Bill and Elizabeth Cosgrave from Smeaton Bowls Club, fully dressed in club colours, with bowls. New green, and men in Div one for the first time.
BOWLING facilities in the district continue to be improved, with Smeaton and Mt Xavier leading the way with new greens.
Smeaton opened a new synthetic green as part of ongoing improvements at the country club.
Mt Xavier, meanwhile, has taken the top off and lowered its green, sown it down with 007 Bentgrass and it is running beautifully.
Ballarat East re-topped and re-sowed its green as well.
Learmonth has installed a unisex-disabled toilet and Linton has installed a disabled toilet while renovating its men’s and ladies conveniences.
All of these improvements have been done with huge amounts of voluntary labour by club members.
Linton and District Bowling Club will host the Ballarat District Bowls Divsision men’s over-60 singles championship.
The BDBD weekend match committee selected the venue for the championship, which will begin on Tuesday and will finish with finals next Thursday.
The tournament was scheduled to begin tomorrow but was postponed due to predicted storms. The division made the call this week.
Entries for the men’s over-60s pairs, meanwhile, close at midday on Monday.
MEN’S OVER-60s SINGLES DRAW: Tuesday: roll-up at 9.45am: D. Williams, B. Frka, H. Johansen, M. Sargent, R. Storey, L. Vincent, W. Roberts, N. Constable. Players with a first round bye, to be there by 12.01pm: B. Gallagher, S. Wereszczuk, T. Lee, C. Bolte, B. Hickman, J. Glenton, D. O’Sullivan, W. Burge, T. O’Farrell, P. Orr, W. Silbereisen, and F. Clarke. Lunch will be available at the club.
The men’s fours championship will be held at Ballarat Bowling Club on Sunday.
MEN’S FOURS DRAW: roll-up at 9.30am: T. Wood, R. Jones, T. Lee, W. Roberts, I. Warner, B. Mahoney, B. Clark, G. Brown. Teams with a first round bye and required at 12.01pm are: P. Brough, B. Adams, J. Burt, and A. Myers. Manager is Ian Hedger.
The division has reminded clubs they must endeavour to transfer weather-affected matches to another location if they close their greens due to inclement weather on pennant days.
Of the matches played on Saturday, the close ones were won by Victoria in the fours, Learmonth in the threes and Smeaton in the sixes all winning by six, Central Wendouree in the fours by two, and Lara in the premiers and Linton in the eights by one.
The big winners for the first round were Ocean Grove in the premiers by 41, Geelong West in the premiers by 42, Avenue in the fives by 45, and the first top dogs to Webbcona in the fives for winning by 98 shots.
PREDICTIONS: BMS to account for Daylesford in division two.
Learmonth to defeat Sebastopol in division three.
Ballarat to break the ice against BMS in division four.
Avenue at home will be too strong for Midlands Golf in division five.
Sebastopol will notch its first win this season against City Oval in division six.
Waubra at home will be looking for a win over Creswick in division seven.
Buninyong to get on the board against Sebastopol in division eight.
Midlands to take the points against City Oval in division nine.