Oliver Mason overcame an early scare to dominate the Dunedin area world indoor singles qualifying rounds in a PBA double header held at the Bowls Dunedin Stadium at the weekend.
Mason (27) succumbed in the first set of the day to Robert Paterson 7-4, but then bounced back with a convincing 10-3 victory in the second set to force a tie-break, which he won to secure a 2-1 victory and progress to a second-round encounter with tournament favourite and the New Zealand No1-ranked Sheldon Bagrie-Howley.
Over the recent summer season, Bagrie-Howley had played a key roll in Mason bagging all four Bowls Dunedin open titles. Mason took on board these lessons to end Bagrie-Howley’s singles campaign with a 11-3, 10-4 victory.
Mason then progressed through to a late night quarterfinal clash to beat Brent Webster with a similar scoreline, 10-2, 11-4.
Despite world pairs competition getting under way on Sunday, Mason then had to play through early rounds before clipping his ticket to the semifinal of the singles late on Sunday afternoon, beating the in-form Tania Woodham.
It was the deepest Woodham had gone in PBA competition and she was in sublime form, having earlier accounted for the scalps of Grant Simpson (8-5, 7-5), Niel Louw (11-5, 6-7, 2-0) and Lisa Helmling (10-3, 7-7).
For some time it appeared Mason had met his match in Woodham, as she took out the first set 8-4 and it was game on in the second set as she took Mason to task as he eked out a 10-8 victory to force a tie-break, which went the distance before Mason secured the third and final set of the tie-break to win 2-1.
Mason will meet Adam McGregor in the semifinals, which will be played on finals day on Sunday, August 21.
McGregor displayed a rich vein of form with a run of convincing victories that included tipping out Brent McEwan 7-4, 9-7, Ken Walker 12-5, 8-4, Moana Oliver 8-5, 10-7 and Peter Bell 5-4, 10-4.
On the other side of the draw, Ray Webster will meet Andrew McCullum in the other semifinal of the world indoor singles qualifier.
Webster went through with convincing victories over Mario Sopp (9-7, 14-1), Bob Saunders (7-3, 10-2, Lou Robinson (11-3, 12-4) and Nigel Thompson (16-4, 8-40.
McCullum had to work hard for his semifinal berth. He knocked out Dave Natta in the first round with a convincing 10-3, 8-5 victory, but then was made to dig deep with three consecutive tie break deciders over Grant Fleury, Leo Brett and Phil Austin.
Mason teamed up with Queenstown’s Nick Buttar for the world indoor pairs qualifier, and while form followed the pair, they met Bagrie-Howley and Mason’s twin brother, Elliot, for an epic quarterfinal clash that was befitting of a final.
Elliot Mason and Bagrie-Howley took out the first set 10-1, but Oliver Mason and Buttar bounced back to repay the favour winning the second set 8-3 to force a tie-break.
With neither combination offering up any opportunity around the head it came down to the final bowl of the third and final tie-break head to decide the match.
With Bagrie-Howley having secured shot resting a bowl close to the jack, Oliver Mason was left with no choice but to drive with his final bowl. It missed its mark by the slimmest of margins, Bagrie-Howley extracting revenge for the loss to Oliver Mason in their singles encounter and handing brother Elliot bragging rights.
"Bowls was the winner on the day," Elliot Mason said.
"It’s a social game and you can still have a drink at the bar with your opponents after the dust settles and solve the problems of the world."
Elliot Mason and Bagrie-Howley will now face Niel Louw and Ethan Flynn in the the first semifinal to be played on finals day. While the other semifinal of the pairs will be Sacha Taylor and Murray Wilson against Leo Brett and Cameron Cook.
