Ian Lines Wins Southport Advanced Weekend in Two Venues by Ian Lines (19 Sep 10)

Ian Lines won the Southport September Advanced Tournament to win the Sandiford Salver, beating Lionel Tibble in the final +4tp, -17tp, +26. There was no play at all at Southport on Sunday as there was very heavy overnight rain, and when competitors turned up at 9.30am the lawns were at least 20% under water, with no prospect of improvement with rain forecast all day. I think its the first time I’ve had a washout day at Southport in 15 years! Terry Foster, Chairman of Southport, presented the Consolation Event prize to Robert Dodds, who had played well on Saturday to get to 3/4.

John Haslam, who was game down in a semi-final, conceded to Ian Lines, and Ian and Lionel Tibble then transferred to lawn 1 at Bowdon to play the final. The final was quite good, with just a few errors and some good shooting by Lionel in the first two games, although the wet Bowdon lawns were pretty easy, even with the hoops set to 1/32nd. In game 1, Lionel hit a long standard tice on 4th turn, but then took off the lawn (Bowdon is a wee bit quicker than Southport). Ian went to 4-back with a DS, Lionel missed the long lift, Ian stuck in hoop 2, Lionel hit in 14 yards and went to 4 back. Ian missed the long lift, Lionel’s straight rover peel went wrong (peelee stuck in jaws with SB 1cm from it). Lionel put the SB safe, but Ian still finished +4tp. In game 2, Ian hit on 4th turn and went to 4 back with a DS. Lionel hit and finished in two turns +17tp. In game 3, Ian went to hoop 5 on 5th turn with a leave (difficult precision pick up). Lionel missed and Ian went to 4 back with a DS. Lionel missed the short lift, Ian was on a standard tp but took off into a hoop before hoop 5 (huge pull on a thin take off) so had a scatter leave. Lionel missed the 12 yarder. Ian went to peg with one peel and a tight horizontal DS. Lionel missed and Ian finished +26. So the cunning managerial ploy of shifting the final to a lawn where Lionel has never been, and I’ve played a few hundred games, worked out :-). Many thanks to Southport for the excellent catering on Saturday, and for the lawns there which are as good as they’ve ever been. It was also great to see a few new faces, including Tom Crawford from Perth, Australia. Thank you also to the Bowdon Short team who kindly provided lunch for the Finalists at Bowdon on Sunday.