Bowls: Big win comes on eve of significant birthday

Karen de Jongh hugs her father Jos de Jongh, who has also won several titles over the years, after her win yesterday.

Carlton-Cornwall's Karen de Jongh, who turns 60 tomorrow, yesterday had a spectacular win in the New Zealand bowls open women's singles championship at Henderson.

De Jongh, an Auckland centre gold star holder with seven titles, overwhelmed last year's champion, Kirsten Griffin, formerly of Wellington but now in Nelson, 21-7 in the final.

Among the first to congratulate de Jongh was her 94-year-old father, Jos, a leading Auckland bowler with several centre titles in the 1960s and 70s and who is still an active player.

De Jongh, who has been playing for 15 years, was held early to 7-all, but then gained control with her greater consistency to power away over the last eight ends, scoring 14 unanswered points. Earlier de Jongh skipped her composite line-up of Bev Crowe and Diane Hazelton to a 13-11 loss in the triples final to Central Otago's Margaret O'Connor, Linley O'Callaghan and Christine Buchanan. Though defeated, the game probably gave de Jongh a crucial edge for the singles.

As consolation, Griffin was allowed an extended practice on the green, but in the event she failed to match de Jongh's accuracy and the quickness with which she found her line. And after an early struggle in the triples final, when her side slumped to a 13-5 deficit, de Jongh gained some momentum over the final three ends, picking up a sequence of twos to almost force an extra end.

O'Connor, from Queenstown, has 18 centre titles, while O'Callaghan, from Alexandra, has 28. Buchanan, who is O'Connor's regular club lead, has only played the game since 2008 and has already picked up seven centre titles.

Another Aucklander, Neil Fisher, like de Jongh, also had the chance of winning two titles, following his win in the triples on Thursday. But he, too, missed out, losing the men's singles final to Waikato's Tony Fabling 21-15.

Fabling, a one-time A grade squash player who 10 years ago gave up that sport at 40 only because it became too hard on his body, always held command over Fisher, jumping away to an 8-2 lead which he never surrendered.

His effort took him one step ahead of his uncle George, another who turned to bowls after reaching a high level at squash.

In 1987 George was a beaten finalist in the national pairs championship.