KEY POINTS:
Auckland brothers Martin and Kevin Dixon have both made it into the last 16 of the men's singles, after a gripping day's play in the National Open Championships in Auckland.
The success story of the Hyundai championships was all about the brothers, who won their third matches of the day in very tense circumstances.
Martin, from the Hillsboro club, featured in a thriller against 1998 champion Kelvin Scott, with both playing superb bowls before Dixon snared his win after trailing 18-19 at one stage. It needed another three ends for Martin to grab a single each time, to end the nail-biter at 21-19.
Kevin Dixon started the day with a 21-18 win over former pairs titleholder Phil Dickison, and then followed that with a success over Maitai's Steffan Heeman. His most searching examination was always going to be against Eastbourne's talented Blake Signal but Dixon edged the Wellingtonian, 21-20, after trailing by a significant margin for much of the match.
After the disappointment of his early exit from the pairs field, Eastbourne's double world champion Gary Lawson was determined not to let the same thing happen again in the singles. But his determined mindset was helped by a decision to change to a wider drawing bowl than he had used earlier in the championships. The change certainly paid dividends as the day progressed.
"I've been taking a yard or two more green than everyone else but it's getting back to the centre line that's most important," Lawson said of his change. He said the wider drawing Classic II bowls were better suited to the Auckland greens than his usual, narrower Greenmasters, which were better for the slicker greens farther south.
The luckless Steve Posa, himself one of the best players in the country, was Lawson's first victim and the 21-3 scoreline was evidence that Lawson was back to his very best. Then it was his pairs partner, Justin Goodwin, who felt Lawson's next lash, with Jamie Browning of Pringle Park being his third victim of the day.
Several other touted players fell by the wayside, with Shannon McIlroy (Stoke) meeting his match in the shape of Steve Beel (Mt Maunganui), and the Krajancic brothers, Tony and Nick, accounted for Chris Le Lievre (Onehunga) and Matt Gallop (Eastbourne) in the second round.
Ali Forsyth, champion in 2003 and 2004, had two good wins but then faltered against Waikato's Chris Lourie in his final match of the day, going down 21-16.
Notable survivors are international bowlers Richard Girvan and Canadian Ryan Bester, while 2007 winner and subsequent World Champion of Champions Tony Grantham also came through the day unscathed.
Sharon Sims and lead Mary Campbell, twice winners of the women's pairs title, seem right on target to complete a hat-trick, especially after defending champions Jo Babich and Bev Crowe (Carlton-Cornwall) were eliminated in their first match of post section play.
The day did not start well for Sims and Campbell, who were 1-8 down after only three ends against Fay Yates of Pt Chevalier. But they settled and played some great bowls.
"We settled down well - we both love playing pairs and we know each other's play so well," Sims said of her successful partnership with Campbell. "We got revenge in our last game against Reen [Stratford], as they'd beaten us in the semifinals of [The Trusts] New Zealand Open.
"We'd like to go on and win it - but there's a lot of bowls left," Sims said.
The Aucklanders Babich and Crowe found the equally experienced Kensington pairing of Ann Muir and Jude Ganley too hard to handle, with the Northlanders winning 18-13. Muir and Ganley also accounted for the promising young Taradale sisters Mandy and Angela Boyd, 21-6, in their last game to show they are going to be hard to beat when the quarter-finals continue.
