Monday 24th July 2006 – The 32-lane centre at AMF Mt Druitt played host to the prestigious 2006 New South Wales Open under the guidance of new AMF National Tournament Director, Brett Smith.
This event forming part of the Tenpin Bowling Australia National Rankings Tour also attracted double ranking points with entries from 63 men and 27 women from around Australia and New Zealand journeying to the centre in the far western suburbs of Sydney.
Men’s Day One Qualifying – fresh from his gold medal performance at the Commonwealth Championship, left-hander George Frilingos of Queensland, headed qualifying at the halfway mark with games of 224, 199, 202, 220 & 205 to be +50. Challenges for the lead came from Craig Bourke, +60, Brandon Qualischefski, +33 and Michael Little, +32. Paul Reus was the only other bowler over the card at this point while there was daylight to the rest of the field.
Northern Territory bowler Andrew McArthur, -77, then found some form recording the tournament high game of 299, supporting this with games of 200, 231, 227 & 199 to jump the field and lead qualifying with a pinfall of 2079 over the 10 games. Little at +68 and Qualischefski at +59 where the only other bowlers to beat the card on this testing lane condition. The field cut to the top 24 bowlers after Day One for a Day Two 4 game shootout to establish the top 14 for the Elimination Finals.
Women’s Day One Qualifying – Northern Territory bowler Rebecca Simpson and Queenslander Kate Wilton shared the lead at the halfway mark of qualifying at -25. Solid final games by Ann-Maree Putney -16, Jayde Flanagan -18 and Michelle Halprin at -67 saw them jump the midway leaders and set the tone for the top 14 into Day Two Elimination Finals.
Men’s Day Two Qualifying – the battle to make the top 14 returned to a 4 game shootout on Sunday morning. The top 2 after these 4 games secured a one round bye into the Elimination Final and the battle for these spots intensified right from the first ball. Frilingos was the big mover from 7th overnight with starting games of 266 & 220 and knocking on the door of the top spots. With follow up games of 234 & 177 Frilingos jumped to the lead ahead of McArthur, Qualischefski and the fast improving Jason Walsh. Sam Romeo, Mark Loader, Craig Bourke and Matt Riley all improved positions to make the final 14.
Men’s Elimination Final – round one of this single elimination best of 5 game final saw no surprises with seeds 3 through 7 all accounting for their opposition. Round 2 pitted the defending champion, Sam Romeo, against two time NSW Open winner George Frilingos into a 5 game battle which saw Frilingos emerge victorious 3 games to 2. McArthur easily accounted for Paul Trotter, while Qualischefski and Little were both stretched to 5 games before moving to the next round.
The semi final round saw Frilingos pitted against Qualischefski and McArthur take on Little. Frilingos and McArthur both took care of their opposition 3 games to 1 to progress to the all lefty final.
Andrew McArthur, being the fresher of the two, took advantage of this in the final and snared games of 223, 231 and 166 to defeat Frilingos 3-0 to add another major title to his resume.
Women’s Elimination Final – the Northern Territory dominance in this event continued in the Women’s Finals with Michelle Halprin accounting for Victorian Natalie Shelley in 5 games and Rebecca Simpson over Katie Stuart in 4. Kelly Gardiner and Kate Wilton made it through in 4 games, while Maxine Nable and Julie Hird only took 3 games.
Top qualifying Ann-Maree Putney and second seed Jayde Flanagan took advantage of their opponents in round two, while Michelle Halprin was again stretched to 5 against Gardiner. Simpson defeated Wilton in 3.
Putney was pitted against Simpson in the semi final. With Putney finding the line early recorded a 244 to 219 first game win, Simpson followed this with games of 269, 217 & 238 to take the match and move through to the Grand Final to meet Flanagan who also accounted for Halprin in 4 games.
The all Northern Territory grand final was one of the best matches of the day with Simpson taking the first game 205-194, Flanagan rebounding to take the next two games 193-174 and 181-170, while Simpson recovered to tie it up into the 5th game, 200-188. Both bowlers slugged it out in the final game coming down to only a spare in the tenth frame to secure the title for the 22 year old Flanagan, her first major title.
The next round of the AMF Super Six circuit moves south to Victoria and the South Pacific Classic on the 15th – 17th September 2006. The 2006 South Pacific Classic also forms the qualifying for the Australian representative to the 2006 AMF World Cup in Venezuela.
