'm super proud of my effort and achievements.
I pulled off shots that made the crowd gasp and never gave up fighting at any point.
Singles is a lonely game and takes a great deal of concentration, so playing 40+ ends back to back in the surprisingly warm conditions was tough.
I'm happy to report that I am thirsty for more and will be aiming to be back in the Champion of Champions as soon as possible!