Expectations were for a closely-contested final but, while both players played some outstanding draw bowls, Claydon was the more consistent and he triumphed over O'Donovan 21-12.
Claydon was typically modest after his win, saying he had managed to play some "pretty good" bowls over the two days and was delighted to do battle with an old adversary, and long-time Wairarapa teammate, O'Donovan for the spoils.
"I guess we didn't do too bad for a couple of pensioners, did we," he said.
Don't expect Claydon to focus his attention more on singles in the future though. A noted fours skip, he makes no secret of preferring the team disciplines in bowls.
"I like to have a bit of a laugh and singles doesn't give you too many chances to do that."
The finals of Bowls Wairarapa's open pairs championships played this month saw victory by a solitary shot in both cases. All players involved were from the Masterton club with the women's final being won by Judith Wyeth and Fiona Mancer over Edith Kern and Pam Hoblyn and the men's final by Ian Monaghan and Scott MacKenzie over Warren Fisher and Laurie Field.