Glassey wins both singles events

Murray Glassey
Murray Glassey
Murray Glassey (Hawkes Bay) joined some elite company when he won two major singles events at the PBA finals in Dunedin over the weekend.

Glassey (39), a Watties jam factory cook in Hastings, outplayed Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Gore) 7-2, 9-3 to win the Scottish singles on Saturday and followed it up on Sunday by beating Hamish Simpson (Taranaki) 9-5, 10-5 in the International singles.

He is one of only three bowlers to win two major singles events at a PBA finals weekend. Jamie Hill (Auckland) did it five years ago and Steven Wood (Manawatu) has also achieved the feat.

``I targeted the last one because it is held in February and gives me more time to save money and prepare for the trip,'' Glassey said.

Glassey does not intend to go to both finals in the United Kingdom and will only travel to the International event in Blackpool in February.

It looked as though his bowls were drawn to the jack by a magnet when he gave two superb displays of draw bowls at Westpac Bowls Stadium.

The commanding win against Bagrie-Howley typified his approach.

``I found my line early and stuck to the draw.''

``Sheldon couldn't find his draw line and kept driving and missing.''

His most difficult game was in the semifinals of the International singles when he beat Paul King (Dunedin) with his last bowl of the tiebreaker 6-7, 11-5, 2-1.

King had the winning bowl on the head when Glassey drove it out with his last bowl.

Andy Mclean (Dunedin) and Andrew Kelly (Christchurch) came from behind to beat the Southland pair of Shane Elliott and Craig Merrilees 1-10, 10-6, 2-0 in the World Indoor Pairs.

They were outplayed in the first set and were down 4-1 after four of the nine ends in the second set.

But Kelly was confident they could bounce back.

``You always can in these game because you restart from scratch,'' he said.

``It's just a matter of picking yourself up. You don't have the right attitude if you give up after a bad first set.''

It will be Kelly's third PBA trip to the United Kingdom and McLean's second.

They will be the first New Zealand PBA pair to compete in the United Kingdom since Dunedin's Paul Girdler and Ken Walker in 2009.

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