Sun City, Sun City West host lawn bowling tournament

The Bowls USA South Central Division held its annual lawn-bowling tournament Feb. 17-22 in Sun City and Sun City West, with the Lakeview, Bell, Oakmont and R.H. Johnson clubs hosting the event.

There was a record-breaking number of entries this year; in some of the men’s events, the entries were filled as early as December.

Since the South Central Division is a Bowls USA tournament, lawn bowlers from all over the United States and Canada flocked to Sun City and Sun City West — there was even a Welsh bowler in the midst.

In the men’s tournament, there were three events – singles, triples and pairs – each lasting two days. On day two, the participants were put into flights based on their performance on day one. In the case of the women, their three events were fours, singles and pairs, and their tournaments were all in Sun City West.

So gruelling was the tournament, starting at 8:30 a.m. and going on until 5 or 6 p.m. most days, that only the hardiest of the lawn bowlers chose to enter all three events.

The Men’s Singles’ tournament had 72 entries and witnessed some of the fiercest lawn-bowling battles amongst a field that boasted lawn bowlers from both U.S. and Canadian national teams. Mike Wagner, the lone Sun Citian in the Championship flight, came in third, his only loss after two days of battling coming from Terry Mar, the overall winner.

The Men’s Triples event proved the theory of home-field advantage to be true as two (mainly) local teams went head to head for first place. Bob (“Sponge Bob”) Perry was skip of a team that consisted of Steve Bezanson and Mike Wagner. Perry’s team prevailed over Tom Roth’s team of Don Casswell and Michael Sandiford. There were 36 teams in this event.

The Men’s Pairs event showcased 48 high-caliber teams. Ironically, the home-field advantage theory was soon debunked when two Canadians – Darryl Fitzgerald and Michael Pituley – newly arrived and speedily won this event. Fitzgerald and Pituley, wives, babies and strollers in tow, won all their games, including their day two games against three teams of U.S. champions.

Many of the lawn bowlers were in awe of the Sun Cities hospitality and the rec center facilities and most have vowed to return for the U.S. Open Nov. 1-10.

Visit scdlawnbowls.com/tournament-info for complete results.