THE annual Sonny Downs memorial bowls tournament at Rutherglen is a keenly sought-after prize.
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Apart from the prizemoney and trophies, winners get their names on an honour board.
So understandably some teams are “loaded” with star players in the hoping of winning.
Corowa bowler Bob Hudson recruited his son Wayne and two other skips from Lalor in Melbourne hoping for success, but they bombed out along with many others of the 28 competing teams from a wide area.
Fittingly a Rutherglen team was successful and won the event in a playoff.
It was effectively a rink from the club’s A1 pennant which triumphed.
Bob Ronnfeldt was leading, Phil Peers second, Damien Langdon third and his father, Chris, skipped the combination.
Just two teams remained undefeated after four games and played off for the major prize.
The other unbeaten team from Howlong was Jeff Brundell, Duncan Chappell, Russell Schmidt and Phil Slater.
The playoff was over five ends with Slater’s team getting one shot on the first end and Langdon a shot on the second.
Slater took the lead with a shot on the third end but Langdon got two shots on the next.
Both Ronnfeldt and Peers drew close bowls on the final end which put pressure on their opponents.
It forced both Schmidt and Slater to play weighed shots in the hope of killing the end or taking the jack to the ditch.
But they were unsuccessful and Langdon, an Ovens and Murray representative player, won 5-2.
Wodonga and Ovens and Murray skip Ashley Bates started with a massive 22-4 win in his first game but lost the next three.
He had Ray Moon, John Howes and Greg McDonald in his team and they have previously won the prized event.
Another team considered a contender was Bruce Lack (Temora), Wally Bourne (Howlong), Bill Campbell and Frank Seaton (Rutherglen).
They won their first three games, but were eliminated with a draw in the final game.