Bowls: Munro wins second major PBA qualifying tournament

Ross Munro
Ross Munro
Ross Munro (Forbury Park) has become the rising star of the New Zealand Professional Bowls Association after winning two major qualifying tournaments in the past week.

He won the final of the Shanghai singles at Queen's Birthday weekend and this weekend won the final of the Dunedin qualifier for the Scottish International Open singles.

Munro (63) won both finals at the Westpac Bowls Stadium and will get a trip to the national final in Hamilton in September.

The retired freezing worker beat PBA international Ken Walker (Fairfield) 6-10, 7-5, 2-0 in the Scottish singles qualifier.

"Two wins in a row is great," Munro said. "I'm over the moon.""It was a great thrill to beat a bowler of Ken's experience."

Munro has been playing bowls for 13 years and has won just one Bowls Dunedin centre title.

This is his fourth year in the PBA and it is the first time he has won a major event that takes him to a national final. He has now done it twice.

"Everyone has ability. It is just a matter of putting it together," Munro said.

Munro had a New Zealand PBA ranking of 60th before the first major round of PBA events this winter. He is now in the top 20.

The performances impressed Walker.

"Ross is the rising star of the PBA," Walker said. "He had four tie-breaker ends in the competition and won them all. He has nerves of steel."

It was a final of contrasting styles with Walker playing aggressive upshots and Munro concentrating on accurate draw bowls. Walker won the first set 10-6 but Munro started well in the second and led 4-0 after three ends.

Walker came back into contention by scoring a one and three on the next two ends to level the scores.

It was accurate draw bowls that gave Munro singles on the next two ends, but Walker took one shot back on the next end.

Munro led 6-5 before the final end and put pressure on Walker by putting bowls close to the jack.

Munro held his nerve to win the tie-breaker 2-0.

Munro will face Jamie Hill (Auckland), Rob Ashton (Wellington) and George Ngametua (Hawkes Bay) in the national final in Hamilton in September. The winner gets a trip to the international finals in Scotland.

 

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