Milwaukee Lake Park Lawn Bowling Association

MLPLBA hosted the Central Division Playdowns Pairs tournament on August 15-16, 2015.  MEN – Steve Nelson needed all of his experience in national and international play to get by his long time pairs partner Carl Landgren and win the 2015 Singles Playdowns.  Both players were on their games in the 90 degree heat.  The match featured fifteen 1-point ends and a multitude of brilliant shots.  On the last end, Steve was up 19-18 and lying three with his bowls within 12 inches of the jack.  Carl then drew down inside Steve’s shot bowl.  With his last bowl, Steve rolled Carl’s bowl out of the head for the two shots he needed for the win.  Landgren finished in second place with Leif Andresen in third.

WOMEN – Pat Wimmer won the double elimination match against second year bowler Min Waite.  This will be the third year in a row that Pat has ably represented the Central Division.

Steve and Pat, both members of MLPLBA, will be representing the Central Division at the National Championships in Long Beach, CA from October 20-25, 2015.

MLPLBA hosted the Central Division Open Singles tournament on August 8-9, 2015. Eleven bowlers participated. Max Cavender edged out three time national champion Bob Schneider to capture the 2015 Central Division Singles title.  Bob had a 10 to 5 point advantage in the 18 shot final, but Max played some dynamic bowls to even up the match at 12 and then forge ahead for the win.   Both players traded shot after shot throughout the game which made it a very exciting and entertaining event to watch.  In the battle for third place, Steve Nelson played his usual steady and deadly bowls to defeat Anna Witt.   Jim Grzybowski was at the top of his game and took out Rob Behncke for first place in Flight A.  Pat Wimmer outlasted Glen Weber to win Flight B. The tournament director was Anna Witt. Special thanks to our volunteer markers, John Kirkwood, Margie Knitter, and Michael Bennett. Results were:

• Championship Flight 1^st place: Max Cavender
• Championship Flight 2^nd place: Bob Schneider
• Championship Flight 3^rd place: Steven Nelson
• Championship Flight 4^th place: Anna Witt
• A Flight 1^st place: Jim Grzybowski
• A Flight 2^nd place: Rob Behncke
• B Flight 1^st place: Pat Wimmer

The Stuart Club Pairs tournament was held on August 1, 2015. Although there were only four teams in this one day tournament, the playing field was competitive. The format was a round robin with each game consisting of 12 ends. It was shaping up to be a three-way tie, but finally it came down to a tie between John Kirkwood/Rebecca Nguyen and Carl Landgren/Glorianne Mather. Not only were they tied in games won, but also tied in plus points. The next tiebreaker was total number of ends won. Kirkwood/Nguyen edged out Landgren/Mather 22 to 21 ends. So close! Thank you to tournament director, Rebecca Nguyen.

• 1^st place: John Kirkwood/Rebecca Nguyen
• 2^nd place: Carl Landgren/Glorianne Mather
• 3^rd place: Rob Behncke/Tom Vanderbilt
• 4^th place: Pat Mueller/Mike Bennett

MLPLBA hosted the Central Division Playdowns Pairs tournament on July 18-19, 2015.  MEN – Bob Schneider and Rob Behncke were undefeated going into their last game when they were narrowly defeated by the team of Leif Andresen and Jim Grzybowski.  This put them into a playoff for the championship against the other one loss team of Carl Landgren and Crandall Hays.  After an exciting game, Schneider and Behncke came out on top.  Andresen and Grzybowski edged out Jim Cavender and Dat Nguyen for third place.

WOMEN – Anna Witt and Rebecca Nguyen didn’t lose a game in the round robin match-up for the ladies championship.  They went into a double elimination playoff with the team of Pat Wimmer and Barb Hamm, which already had one loss.  Anna and Rebecca took care of business, giving Pat and Barb their second loss.  Kathy Bohanon and Laurie Michael from the Chicago Lakeside club gave the top two teams some strong competition and finished in third place.

Bob, Rob, Anna, and Rebecca, all members of MLPLBA, will be representing the Central Division at the National Championships in Long Beach, CA from October 20-25, 2015.