It’s been quite a busy past few days for us as we got to the Gold Coast for the Australian Open. The day after we got into the country, we hit the greens for the Mermaid Beach Pre-Australian Open 2 Day Pairs. Though we finished 1-4, we had 3 of our 4 losses within 3-4 points (so all very competitive results which could have gone either way). The last game was fun as we faced a local team who were quite enjoyable to play with as both of our teams made some great shots (fortunately best for us on the day). We were lucky enough that in addition to paying down to like 6th place of 42 teams- they also had 8 lucky draw winners of $100 which we ended up taking home some prize money (a first for me in Australia!).
On the Friday, we headed to Club Robina for their Winter Triples. On their greens (which run fairly similar speed to that of Dartmouth or maybe slightly faster)- we ended up with a 2-1 record after a great day on the greens to finish 17th out of 42 teams!
That night, we headed to Broadbeach to cheer on our Canadian National Team member Ryan Bester in his Worlds Gold Medal rematch against Ireland’s Gary Kelly (which I encourage all of you to watch the live stream of the game as it was quite entertaining).
​Yesterday, it was a tricky day on the greens for me at Benowa Bowls Club for the Men’s Singles of the Australian Open (the largest event of the tournament with 1,312 players from around the world). In my section, I had three tight battles with some top young players from all over Australia- unfortunately ending off on the wrong end of the scoreline on all of them. Fortunately there are lots of bowls left to go throughout our adventure here in all the events! Tomorrow, we head down to the southern Gold Coast for my mom to start her campaign with the Women’s Pairs of the Australian Open. Thanks to everyone back home for all of the support as we compete down here in the World’s Biggest Bowls Festival!

Congratulations to Team Ogden- who won our 2nd 5-A-Side Tournament of the season! 6 teams competed all day on June 8th with games in Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours. Fortunately for all players, the rain held off for what ended up a great day of lawn bowls. Thanks to Kathy Myketyn for organizing, Nancy Latimer and Paul Knox for umpiring, Phil Balcom and Diane Appleby for marking the singles games and Kathy, Vicki Balcom and John Driscoll for providing food for the players. Many thanks to those who assisted in set up and clean up through the tournament. Lots of fun and friendly competition. Looking forward to do it again in the future! Here are your full standings:

• 1st Place- Terry O’Neil, Steve Ogden, Grahame Usher, Mike Ritchie, Larry Anderson
• 2nd Place- Dave O’Connell, Heather Salmon, Daniel Sirois, Vicki Balcom, Vivian Condran
• 3rd Place- Nora Clark, Joyce Anderson, Mayumi Endo, Charmaine Cameron, Debbie Tower
• 4th Place- Ken Cameron, John Driscoll, Rick Fry, Doug McLearn, Rick Burrows
• 5th Place- Eleanor Shea, Sue Ellen Horne, Charlie Hilchie, Janet Kelly, Debbie Mitchell
• 6th Place- Richard Cobb, Nancy Sinclair, Linda Deveau, Betty MacAlpine, Helene Whitford