Anyone can play in the Australian Open, the world’s biggest festival of bowls. It’s not just for the elite!

This year’s entries were record breaking. In Women’s, there were 38 sections in Fours, 47 sections in Pairs, and 112 sections in Singles. In Men’s, 88 sections in Fours, 126 sections in Pairs, 303 sections in Singles. In each section, we need to play three other teams and the winning team moves onto the next round.
I wish Donna Blackstock could have been my partner but given the distance….I did find a  great partner from Vancouver and considering it was the first time we played together, we did quite well! I skipped all three games of 18 ends which were played at the Broad Beach Bowls Club and we were always leading. Then the seasoned opponents who had the home turf advantage, caught up. The greens were FAST! There are many tall buildings around the greens causing terrible reflections from the strong sun. Most challenging was the sun casting such long shadows across the greens, changing the speed every so often and needing to adjust at every end. Crazy!

In the first game (9am) the speed was about 14 seconds. The score was 14 – 16. The second game (11:45am) was against a New Zealand team and they adjusted quicker than us at the speed of around 15.5 seconds. They were good, and we lost by 13 – 17. We played much better in the third game (2:30pm), winning 18 – 14. After some 9 ends, you could see dew on the green but somehow one had to go very wide. Being our first Australian Open, this is not too shabby we think. 

In the Fours, I needed to switch positions as my injury from a fall prevented me from bowling effectively. We drew the Australian All-Star Team in our first game of Fours! Even though we didn’t get through the section, I’m absolutely over the moon and thrilled that we made the All-Star Australian Team work really hard in our first game of the day! We (two of my mates from North Queensland) were leading in the first six ends (6-0) and lost 13-19 after 15 ends. All four of us played some good bowls. We can now stand tall having played the All-Star Team! We lost the second game by five, and it was a draw in the third game.