Fagan wins two ahead of Shears

Shearing star David Fagan looms as the oldest person to win the Golden Shears open championship by winning two important lead-in events in successive days.
The winner of 15 Golden Shears opens in 1986, from 1990 to 2001 and in 2002-2003 Fagan, 46, won the Taumarunui Shears on Saturday. Yesterday he repeated the triumph at the Apiti Sports near Feilding, both competitions studded with the leading opposition to his bid to win at the 48th Golden Shears in Masterton on Saturday. He had been a regular finalist in other competitions in the North and South islands throughout this summer but hadn't won since the opening North Island competition of the season at the Poverty Bay Show in October.
In both of this weekend's finals he beat Napier gun shearer John Kirkpatrick, 37, the man who in 2002 became the first person to beat him in a Golden Shears open final since 1989 and who has won 12 competitions this season, including the Australian crossbred championship.
On Saturday, Kirkpatrick had to settle for fourth, behind the Te Kuiti pair of Fagan and Dean Ball, and third-placed and 2006 Golden Shears champion Dion King, of Napier. The runner-up yesterday was reigning Golden Shears champion Paul Avery, 40, of Stratford, while Kirkpatrick was third.
The oldest shearer to win the Golden Shears open was Ivan Bowen, who captured the inaugural final in 1961 at the age of 45. Bowen died two months ago.
The goal for the open class shearers is not only the glamour title but also the first of two places in the New Zealand team at the World Championships in Norway in October. NZPA