THANET Road staged a hugely successful Planet Bowls York Open, with Egham's Steve Tuohy beating City of Ely's Andy Ware in the final.
Ware led 4-3 in the first set before dropping two twos to lose 7-4. He was 4-1 up in the second, but drew 5-5 to give Tuohy the title and a cheque for £1,000.
The two finalists reached the semi-finals without dropping a set, Ware being rather fortunate to beat home player Hayley Macdonald.
Macdonald had provided the shock of the tournament by beating England player Vinnie O’Neil, one of the pre-tournament favourites, in the second round 2-1 on a tie break.
In the third round, she faced Ware and lost the first set 8-5 before nearly beating him in the second, only going down 7-6.
Ware beat Featherstone’s John Webster in the quarter-finals before facing Scarborough’s young protégée, 17-year-old Jack Bird, who had beaten Scunthorpe’s James Staples 2-0 (9-6, 9-4) followed by Featherstone’s Craig Newton 2-1 (3-7, 11-0, 2-1) then Glasgow’s Graeme Macdougell 1½-½ (6-6, 7-4) and Alfreton's Gary Wallis 2-0 (7-2, 10-5).
Optimism was high for Bird as he won the first set of the semi-final 9-4, but Ware came back and won the second 7-1 before taking the tie break 2-0.
Tuohy maintained his 100 per cent success from set wins in the semi-final, where he beat Norfolk’s Wayne Willgress 2-0 (8-2, 6-3).
Earlier Willgress had been fortunate to beat York’s Sue Allen in the quarters after a succession of firing shots where Allen just missed the jack by a fraction of an inch time after time.
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