Recap of the 2017 Open Nationals

The 2017 Open Nationals is over and now it is time to look back and recognise many of the highlights from the tournament. Not just the winners or the records set, but also personal bests bowled over the weekend and to thank those that made it all possible.

This year there were 121 bowlers taking part, from Invercargill to Auckland and ranging in age from 9 to 90 making up a total of 433 entries, up 13% from last year. We also welcomed the return of the two time and defending Mens Open Champion, Sonny Reguerra hoping to defend his NZ title. Unfortunately defending Ladies Open & the Graded Champions, Sarah Young & Lance Barns were not in attendance.

For the first time a prize fund of $4000 was offered in the men’s and women’s open divisions by Tenpin Tauranga, Pins Lincoln and Manukau Superstrike. A prize of $1000 was also offered by Janet and Graham Parkins for the first woman to bowl a perfect game. Rebecca and Mark Stretton sponsored the same for the men.

The highlight of the shortened first day was Phil Wright bowling a 299. A solid 10 pin on his last ball not only cost him a perfect game but also $1000!

Day 2 began with Angela Boswell bowling what was to be the only 300 of the tournament and winning the $1000 prize sponsored by Janet and Graham Parkins. Angela went on to bowl a New Zealand record 6 game singles score of 1550 surpassing the previous record held by Mel Lister of 1262. Angela’s series is easily the highest ever bowled at a national championship, male or female. Alysha Carr from North City also bowled an outstanding series with a 1382 also beating Mel’s record. For the Men Josh Stretton set a NZ record bowling a 1438 series beating the previous record of 1433 held by Jason Waters.

In the graded singles, Phil Mallitte from North City bowled a 1415 series to better Boyce Wong;s record of 1366 set in 2008. The graded doubles record of 1316 held by Polly Delfin and Tinelle Sullings was also beaten by Timothy Moore (647) and Stephen Rostron (703) with a series of 1350.

The teams event saw both the ladies and mens records fall. The ladies team of Stephanie George, Dayna Haylock, Suzanne Howell, Candice Cassell and Kelly Paton smashed the old record set in 2012 by 108 pins, setting a new mark of 2931.

The mens team of Brodie Hunt, Zane Carlson, Mark Frances, Dave Warwick and Dan Ellis set a new record of 3249, beating the old record of 3184 set back in 2010. In the men’s doubles Russell Young (685) and David Brown ((782) set a new record of 1467, beating the record set by Patrick Chan and Shane Mahoni by just 2 pins.

Day 3 started with the last squad of singles. The high scoring continued with Sonny Reguerra bowling a 1444 series to break Josh’s record set only the day before by 6 pins. In the ladies teams, Bianca Tofilau, Dayna Haylock, Suzanne Howell, Megan Fletcher and Christine Rota beat the record also set the day before by 50 pins with a series of 2981.

At the end of qualifying there were only 3 records that hadn’t been broken, the mixed doubles, women’s doubles and the graded teams.

The masters started on day four with the graded and ladies first up.

Dale Leeson won the Graded Masters by 37 pins from Phillip Mallitte with Will Pettit in third place. A 304 game surely was the difference! Phillip went on to become the National Champion after combining his All Events score, comfortably beating Dale by 133 pins, Will Pettit was third.

The Ladies Masters/National Championship title quickly came down to a battle between Angela Boswell and Bianca Tofilau. Bianca ran out a very convincing winner in the masters bowling a 226.9 average with Angela in second place with a 213 average and Suzanne Howell in third place with a 193.6 average. The battle for the National Championship crown ended up a lot closer than anyone expected though as Angela carried over from the All Events a 213 pinfall lead from Bianca. Before the last game was bowled Bianca had reduced the lead to just 14 pins. Angela showed her class and under pressure bowled a 246 in her last game to hold off Bianca and win her first adult national title by 49 pins

In the Mens Masters Blake Brooks shot out of the gates starting with games of 264 and 279. Blake couldn’t sustain this scoring and the lead changed hands continuously until the last game where the Masters title came down to David Brown, Jason Waters and Chris Haynes. Jason’s final game of 207 was enough to hold off David Brown by seven pins and Chris Haynes by 47 pins. Jason wrapped up his second national title winning by 69 pins over David with Chris 110 pins back in third.

Some other notable performances were:

• 10 year old Corey Haylock bowling his highest ever game of 245 which included 9 strikes;
• 83 year old Catherine Sellman bowling a 217 in her last doubles squad;
• 90 year old Barry Cummins bowling a 528 series and winning a silver medal in the graded doubles with Jim Roberts;
• Andy Smith bowling his first 1300 series; and
• The Pettit family winning the graded teams title with guest bowler Corey Haylock along to assist.

Finally, we would like to thank Rebecca, Mark, Josh, Ina and all the staff at Tenpin 13th Ave for helping run a most enjoyable tournament, to our very generous sponsors, to the TBNZ management team with special mention to Pete, Tim, and Jim for spending long hours from initial preparations, managing entries, collecting money, and providing scoring updates, and most of all to all the bowlers who attended this year’s Open Nationals.

See you all next year in Manukau!