Bowls Coord Vs The Barman
Broadbeach bowls coordinator Ryan Bester successfully defends his 2014 state singles title with a hard-fought win against his Broadbeach club mate and barman Sean Ingham In a game that had spectators holding their breaths to the very end, defending men’s state singles champ Ryan Bester held off a strong challenge from Sean Ingham to keep his title and take the Cup for the second year in a row.
In a State Championship game that lasted 29 ends, the Broadbeach teammates often went shot for shot, with the score only a few points apart for the second half of the game.
Bester lead all the way, although Ingham challenged him regularly, bringing the score within one shot on several occasions and equaling twice near the end of the game.
It ended with a 25-23 victory to the Canadian Commonwealth Games medalist and 2014 singles champ Bester.
The crowd fell silent on the final four ends as Bester slowly but steadily crept toward the magic 25 to win, and Ingham doggedly battled to stop him at each and every turn.
But on the final end, Bester needed only three of his four bowls to take the title.
“Sean played really well today and gave me a run for my money,” Bester said. “It was a really close game and even on the final end, the game could have gone either way.”
He said he was pleased for Ingham who is part of Bester’s triples and fours championship team, and his roommate while staying on the Sunshine Coast for the 2015 championships.
“It was a close game but very friendly,” he said. “We had a lot of mutual friends watching, I don’t think they knew who to support.”
Ingham said he was pleased with his game but felt he had given it away in the first few ends.
“I started off slowly and allowed Ryan to get a lead on me,” he said. “I managed to bring it back by the half way mark but found it hard to come back fully.
“If I had kept pace from the start, I might have had a better chance of beating him.”
Ingham was hoping for his first finals win to help round out his state bowls CV.
He has been part of a winning pairs and triples team and now needs only a singles and fours win to complete his trophy cabinet.
Earlier in the day, both Bester and Ingham both won their finals berths after coming from behind near the end of their semi final clashes.
In what was perhaps an unexpected victory given he was trailing during the first 21 ends of the game, Ryan Bester got a much-needed second wind to overtake former Queensland juniors star Braidan Leese.
But once Bester took the lead, on the 21st end, he didn’t relinquish it until achieving the needed 25-points for a win.
His state singles semi finals victory came after 29-ends pursuit, with a final score of 25-22 against Leese.
The other semi between Ingham and the fancied Stephen Halmai started in a similar fashion, with Halmai leading comfortably for the first 15 ends.
But Ingham soon regained his confidence and was steady in his passing manouvre of Halmai, claiming the match 25-21, and earning the right to have a crack at wresting the State Singles crown from Bester.
