Congratulations to Tracy and Karen who made it an all-female final for this season’s Presidents Cup. After a series of shorter games played in three groups, we ended up with the group winners and a best runner-up (a lot closer than expected, in fact a nightmare for the Competitions Secretary to determine!). In a reversal of last year’s semi-final Tracy gained some revenge over 3-times winner AlanP and finished the day as the only unbeaten player. In the other semi-final, Karen beat the unlucky Keith. So, the Presidents Cup will have a new name on it at the end of the season and will join Cassie’s, as the only woman to have won it back in 2018.
We were very fortunate to avoid the previous day’s hottest day of the year, in fact it worked out very well with plenty of cloud cover and a touch of sun. Thanks to everyone who made the day work so well from Nikki/Dennis with the well-received pizza and refreshments to some first-time markers doing a great job with the tricky and fast-moving 4-3-2-1 scoring. We thought we may get one draw over the course of the day but in the end we had three – Alison somehow contributing to two of them! One of our new bowlers, AlanT, is fast making his mark and was very near to reaching his first semi-final. Lastly I’d like to thank the guys who finished towards the bottom of the pack but kept on trying regardless. Everyone’s contribution and enthusiasm makes for a great day.
We rounded off the weekend with a trip to Fordbridge Park for a Mixed Triples match in the SML. They are always great hosts and so it proved on the green too as we won on 3 rinks and shots overall 63-61 for an 8-2 win. It could easily have been the reverse as two of the rinks were very close affairs. The win hopefully moves us off bottom of the table.
The latest round of matches in the Friday Triples saw wins for teams captained by Diane, Karen and Nikki, the last one albeit by one shot! Standings : Nikki (10 pts); Alison (6); Eileen (6); Karen (6); AlanP (4); Diane (4)
With so many club competitions games taking place this coming week, just a reminder to try and book a rink online so the greenkeepers can plan green cuts. Also, the finals of our Club Competitions will be held on the weekend of Sat 31st August & Sunday 1st September. As always, it’ll be best endeavours to accommodate finalists requests for a specific day, but that’s not always possible. The Men’s and Women’s Championship matches will be played on the Sunday.
The Presentation & Awards dinner will be held at Fulwell Golf Club on the evening of Friday 15th November.
Most of you may have seen the implementation of boxes for the equipment required for each rink. Please keep things together as best you can and we’ll see how it goes. Next up for most of us is Club Night on Tuesday .. it should be good with the weather set fair and the green playing very well.
Anita won through to the Middlesex Women’s Unbadged Singles final in dramatic style at Ashford on Saturday. She came from behind in both her quarter-final and semi-final matches to level the score at 20-20 and went on to get the winning shot in both games on the deciding end. As for JenB, competing in the same competition, on her own admission and standards, it was a bad day on the bowls green! Karen put up a great effort fighting it out amongst the county’s women club champions on Sunday losing to an eventual finalist in her quarter final in Champion of Champions.
It wasn’t quite the same story in our SML game at Staines on Saturday, with the “green” being the challenge. The start was delayed due to traffic issues (a recurring theme!) and in the end we came away contented with an 8-2 loss. We move onto the next game on Sunday 21st at Fordbridge Park.
After being pelted with around a month’s worth of rain over the last few days, the green is now fully open. Activities are returning to normal with Friday Triples resuming after last week’s postponement. The green will also get its regular cut on Friday evening, but please be aware it may need swishing before any play. If you treat it like a warm-up before bowling it isn’t so bad! You may also notice a few changes taking place inside the club chalet with plenty of clear boxes on show .. let us know what you think.
The reigning Men’s and Women’s champions negotiated tricky opening games this week to progress to the quarter-finals. Dennis saw off Nathan and Karen beat Eileen; both games proved to be a great watch .. but perhaps not great for the competitors’ nerves! There’s been lots of other games played in all competitions and without any concessions which is great testimony to the enthusiasm afforded by all .. win or lose!
We were blessed with yet another sunny day for the latest club competition, the Presidents Plate. An unprecedented number of entrants saw ten teams of triples play a series of four short games according to a swiss-system format. Despite some mighty close games, and numerous draws, two teams finished clear of the chasing pack and qualified for finals weekend. Hats off to Andrea who has been in fine form of late and qualified for her first final, alongside more seasoned teammates Cassie and AlanP. The second spot went to Pat, Keith & Dennis with a vital win in their last game. Thanks once again to Nikki, overcoming some particular challenges yesterday, to provide refreshments and lunch. Everyone is welcome to enter the last of our day-long competitions on Saturday 20th July, the grandly named Presidents Cup. It’s a singles 4-3-2-1 scoring format which favours those who may get close to the jack but tend to get pipped to shot wood!
Sunbury enjoyed some success in this week’s Middlesex county competitions. Anita beat the woman who Tracy lost to in the previous round and JenB beat Karen to progress to the quarter-finals of the Unbadged Singles. If both win their next games they will face each other in the semis! In the Women’s Triples there was a fine 19-16 win for Tracy, Jenny and JenB against a team from Bishop Duppas and next face a tricky visit to Ashford. Unfortunately, Karen, Nikki & Eileen lost out 21-20 at Cambridge Park.
BobH finished the day as the only unbeaten player at Sunday’s Mixed 2-wood Singles competition. Played on a blazing hot day it was Bob and JenB who won through to finals weekend with semi-final wins against other group winners/runners-up Jenny and AlanP. It was good to see some notable wins for less experienced players and even a couple of draws in the 52 games played. The day went on a little longer than anticipated but was kept in control under the guidance of Gary. Thanks are also due to Nikki and Dennis for sorting out refreshments throughout the day. Lastly, thanks to all who participated, every match was played/marked in great spirit. 
Alison’s team remain unbeaten in the Friday Triples after pipping Eileen’s team on the final end in the latest round of games; Nikki’s team continued their good form with a comfortable win against Diane’s team; Alan’s team prop up the table after a battling loss against Karen’s team! The next games continue on Friday 28th.