The unstoppables
No one could stop Helensvale pair Casey and Christie in this year’s State Champ of Club Champion Pairs. (Pictured left: BQ Director Colleen Ryan, Jackaroo Mark Casey and rising star Jayden Christie, who dominated the 2016 State Champion of Club Champion pair’s competition.)
By Tom Sharman, at Musgrave Hill Bowls Club for Bowls QLD
As the biggest name on the ticket, it was clear Australian Jackaroo Mark Casey and his apprentice Jayden Christie were going to be strong contenders for the 2016 State Champion of Club Champion Men’s Pairs state title and so it proved.
The two seasoned players emerged from the pairs sectional play undefeated and continued their strong performance all the way through to the end of the finals.
The pair won the gold medal with a massive 30 – 7 win against green-keeper Mitchell Cameron and Scott McLachlan from Greenslopes in just 19 rounds.
Casey said it was the combined effort from both himself and young talent Christie that enabled them to win.
“I’ve been playing with Jayden for a couple years now and he’s the best junior I have ever seen,” Casey said.
“Today’s result was a testament to that fact, he’s got all the shots and even more than that he’s a good kid and that’s the best thing about him as he is level headed.
“He is a massive talent he’s got a really good future ahead of him.”
In the bronze medal playoff, Tim Smith and Ian McMah from Across the Waves Bowls Club (Bundaberg) were happy winners 25 – 16 over Northern Beaches (Mackay) lead Adrian Maskell and skip Wilson Alexander.
The Bundy pair were perhaps the most resilient side in the competition, managing to come back from behind in almost every game they played.
“We just had bad starts, we were down 12-1, 10 – 1 and we panicked a bit the first time we got ahead,” Smith said.
“The first time we got ahead was in the very last game we played and we dropped a five!
“We just didn’t know what to do from the front.”
The three rounds of the Singles state final will begin tomorrow (Oct 26), with the grand finale the gold and bronze medal playoffs on Thursday morning (Oct 27) at Musgrave Hill Bowls Club.
To view the full results and draw visit the Bowls Queensland website results section available here.