VALERO PAIRS TOURNAMENT
The annual Valero Pairs open tournament was played, at the Tenby green last weekend in what was, for the most part, glorious sunshine. The popular two-day event attracted 40 entries (80 players), who were split into four groups of 10 to initially play on a robin-robin basis in games of six ends each. Come Sunday afternoon, the winners and runners-up of the four groups then went through to play in the quarter-final knockout stages, and perhaps not surprisingly, these featured some familiar names. Among them were a couple of pairs from the host club as well as this year's Silver Bowl winner, David Kingdon, the defending Valero champion with his partner Joshua Jones, and another finalist from Open Week, Jack Breen with his brother Jarrad. And it was the two youngsters from Gilfach Goch, who eventually ran out winners of the prestigious tournament. After disposing of fancied Tenby pair John Roberts and Mike Jackson in a hard fought semi-final, the final against Morgan and Tom Holmes, of Kidwelly, proved another tight affair, before they eventually got the upper hand to clinch the trophy with a 10-1 winning margin.
Quarter-final results (six ends) were as follows: Steffan and Jarrad Jones (Ogmore Vale) 4 Jarrad and Jack Breen (Gilfach Goch) 5. John Roberts and Mike Jackson (Tenby) 7 Brian Jones and Dai Prosser (Chuck it and Chase BC) 2. Morgan and Tom Holmes (Kidwelly) 6 Robin Burden and Dylan Williams (Brynhyfryd and Llanelli) 4. Steve Davies and John Rees (Tenby) 2 Mark Driscoll and Gareth Jones (New Lodge and Gorseinon) 6.
Semi-finals (eight ends): Jarrad and Jack Breen 6 John Roberts and Mike Jackson 3;
Morgan and Tom Holmes 7 Mark Driscoll and Gareth Jones 4
Final (10 ends): Jarrad and Jack Breen 10 Morgan and Tom Holmes 1.
Afterwards, organiser Lynne Delabertouche Rafferty said it had been another superb weekend, both on and off the green, and she also thanked sponsors Valero for their generosity in providing a total of £600 in prize money. The trophy and prizes were presented by club chairman, Fred Broomhead.