2012 Schweppes Melbourne Tenpin Cup
Bec Whiting and Belmo back-to-back champions
Both winners of the Schweppes Melbourne Tenpin Cup held at Oz Tenpin, Chirnside Park over the Queen’s Birthday weekend worked hard for their titles and trophies. Bec Whiting and Jason Belmonte also bagged bonus prizes of entry to next year’s Melbourne Cup, plus travel and accommodation for the 2013 Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.
Following unprecedented success on the PBA Tour, Belmo led the men’s division after two days of qualifying, maintaining his lead by winning 12 of the 15 games of matchplay, with a 235.47 average. Victoria’s Chris Castle from Mount Waverley kept up the pressure in the semi-final, advancing to the stepladder final just 61 pins behind Belmo with a 231.40 average, and 200 pins clear of Sydney’s Glen Loader. Jason Walsh from Ballina, who rolled a 224.53 matchplay average, and Sydney’s Jarrod Lean made the cut to the top-5 stepladder final.
Walsh was on fire, ousting Jarrod Lean 253-192 in Round 1, then Glen Loader 223-186 in the second round and Chris Castle 227-205 in the third. He then faced an in-form Belmonte and finished with a disappointing 145-228 loss – a score that Tournament Director, Rob Zikman later described as not fully reflecting the match. “Jason (Walsh) got into trouble, made a mistake and tried a couple of different things that just didn’t work as he looked for a way to strike out,” Zikman explained.
“That’s the nature of the beast … one game anything can happen, and when you leave splits on one lane it really hurts,” added Belmo, who was delighted by his second consecutive win of the Melbourne Tenpin Cup. He praised Chris Castle’s semi -final performance highly, and commented that he was very pleased to be home in Australia again. “It’s just great to be bowling with old friends and I was really happy that of the five of us who came down as a little group and stayed together, three of us made the stepladder final,” he said. “You know, it’s a lot different atmosphere on the Tour, but me and the guys hung out, caught up and did what we used to do when we were teenagers – it was just great,” he said.
Leader of the Women’s division going into matchplay, Lexi Nicoll, was overtaken on the final day with an incredible performance by Melbourne’s Bec Whiting. The 21 year-old from Rowville posted a stunning 242.00 average over the seven games of matchplay, advancing to the top-3 stepladder final 115 pins ahead of Bianca Flanagan from Queensland’s Gold Coast, with Singapore student Kristel Oh from Melbourne making the cut, ousting Newcastle’s Ann Maree Putney.
“Scores were high, but not exaggerated, with just one 300 bowled over the three days of the tournament” said Rob Zikman. “It was really excellent, and the women’s final was just sensational,” he added. “It’s good to get a win on board,” agreed Bec Whiting who is now focussing on representing Australia at the Asian Championships in September after defeating Bianca Flanagan in a thrilling match that followed an initial loss, 220-243 to Flanagan in the final. Whiting clinched her back-to-back Melbourne Cup win, 230-202 in the repechage.
Full results can be found on the events page of Tenpin Bowling Australia’s website - www.tenpinevents.org.au.
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