Sports reports: Mannum will meet Murray Bridge for a grand final spot

This story includes contributions from Derek Vanderzon, Michael Potts and Daniel Irvine. Email your sports reports to liana@murraybridge.news.

Mannum have warmed up for the finals with a 19-shot win over Jervois, with wins on all three rinks, to extend their lead at the top of the Lower Murray Bowling Association table.

Meanwhile, despite a poor performance, Murray Bridge cling onto second spot and the double chance after going down to RSL courtesy of a nailbiting Tailem Bend win over Karoonda.

David Kempe, Graham Leathers, Gary Odgers and Todd McDonnell were dominant for Mannum with a 26-13 win over Kein Spinks, Graham Fromm, Graham Schenke and Neil Morris.

They opened with a three and a four and after just seven ends had established a demoralising 15-1 lead.

Spinks was able to stem the bleeding from thereon, but could not bridge the gap.

Terry McDonnell, Marty March, Tony Gill and Ron van Tijn had a tight battle against Graeme Herbert, Denis Hicks, Shawn Hicks and Stuart McCulloch before emerging 20-16 winners.

McDonnell looked to have things sewn up when a three and a two on the 18th and 19th ends gave him an eight shot lead, but Herbert responded with a three to narrow the gap to three shots.

A single to McDonnell sealed the win on the final end.

A dramatic finish saw Gavin Pfeiffer, Tommy Towns, Steve Gregory and Ainslie Roberts defeat Tim Hicks, Derek Vanderzon, Shane Fromm and Bruce Smith 26-24.

After a tight first half Pfeiffer went six ahead with a four on the 16th end, only to immediately drop a five the next end.

Another four to Pfeiffer was followed by a single and the six shot lead was restored with two ends to play.

Pfeiffer held three shots on the following end, but Vanderzon shifted the jack, Hicks added two shots and two errant drives from Pfeiffer took out his sides two closest bowls, and Hicks had inexplicably picked up a seven and a one shot lead. 

Fortunately for Mannum, Roberts capped off a fine display with a resting toucher, and two close bowls to Gregory enabled Pfeiffer to regain the lead with a three for a two shot win.

Karoonda would have had a particularly gloomy trip home from Tailem Bend after letting a win slip through their fingers, securing just one point in a 60-58 loss, and gifting Murray Bridge the double chance in the process. 

Travis Schenke, Merv Stevens, Con Jones and Glenda Shepherd scored a 21-20 win over Rowan Zadow, Len Symonds, Bill Cornish and Gary Zadow with a four on the final end, overcoming a three shot deficit.

Zadow had led by as much as nine shots in the first half, and after conceding the lead scored a two and a three on the 19th and 20th ends to recover the lead before the final end disaster.

David Hoare, Rob Hales, Kevin McDonald and Stuart Rooke had built an eight shot buffer against Josh Porker, Malcolm Waechter, Erin O'Malley and John Wegner.

By the break they needed every one of them as they hung on to win by one shot, 19-18.

Porker gradually worked back into the contest, but four singles in five ends was countered by a three to Hoare who went into the final end with a five shot lead.

Porker finished strongly with a four, but fell just short.

Duane Edwards, Michael Thorne, Kylie Slattery and Chris Slattery  thwarted a comeback from Ian Symonds, Garry Mason, Aaron Jones and Malcolm McKenzie to clinch a 20 all draw.

Edwards had led by as much as seven shots, but when Symonds scored a three, five and one, he had snatched a three shot lead with two ends to go.

Edwards finished with a two and a single to tie the scores as Karoonda's double chance slipped away.

Murray Bridge went down 54-48 to RSL, and would have been extremely relieved to learn of Karoonda's demise which enabled them to retain the double chance.

Noel Kneebone, Karen Kneebone, David Newell and Anne-Marie Kuchel dished out a rare trouncing to Darren McIntosh, Tony Trewren, Troy Penhall and Paul Smart, who could only win four ends in a dismal 28-5 defeat.

The score was 14-3 at the break, and did not improve for the visitors during the second half.

David Thiele, David Graham, James Galbraith and Phil Day were 20-13 winners over Bruce Attrill, Charlie DiSanto, Mike Ferris and Brian Leckie.

Attrill scored a four early in the contest, but was held mainly to singles as Thiele gradually assumed control for a good win.

Brian Traeger, Helen Lindner, Andrew Meddle and John Bubner's thumping 30-6 win over Jason Sipos, Matt Wynne, Kerri Bolt and Gary Daniel was to no avail despite the huge margin.

A 14-4 lead at the break only widened with Sipos only winning one end after the resumption.

