Long Beach hosted the Izzy Forbes Vet/Novice mixed triples tournament on Sunday. The weather was perfect and there were some great matches and some top finishes by Newport Bowlers.

Deciding the 1st and 2nd place finishers came down to point-differential with the winning team of Robert Alessi, Robert Busciglio and Suzie Houston just edging out Ed Quo, Doreen Mayo, and Bill Buchanan.

Finishing 3rd were two more Newport Bowlers with Diana Wenzel and Jane Blair.

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Other Newport Bowlers who participated:
Bruce Williams, Norma Goodhart, Stephen Monfre, Keno Shaw, Mike Ruggles, Julie Buchanan, Mary Spease, Jim Hempe, Pashi Vakiva, Bill Blair, Lou Cohen, Shelley Cohen, Carol Petyo, Phil Dunn, Candy DeFazio, and Michael Halberstadt.

One of the more fun formats that Bowls can take on is that of Australian Pairs. While each team officially has a Lead and a Skip, they alternate positions throughout the course of play. On the first end, the Leads roll two bowls and then the players swap - with the Skips bowling all four of theirs before swapping again and the Leads rolling their last two. This process alternates throughout the match, forcing both Skips and Leads to make tough shots.

This year, Ben Shaw and Bill Buchanan made more tough shots than anyone with Bill continuing to make a strong claim to being one of the club's best Leads. (His team would finish 2nd overall the next day in Long Beach at the Izzie Forbes)

Also undefeated but with just a couple fewer +Points were Mike Ruggles and Chris Gaal. Debby Gaal and Tad Dutch came in 3rd.

It was a beautiful weekend for bowling and huge thanks go out to Mike Ruggles for organizing and managing the event. 

An awful lot can be said about the tournament held at Newport on Sunday the 16th of September and yet it would be hard to do justice to the sheer volume of work that was put into making it as special as it was. From the countless hours of marketing and acquiring of sponsors on the part of Keno Shaw to the terrific hospitality put on by Cathy McDonald and Shelley Cohen the foundations were laid. Adding to those efforts was the extremely generous donation by Tory Zweigle of an inspiring trophy and commemorative bowl.

Twenty-Eight rinks teams competed on greens which had been diligently groomed by our greens caretakers, Bruce and Ramiro to roll beautifully (and fast!). 

The list of attendees was massive so please visit the Southwest Division page to see the list of competitors and finishers. For this entry, I really wanted to keep it simple and focus on the spirit of the day which was to have friendly competition and honor our country, its brave first-responders, and all those who worked so hard to make the day a special one.
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The Groves hosted another tournament of shenanigans - and by shenanigans I mean super-fun, mixed-up, format. Each end, the players rotate and play a different position. If last year was any indicator, it probably took each team a few ends to get the hang of it.

This year, a newport Trio took top prize - Anne Nunes, Candy DeFazio and Bill Brault.

Other Newport Bowlers who played:

Mike Ruggles, Jim Olsen, Rita Greenberg, Lou Cohen, Shelley Cohen, Keno Shaw, Bruce Williams, Norma Goodhart, Diana Wenzel, Steve Monfre, Bill Blair, and Jane Blair.

The Southwest Women's Division hosted the annual Cal-Bears competition which features a format that has teams competing in Rinks, Threes, Pairs, and Singles.

This year, Anne Nunes was on the winning team.

Other Newport Bowlers who competed:
Mary Spease (2nd overall), Linda Roberts, Pashi Vakiva, Rita Greenberg, Diana Wenzel, Norma Goodhart, Debby Gaal, and Doreen Mayo

Mackenzie Park hosted a 3-bowl Pairs tournament on September 1st and a handful of Newport bowlers made the trip.

​Bill Brault finished first overall. Lou Cohen and Keno Shaw also competed.


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