Bay of Plenty’s David Jones came to the Naenae Bowling Club in Wellington for a warm-up for the NZ Champ of Champ Pairs in 2 weeks’ time but walked away having beaten Wellington coordinator and PBA international Ray Martin in a tense high quality PBA Scottish Singles qualifier final 7-7, 8-6. With the first set drawn, it was all on the line at the end of the second set with Jones up 7-6, but Martin putting on all the pressure lying four shots and apparently blocking Jones draw line but the Taupo visitor refused to change his plan drawing around Martin’s bowl for the shot and win with his last.
Three other Victoria players fell at the quarterfinal stage with Roy Gibb losing to Manawatu’s Terry Johnson, Mark Burgess falling to Rob Ashton (Johnsonville) and Ray Martin accounting for Tim Toomey.
Mark Burgess picked up plenty of ranking points for the weekend losing the semifinal of the Ranking Singles on Saturday to eventual winner Euan Wong (Stokes Valley). Mark beat Jayden Ravji in the quarterfinals, while Roy Gibb also fell to Euan Wong.