Mannum will host Murray Bridge on Saturday, and will be keen to maintain their good form and take the direct route to the grand final.

Their form line says they should be too strong for a side which has a negative shot count for the season, but somehow has still managed to finish second.

Murray Bridge has the added incentive of hosting the grand final, but will more likely need to take the longer path.

Reigning champs Karoonda take on Jervois in the elimination final and hold a 3-0 record against them this season.

But Jervois have crept closer on each occasion, and Karoonda's form of late has been far from impressive.

They looked almost unbeatable early in the season, but this one looks to be a 50/50 chance.

Mypolonga will face Mannum in the Murray Towns Cricket Association grand final

Mypolonga 0/68 defeated Monarto 66

• Mypo best: Shannon Callery 40*, Samuel Elliott 3/10
• Monarto best: Ethan Smith 18/56, Harry Miles 0/9

Will Mypo go three from three?

Or can the Kookaburras take away their reign?

Mannum and Mypolonga will face off in the grand final once again this Saturday at the Mannum Showgrounds from 1pm.

Junior champ takes out stroke comp at Murray Bridge Golf Club

Reigning club junior champion Cohen Naughton was too good on Saturday when he reigned supreme in the day's stroke competition, scoring a brilliant nett 66.

Already in A grade, he seems to be only heading one way with his handicap so there should be more rosy days ahead for this golfer of the future.

It was a big 93-strong field that competed after the previous week's depleted numbers were brought about by the heat policy.

Stroke days usually ensure there are more tales of woe than usual and this day was no different

Mark Bolton had a brain fade on one hole and picked his ball up after missing a putt, thinking it was a Stableford round and that he had run out of shots on that hole – oops.

Two-stroke penalty and move on.

It spoilt what was an otherwise handy round, of course.

If that was bad, how about poor old Jeff Morgan?

Traveling fairly well, he slammed a perfect drive down the 15th fairway long enough and with just enough fade to sneak round the corner and be just beside the green.

Strutting along towards his ball with visions of an upcoming short chip in for eagle, he suddenly could find no trace of it.

Where was it?

After precisely three minutes of searching it was deduced that either a bird had swooped off with it or someone that didn't like him was hiding around the corner and pocketed it and ran off.

Either way it was back to the tee to hit again or disqualification.

With another group back on the tee waiting to hit, Morgs chose to DQ himself and to play the last four holes with teeth gritted.

Now that's a horrible feeling.

Know your rules ... Another player who works in the golf shop saw his driver's shaft snap after a tee shot on the 7th.

There was laughter all round, except from the golfer concerned.

The question was could the broken club be replaced for the rest of the round?

The answer: yes and no.

Apparently if the club was broken in anger then bad luck, buddy – pull out your three wood for the rest of the day.

But if it was simply a bit of bad luck then, yes, the club can be replaced.

Plenty of witnesses saw it as sheer bad luck so it was off to see pro Steve and borrow a driver from him.

In better news, larger-than-life super-veteran Graham Edwards decided to actually putt out on every hole this week.

There is no truth in the rumour that the luckless "Aussie" Bob McCormick was seen shopping for razor blades after hearing that he had been pipped on a countback by Rob Walters for the prestigious pro comp.

Both players struck superb nett 29 back nines but there can be only one winner – well, most of the time at least – and it wasn't Bob.

Bridge betters Bordertown in inter-club competition

Finally, last Saturday nine visitors from the Bordertown Rifle Club travelled to Monarto to take on the Murray Bridge Rifle Club for the Bridge-Border Shield.

The interclub competition is a coached shoot shot over two rounds from 600 metres with great friendliness and a good sporting ethos from both clubs.

Not so friendly on the day was the weather, with wind reading proving difficult at the best of times.

Not letting that stop him, Bordertown’s captain, Jeff Makin, led the way for the visitors posting a pair of 55s for 110.07 shooting F-Standard.

Next best was Les Harris with a 98.02, followed closely by Em Cooper with a 97.01. Giving the visitors an average score of 79.2% of the possible available.

Murray Bridge shot strongly in response, with Robert Paech registering a 97.11 in TR closely followed by Andrew Heard with 95.08.

In F-Class, Adrian Conlon topped the field, scoring 115.06 shooting Open, while Bryan Robertson was top in Standard, also scoring a pair of 55s for 110.06.

All of which combined to give Murray Bridge a decisive win, scoring an average of 90.9% of their possible total.

At the end of the day though, all competitors were able to share camaraderie and hospitality back in the club house as everyone now looked forward to the return visit to Bordertown at a later date.

Club competition resumes for Murray Bridge next week with a scheduled championship round from 500m.