Story courtesy of Peter Coburn
Full results are available here
This event forming part of the Tenpin Bowling Australia National Rankings Tour also attracted double ranking points with entries from 63 men and 27 women from around Australia and New Zealand journeying to the centre in the far western suburbs of Sydney.
Men’s Day One Qualifying – fresh from his gold medal performance at the Commonwealth Championship, left-hander George Frilingos of Queensland, headed qualifying at the halfway mark with games of 224, 199, 202, 220 & 205 to be +50. Challenges for the lead came from Craig Bourke, +60, Brandon Qualischefski, +33 and Michael Little, +32. Paul Reus was the only other bowler over the card at this point while there was daylight to the rest of the field.
Northern Territory bowler Andrew McArthur, -77, then found some form recording the tournament high game of 299, supporting this with games of 200, 231, 227 & 199 to jump the field and lead qualifying with a pinfall of 2079 over the 10 games. Little at +68 and Qualischefski at +59 where the only other bowlers to beat the card on this testing lane condition. The field cut to the top 24 bowlers after Day One for a Day Two 4 game shootout to establish the top 14 for the Elimination Finals.
Women’s Day One Qualifying – Northern Territory bowler Rebecca Simpson and Queenslander Kate Wilton shared the lead at the halfway mark of qualifying at -25. Solid final games by Ann-Maree Putney -16, Jayde Flanagan -18 and Michelle Halprin at -67 saw them jump the midway leaders and set the tone for the top 14 into Day Two Elimination Finals.
Men’s Day Two Qualifying – the battle to make the top 14 returned to a 4 game shootout on Sunday morning. The top 2 after these 4 games secured a one round bye into the Elimination Final and the battle for these spots intensified right from the first ball. Frilingos was the big mover from 7th overnight with starting games of 266 & 220 and knocking on the door of the top spots. With follow up games of 234 & 177 Frilingos jumped to the lead ahead of McArthur, Qualischefski and the fast improving Jason Walsh. Sam Romeo, Mark Loader, Craig Bourke and Matt Riley all improved positions to make the final 14.
Men’s Elimination Final – round one of this single elimination best of 5 game final saw no surprises with seeds 3 through 7 all accounting for their opposition. Round 2 pitted the defending champion, Sam Romeo, against two time NSW Open winner George Frilingos into a 5 game battle which saw Frilingos emerge victorious 3 games to 2. McArthur easily accounted for Paul Trotter, while Qualischefski and Little were both stretched to 5 games before moving to the next round.
The semi final round saw Frilingos pitted against Qualischefski and McArthur take on Little. Frilingos and McArthur both took care of their opposition 3 games to 1 to progress to the all lefty final.
Andrew McArthur, being the fresher of the two, took advantage of this in the final and snared games of 223, 231 and 166 to defeat Frilingos 3-0 to add another major title to his resume.
Women’s Elimination Final – the Northern Territory dominance in this event continued in the Women’s Finals with Michelle Halprin accounting for Victorian Natalie Shelley in 5 games and Rebecca Simpson over Katie Stuart in 4. Kelly Gardiner and Kate Wilton made it through in 4 games, while Maxine Nable and Julie Hird only took 3 games.
Top qualifying Ann-Maree Putney and second seed Jayde Flanagan took advantage of their opponents in round two, while Michelle Halprin was again stretched to 5 against Gardiner. Simpson defeated Wilton in 3.
Putney was pitted against Simpson in the semi final. With Putney finding the line early recorded a 244 to 219 first game win, Simpson followed this with games of 269, 217 & 238 to take the match and move through to the Grand Final to meet Flanagan who also accounted for Halprin in 4 games.
The all Northern Territory grand final was one of the best matches of the day with Simpson taking the first game 205-194, Flanagan rebounding to take the next two games 193-174 and 181-170, while Simpson recovered to tie it up into the 5th game, 200-188. Both bowlers slugged it out in the final game coming down to only a spare in the tenth frame to secure the title for the 22 year old Flanagan, her first major title.
The next round of the AMF Super Six circuit moves south to Victoria and the South Pacific Classic on the 15th – 17th September 2006. The 2006 South Pacific Classic also forms the qualifying for the Australian representative to the 2006 AMF World Cup in Venezuela.
Story courtesy of Peter Coburn
Full results are available here
