(l-r) Steve Nelson, Jim Cavender, Carl Landgren, Max Cavender

Steve Nelson emerged out of a hotly contested field to win the Central Division singles playdowns, qualifying for the 2010 US National Lawn Bowls Championships. Nelson, the current US singles champion, went 7-0 in the division’s playdowns tournament held at Milwaukee LBC. A log-jam emerged for 2nd place with Jim Cavender, Max Cavender and Carl Landgren all tied at 5-2.

Charlene Harmon, a second year bowler from Milwaukee LBC, will be the division’s women singles representative at the Championships.

Central will also field two strong pairs teams for the US National Championships, Oct 23-27 in Sun City AZ:
Men’s Pairs – Bob Schneider and Joe Zinna (current US pairs champions)
Women’ Pairs – Anna Witt and Glorianne Mather

(l-r) Glorianne Mather & Anna Witt

Anna Witt and Glorianne Mather qualified to represent Central Division at the US Championships this fall. Witt and Mather were the Central representatives in 2009 but this year they switched up the order with Witt playing skip. Charlene Harmon and Margie Knitter finished second.

Time is running out for you to enter the U.S. Open. Go to US Open Lawn Bowls website for all the information and registration forms. In order to help us provide top class facilities and an Open “to remember” you need to enter NOW.

If you are looking for partners and wish to be included in teams that are short for one reason or another, please let us know. We have established a “need player list” that’s viewable on our website. We’ll be happy to help you connect with someone. Go to the Entries Page and scroll down to the Need List.

This year the Open has received entries from as far away as Brisbane, Australia to Scotland to South Africa to Canada and of course the USA.  Do you want to meet and make new friends from around the world? Now would be a great time to show the true American spirit and hospitality. Be a part of it!

Registration will be at the Hilton Hotel (The Open Headquarters). Wednesday September 24th through Friday 26th. Reserve now. The excitement begins with the Opening Ceremony at Newport Beach on Friday 26th September, with a hosted Cocktail party.

Night indoor bowls at the host hotel, “The Hilton”, will be introduced for those who did not get enough during the day. Be sure to inquire when you check-in for the US Open.  The Golden Bias Club will host a cocktail party for GBC members (join at the door!) on Wednesday evening. Thursday evening, medals and awards will be presented to the winners at our Southwestern themed banquet dinner, but the “Fiesta” will be for everyone. Get ready to put your best party boots on! Friday October 1st will see the finals Men’s pairs.  Presentations on the green after the final.

Remember, we have arranged a special deal at the Hilton, one that will be hard to beat and besides, each evening you will see most of the competitors and visit the many surrounding restaurants that will be offering specials for the Lawn Bowls crowd.

If you exit a particular event by losing too early, we will help you commiserate by arranging a day tour for your “free day”.  (The special low cost will be determined by the tour elected)
There is lots to do at this year’s Open, so be there.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me either by e-mail at mert.usopen@gmail.com or call me at 714-390-9300.
Mert

Central is the smallest division in the USLBA that experienced significant decline in membership in the past ten years due to the closure of several clubs and one club switching its division affiliation. Recently Central’s membership has stabilized, thanks in large part to Brit’s Pub in Minneapolis that provides 64 at-large memberships. The Brit’s league is composed of 64 teams of four members, and each team designates one player to be an at-large member of Central Division and USLBA.

Eight other at-large memberships come from Minnesota, Cincinnati and Mitchell SD. The new club in Mitchell plans to be fully operational later this summer and will officially join USLBA in 2011. Currenly Milwaukee and Chicago are the only two USLBA clubs in the Central Division.

Joe Zinna & Bob Schneider

1st- Bob Schneider & Joe Zinna
2nd- Steve Nelson & Carl Landgren
Reigning US pairs champions, Bob Schneider and Joe Zinna, will defend their lawn bowls title at the US National Championships in October by virtue of their victory at this weekend’s Central Division Pairs playdowns. Schneider and Zinna defeated Steve Nelson and Carl Landgren in back-to-back games to win the event. Game 1 was decided by a close measure in an extra end after the champions scored two to tie the game at the end of regulation. In game 2 Schneider and Zinna came back from five down late in the game to win by one shot on some fine draw bowls and jack movement.

This will be Schneider and Zinna’s third time to compete together in the pairs event at the US National Championships. They won previously in 2006 and 2009. Both are members of Team USA.

Jim and Max Cavender

Jim Cavender began lawn bowling 21 years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when a relative and a mutual friend invited Jim to the green to play a game. He took to the game quickly and soon was traveling near and far plying his skills in competitions. Thousands of bowls later Jim won his first U.S. national title in 1990 as pairs champion with partner Ken Degenhardt. One national title could not contain Jim’s skill as he won the U.S. singles crown in 1997. During the last few years, Jim has devoted his time and talent in tutoring his son, Max, in the game of bowls and playing together as father-son in competitions.

Max picked up his first bowl five years ago at age 13 and began bowling in tournaments with his dad the following year. Like his father, the younger Cavender possesses a deep passion and respect for the game. A bit surprisingly, Max loves hanging with the old guys, discussing the nuances of the game, shot selection, quality of greens, pros and cons of various bowls, and participating in that great lawn bowling tradition of complaining about anything and everything!

This year Max has begun to see the results he’s long desired, winning his first title at the 2010 Central Open singles event. Max had a look about him at the tournament that said, “I mean business”. He was in command not only of line, weight and shot selection, but in maintaining his focus and concentration throughout the event. On his way to winning the singles title, Max defeated four strong competitors that included current and former U.S. pairs champions, reigning U.S. singles champion and an accomplished Aussie transplant. Max’s competitors would have preferred to have been on the other end of the score, but all were pleased to see “young Max” win his first championship.

This success is not only the product of Max’s own considerable talent and effort, but the result of the love and respect for the game he learned from his father. And where was Jim at the moment Max finished up his last game to seal the title? Jim was two rinks away, getting into his stance and readying to roll a bowl. Such is the respect for the game of lawn bowling that every bowl in every game matters, and proud parental moments and celebrations can wait until the last bowl comes to rest.

(l-r) S. Nelson, M. Cavender, S. Angelo, below-future champ!

Max Cavender – a champ at 17

Max Cavender (17) went undefeated on his way to capturing the singles crown at the Central Division Open in Milwaukee. Cavender played a strong draw game with timely and accurate weighted shots to go 4-0 in the 10 man field. This is Cavender’s first title in division play.
RESULTS (all players are from CEN unless otherwise indicated):
Championship flight:
1st- Max Cavender; 2nd- Steve Nelson; 3rd- Scotty Angelo; 4th- Leif Andresen
1st flight: 1st- John Kirkwood; 2nd- Bob Schneider
2nd flight: 1st- Carl Landgren; 2nd- Jim Cavender
3rd flight: 1st- Jack Behling (SC); 2nd- Rob Behncke ]]> http://www.lawnbowlscentral.com/?feed=rss2&p=931 0 http://www.lawnbowlscentral.com/?p=928 http://www.lawnbowlscentral.com/?p=928#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:35:19 +0000 admin http://www.lawnbowlscentral.com/?p=928 Continue reading →]]> Competitors for the North American Challenge take note — the greens at Milwaukee Lake Park were running 12.7 sec on Sat, July 3. Just a week earlier the greens were running 11.5, but the speed picked up after a week of dry weather. Greenskeeper, Bob Schneider, expects the greens will be at least 13 seconds in another week with continued good weather and another round of verti-cutting.