Home   About the Club   Touring   Events   Fees & Membership   Contact Us

MIRAFLORES OPEN 2011

12TH - 20TH NOVEMBER 2011

Sponsored by:  

The Miraflores Open ends in glorious sunshine

This year’s Miraflores Open (sponsored by Caser Seguros) was held from Saturday 12^th November until Monday 21^st November. The entry for the tournament was 25% up on last year which was an excellent achievement in the current economic climate. Caser's local representative Julie Withey was on hand throughout the tournament to provide answers to questions and information about the company to anyone who needed it.

The weather somehow held for most of the tournament despite rain forecast on two of the biggest days for bowls activity with only 15 minutes play being lost on the Monday when nearly 100 bowlers were in action throughout that day. Rain was also forecast and duly arrived during the last 2 days of the competition resulting in the loss of 2 afternoon’s play and finals day being carried over to Monday for the first time in the history of the competition. The good news was that finals day was blessed with blue skies and glorious sunshine which was a bonus for the numerous spectators who turned out to see the day’s play.

The competition is played in four different formats, namely Mixed Triples, Mixed Pairs together with Men's & Ladies Singles. The quality of the matches throughout the tournament was exceptionally high in each discipline with many games going to the wire especially in the pairs where a large proportion of the matches (which were played in sets) went to extra end deciders while many of the singles matches went to 20-20.

The pairs final which had started on Sunday morning was the first event of the day, the second set took place in the morning between Peter & Lyn Metcalfe (well-known former residents and bowlers on the coast, but now back in UK and out here on holiday) against John Sullivan & Kate Morris of Benalmadena BC. This was a very closely contested match with some excellent bowling in evidence. Peter & Lyn winning the first set on Sunday 11-3 and going on to win the second set 13-4. The scoring was not reflective of the quality of play exhibited on both days it was simply a case of John & Kate bowling well but not up to the precision bowling of Pete and Lyn.

Mixed Pairs winners (From L to R): Peter Metcalfe, Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & Lyn Metcalfe.

Mixed Pairs runners-up (From L to R): Kate Morris, Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & John Sullivan.

This match was followed by the Triples final between John Green, Kate Morris & John Nagle of Benalmadena BC against Alex Hanton, Michael & Eileen Bone of Los Amigos BC. The Benalmadena triple got off to a flying start and were 12-2 up after 7 ends, Alex’s team fought back but were unable to erase the deficit. John, Kate and John winning 21-11 when the Los Amigos trio conceded the match after 16 ends.

Mixed Triples winners (From L to R): John Green, Kate Morris, Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & John Nagle.

Mixed Triples runners-up (From L to R): Eileen Bone, Alex Hanton, Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & Michael Bone.

The Men’s singles final had Brian Todd of Benalmadena against Malcolm Greenwood of Benavista an eagerly awaited match between two of the best bowlers on the Costa del Sol. Brian got of to a strong start to lead 10-4 after 8 ends, but Malcolm fought his way back to only 16-15 down after 20 ends. Brian then won 4 of the next 5 ends to run out a worthy 21-16 winner and retain his title which we believe has never happened before.

Men's singles finalists (From L to R): Brian Todd (winner), Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & Malcolm Greenwood (runner-up).

The Ladies’ singles final saw Pam Shemmings of Miraflores BC against Margaret Kain of Santa Maria. Pam has been bowling on the coast for many years and last won this title in 2002 when she beat Mary Potter (also of Santa Maria). Margaret is also a very experienced bowler from Scotland, although her and husband Gordon have only been bowling down here for a few years. She had demonstrated her skill and ability clearly in the semi-finals when she comfortably beat Lyn Metcalf. The final was to be a different kettle of fish with Pam showing what a good bowler she still is and putting on an excellent display to win 21-9.

Ladies' Singles finalists (From L to R): Margaret Kain (runner-up), Roberto Gonzalez (Sponsor: Caser Seguros) & Pam Shemmings (winner).
Singles winners Brian Todd and Pam Shemmings share a joke with sponsor Roberto Gonzalez of Caser Seguros.
 

The main sponsors this year for the first time were Caser Seguros one of Spain’s largest insurance companies and specialists in expatriate insurance. They were represented on finals day by Roberto Gonzalez (Area Manager). Roberto presented the cash prizes to all of the finalists.

As is our usual custom, there was a scorecard draw, after the finals, in which all players are entered for prizes donated by local businesses.  These consisted of dinners at Los Porches, Miraflores Clubhouse, The Retro, Indian Ocean and Los Papaguayos, a meat voucher from G T McKenna (the Irish butcher), A beauty voucher for the English Cut and a golf voucher including buggy from Calanova Golf Club.

Thanks were given by Derek Shemmings to the sponsors, together with the umpires, markers and competitors without whom there would be no competition. Men’s singles winner Brian Todd responded with thanks on behalf of all the competitors for having the opportunity to participate in such a well run competition. He went on to make special mention of the spectators whose support throughout was appreciated. Finally, he thanked the sponsors and hoped this would be the beginning of a long running involvement between them and Miraflores Bowls Club.

To see what happened in the 2010 event click here.