2015 Victorian Open – day 5 men’s
The Shepparton locals are emerging as potential Victorian Open men’s singles winners, with two powering into the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Shepparton Golf duo Matthew Robertson, no stranger to success in the Open, and Mitch Sidebottom swept into the last eight with contrasting wins at Shepparton Park Bowls Club.
Robertson won two thrillers, first beating state player Dane McKinnon (Altona) 21-18 in a round of 32 match which came down to the last bowl.
Then he switched to the undercover rink, and was nerveless in a high quality 21-20 win over Hampton’s Rob Coulson.
Perhaps more ominous was the form of his Shep Golf clubmate Sidebottom, who first beat Alan Crowle (Moonee Ponds) 21-5 to make the last 16.
Then he beat another local, Kyabram’s David Cartwright, 21-12, to book a spot in the last eight on Wednesday morning.
His match against Nathan Wilson, who’s also been burning up the greens around Shepparton, shapes as a quarter-final highlight.
Wilson (Essendon) had to see off fellow Victorian rep Nick McIntyre (Whittlesea) 21-17 in his round of 16.
Youngsters Curtis Hanley, from Tocumwal but playing for Melbourne BC, and Jay-Bye Norris (Essendon) are also down to the last eight.
And Yarraville-Footscray’s Wayne Roberts, the 2013 men’s singles champion, is in that level of form again as he showed with a big win over national under 18 rep Jayden Christie in the round of 16.
In Wednesday night’s men’s pairs, Hanley and brother Cain won through to the semi-finals, as did fellow under 18 Christie and partner Michael Sims.
Full results of men’s singles finals here
Day 5 women’s singles wrap
