Bowls: McLean gets trip; Walker close twice

Andy McLean.
Andy McLean.
One out of three ain't bad.

Andy McLean and Ken Walker threatened to make it a Dunedin whitewash at the Professional Bowls Association finals in Hastings at the weekend.

Walker made the final of both the Scottish Open and International Open singles, and McLean made the final of the world indoor singles.

McLean, the marketing and events manager at the Otago Cricket Association, beat Southland bowler Jason Heffer 9-8, 5-5 in his final.

The win gave him entry into the world indoor singles in Norfolk, England in January.

McLean had earlier knocked out local hope Paul Sorensen in the semifinals, while Heffer accounted for Waikato's Henry Te Moni.

Walker, the godfather of the PBA scene, had to be content with reaching two finals.

He was a part of history in the International Open playoff as Natarsha Grimshaw (Hawkes Bay) became the first New Zealand woman to earn entry to the world tour with an 11-10, 3-10, 2-1 win over Walker.

Ken Walker.
Ken Walker.
''Stalker'' Walker showed all his fighting skills as he recovered from a 10-3 deficit in the first set, picking up seven shots in three frenetic ends, before running the jack to the back corner of the rink in the last end.

Grimshaw held her nerve to draw a toucher and win the set.

Walker was able to disrupt Grimshaw's weight control in the second set, bringing the mat up to a short length and taking the set 10-3 to force the game into a tiebreaker.

The best-of-three tiebreak was bowl for bowl but Grimshaw just did enough to earn her trip to Blackpool next year.

Grimshaw also gains the highest year-end NZPBA ranking for a woman, finishing ninth.

Although having represented Hawkes Bay for the past three years, she comes from Helensville, north of Auckland, where she was coached into the game by the great Ivan Kostanich.

The finals weekend came to a fascinating climax in the heavyweight clash between Walker and Wellington's Rob Ashton, in the final of the Scottish Open.

Walker again found himself needing to come back from a slow start, dropping the first set 8-5, but he led the second set most of the way.

Ashton, down 5-7 after seven ends and two shots on the head, brilliantly trailed the jack for three to go up 8-7 into the last end.

However, Walker came right back with two shots to force the tiebreak.

Walker claimed the first tiebreak end, Ashton almost gave the second end away when he tipped over his shot bowl, and the Wellingtonian had full control of the third end with a bowl on the jack.

Walker slipped wide three times trying to trail the jack off the shot but could not do it.

After several near-misses, this will be Ashton's first appearance on the world tour in November.

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