Durbanville Bowling Club won seven medals – making four of the six finals in the process – in the finale to an engrossing Western Province Masters tournament in Durbanville.
Goodwood Bowling Club won a gold and a bronze medal, Old Oak Bowling Club won two bronze medals and Bellville Bowling Club won one bronze medal – making clubs from the northern suburbs dominating the medals tally.
Once a year Western Province Bowls invites the top performing players in the district to this prestigious masters tournament.
Those invited competed in three round-robin categories at three different venues – 12 players each in the Men’s and Women’s Open, the Men’s and Women’s Veteran, and the Men’s and Women’s Invitational.
The final of the various competitions was held on Sunday afternoon at Durbanville.
The shootout last Sunday in the Men’s Open decider was between two star WP-players, Herman Huisamen of Goodwood and Adré Barnard of Durbanville.
Huisamen prevailed by a whisker: With the scores locked at 20-20, he drew the winning shot in the final head to pip Barnard 21-20.
“I played Adré with the same mindset as against all my opponents in the Masters. I never underestimate them; they are there for a very good reason,” says a relieved Huisamen.
“I told Adré, no matter the result, as long as we can deliver a great game for the spectators to enjoy.”
Huisamen’s track record the last four years has established him as the most dominant WP male bowler. A former WP Open champion, he also won Masters gold in 2022, bronze in 2023, runner-up silver last year and now gold again.
He paid tribute to Goodwood legend Nigel Solomon, “my mentor, coach, and friend” for his success on the greens.
Medals
The seven medal winners of Durbanville Bowling Club were Anneen Steyn (gold, Women’s Invitational), Joanne Fagan (silver, Women’s Invitational), Gareth Nell (silver, Men’s Invitational), Maggie van Zyl (silver, Women’s Open), Adré Barnard (silver, Men’s Open), Angie de Wet (bronze, Women’s Invitational) and Lydia Maritz (bronze, Women’s Vets).
Other northern suburbs clubs also excelled. Apart from Huisamen’s gold medal, Goodwood also bagged a bronze medal – by Protea star Anneke Scheepers. For Old Oak, medals were won by Wally Brown (bronze, Vets Masters) and Louis Botha (bronze, Invitational Masters).
Bellville’s Linda Kronstrom won bronze in the Vets Masters.
Durbanville Bowling Club with its 337 members is by far the biggest club in the Western Cape and one of the biggest in the country.
