Hobson the heartbreaker
By Kelsey Cottrell
Queensland crowned four maiden ladies State Champions, Everton Park’s Marie Webber, Chermside’s Sue O’Toole, Christine Russell from Everton Park and their skipper, Chermside’s Pat Hobson who played the most crucial bowls in the closing stages of both the semi and final today at Capalaba Sports.
In the semi-final, Hobson forced the match with Dee-Anne Robertson into an extra end with her final bowl, picking up two shots, and repeated the dose in the final when she removed the oppositions shot bowl to send the match once again into a 22nd end.
The extra end in this afternoon’s final against New Zealand international Katelyn Inch, Australian Jackaroo’s Kelsey Cottrell and Lynsey Clarke and State Representative Pamela Rowe, was another chance for Hobson to steal the show when she trailed the jack with her final bowl to win the state title; talk about performing under pressure, Hobson showed nerves of steel!
Eight quality players took to the green for the men’s final and in the blink of an eye it was the side skipped by Dean McWhinney, a former QLD Triples Champion, who had jumped out of the blocks the quickest, leading 17-4.
Set up nicely by their lead Ryan Digby (Enoggera) and second Gary Pearson (Burleigh Heads) who had barely had a bad end, they were setting the tone for brothers, Dale and Dean (Beenleigh) to convert the heads in their favour and keep the pressure on their opponents.
DeJongh, Anderson, Wilkie and Brown did their best to keep in the contest but today was not going to be their day and they would have to settle for silver on this occasion.
The newly crowned State Fours Champions will reflect on the last end of their semi-final against Ryan Bester’s team, arguably favourites to win the title, when they turned momentum back in their favour, picking up three shots to win by one and book themselves a place in the final.
Scott Chamberlains side were the giant killers yesterday knocking off the newly crowned triples champions, Lester, Cahill, Sherriff along with Steven Tong in the quarter-final, however, despite sticking with Kurt Brown for 18 ends, they found themselves chasing a five on the final end.
We sincerely thank Henselite for their sponsorship of the State Fours Championships.
Tomorrow is the start of the Open and Over 60 Men’s and Ladies Pairs. This will be a hotly contested 4 events with finals on Friday.
Semi-final Scores
Scott DEJONGH, Jamie ANDERSON, Brett WILKIE & Kurt BROWN def Peter RICHARDS, Greg BROWN, John FINLAYSON, Scott CHAMBERLAIN 22-16
Ryan DIGBY, Gary PEARSON, Dale MCWHINNEY-SHILLINGTON & Dean MCWHINNEY def John NEWELL, Sean INGHAM, Sean BAKER & Ryan BESTER 19-18
Pamela ROWE, Lynsey CLARKE, Kelsey COTTRELL & Katelyn INCH def Brenda BALCHIN, Marianne KUENZLE, Brenda THOMPSON & Louise WITTON 23-14
Marie WEBBER, Sue O’TOOLE, Christine RUSSELL & Pat HOBSON def Sue MCKENZIE, Aymee BELLERT, Jacinta WEIER & Dee Anne ROBERTSON 17-16
Final Scores
Ryan DIGBY, Gary PEARSON, Dale MCWHINNEY-SHILLINGTON & Dean MCWHINNEY def Scott DEJONGH, Jamie ANDERSON, Brett WILKIE & Kurt BROWN 25-11
Marie WEBBER, Sue O’TOOLE, Christine RUSSELL & Pat HOBSON def Pamela ROWE, Lynsey CLARKE, Kelsey COTTRELL & Katelyn INCH 17-16
To watch these matches again, visit the Bowls Queensland Facebook page where you can find all the live streamed matches of these championships under videos.
Men’s Fours State Champions Dean McWhinney, Dale McWhinney-Shillington, Gary Pearson & Ryan Digby 
Women’s Fours State Champions Sue O’Toole, Pat Hobson, Christine Russell & Marie Webber 
Winners and runners-up Men’s State Fours: Back L-R: Dean McWhinney, Dale McWhinney-Shillington, Brett Wilkie, Jamie Anderson & Kurt Brown Front L-R: Gary Pearson, Ryan Digby & Scott DeJongh-Fitzpatrick 
Winners and runners-up Women’s State Fours: Back L-R: Sue O’Toole, Pat Hobson, Christine Russell & Marie Webber Front KL-R: Kelsey Cottrell, Katelyn Inch, Lynsey Clarke & Pamela Rowe
