UP AND DOWN: Eddie McPhee, from Parkes, had a mixed day at the Golden Eagle yesterday, losing his first game by 16 then winning his final match by four shots. Photo: STEVE GOSCH 0225sgeagle1
BEFORE this year’s Konami City of Orange Golden Eagle Pairs Classic, local hope Glen Robinson said the better players will come through to shine in this year’s event.
After the opening day of this year’s Eagle at both Newstead and Orange City bowling clubs, Robinson and his playing partner for 2013, Wellington’s Bob Wilson, have emerged as the team to beat, dominating day one proceedings.
The Robinson-Wilson pairing defeated the John Archer-Tommy Leonard combination by 21 shots yesterday morning and then completed the most impressive day-one performance with a commanding 31-point victory over John Hosking and Garry Cassidy.
Home rink advantage or not, Robinson was on the money.
“Especially on the quicker greens. It’s more of a touch game,” he said.
“On the heavier greens you’re sort of up through the middle and hitting bowls and some old blokes will keep doing it all day and knock you off.”
But that didn’t happen to Robinson and Wilson yesterday.
The same, though, can’t be said for a few early favourites.
A Commonwealth Games representative with New Zealand, Richard Girvan and his partner Brian Bateman recovered from a first round hiccup to win in the afternoon round.
Up against the Kevin Giumelli and Mario Ruggiero pairing, the hot favourites went down by three shots but bounced back to win by six in a tough section one match-up against Newstead’s Phil McGarity and Roger Annis-Brown.
The most decorated Golden Eagle pairing in history, Bernie Diduszko and Gerard Beath won both of their opening matches to sit comfortably on top of section two.
The three-time champions tackle possibly their toughest match-up early this morning when they face-off against Barry Lambert and Paul Gonzales, both from Bundoora RSL.
Defending champions George Ford and Bob Hamilton recorded a first round draw before getting their title defence off to a winning start in round two.
Ford-Hamilton and the Alby Gibbs-Richard Latta combination couldn’t be split following 21 ends, but the two-time champions found their groove in round two with a hard fought two-shot win over Max Low and Keith Hardwick.
Other notable pairings to shine on day one were Leni Leveni-Ron Pearman (plus 44), Steve Osborne-Garry Osborne (plus 42) and, in the same section six group as Robinson and Wilson, the Graham Barby-Col Hayward pairing loom large with a two-round aggregate of plus 46.
Today’s round three action kicks off at 8.45am before the round four sectional match-ups at 1.15pm.