The tenth annual Eden Leisure Malta Senior Open Championships drew to a thrilling close at the Eden SuperBowl on Sunday afternoon, where the Men’s title was claimed by ex-team England player and now Senior legend Ron Oldfield, while Hildegard Kuhn from Italy, successfully defended her 2006 title by winning the ladies finals in high scoring style.
Malta’s best performance came in the ladies competition, with Josephine Borg placing a good 13th amongst the tough 56-strong female division.
Male Division
After winning the 2006 edition of the Malta Seniors, Sweden’s Christer Danielsson went on to win the 2006 European Seniors Tour, and is currently also leading the tour standings for 2007. He was always in the reckoning during this year’s tournament, placing between second and sixth throughout the three qualifying rounds while Germany’s Hermann Wimmer stayed in charge of the men’s classifications. Also in contention were Roger Pieters (Bel), Ron Oldfield (Eng), Torbjorn Karlsson (Swe), Stig Hermansson (Swe), Utz Dehler (Ger) and Stewart Meadus (Can).
That was the order of qualification for the penultimate ‘Round Robin’ stage, in which a system of bonus points per game for wins, draws and also high games is incorporated, over and above the standard pin total and age bonuses. Danielsson won six of his seven of his head-to-head encounters, and was consistently over 200, peaking with a brilliant 259 in game three.
This meant the Swede made the top four in first place, safe in the knowledge that his place in the final was secured. Wimmer won four from seven and went through in second place, followed by Roger Pieters in third and Ron Oldfield in fourth.
Stepladder match one saw ‘Ronnie O’ oust Belgian ex-World Champion Pieters with a solid 245–206 victory, and then went on to take out Hermann Wimmer in match two in a 193–225 result. The final was a repeat of the 2006 showdown in which Danielsson had easily beaten Oldfield 257–198. It was a daunting task for the Englishman as the pair matched each other frame by frame, actually finishing with a scratch tie of 217-all, but Ron’s 9-pin age bonus handed him the title via the 217–226 gross score line.
Danielsson was the first to congratulate the deserving champion, followed by a whole host of well wishers from various nations.
John Balani placed 42nd, which was Malta’s best showing in the Men’s division.
Female Division
The ladies division was led by Finland’s Hannele Uotila, who improved from seventh place to top the standings for the top eight ‘Round Robin’ stage. She was joined by , in order, Jan Hodge (Eng), Brenda Pratt (Eng), Sonja Carlsson Ostlund (Swe), Liz Pond (Eng), Farida Pascoal-Blom (Hol), defending Champion Hildegard Kuhn (Ita) and finally Ewa Krantz (Swe).
The Finn kept her top placing through the seven round robin matches, winning five of them and rolling five 200+ games to pick up some valuable bonus points, and booking her place in the final. She was joined in the stepladder by Jan Hodge, Hildegard Kuhn and Ewa Krantz.
Malta’s Josephine Borg proudly placed 13th in the ladies division – an excellent achievement for the local girl among a very tough field.
The defending champion made light work of beating Krantz in the opening match, winning it 224–172 to make the semi final against Jan Hodge. The Englishwoman’s luck ran out against the in-form Italian, Kuhn qualifying for the final against Uotila with a top class 169–236 victory.
Hildegard also made the final game look too easy, never troubled over the ten frames, winning it 172–247 to be the first ever bowler to retain the Senior Open title.
Picture shows 2007 senior champions Hildegard Kuhn and Ron Olfield with their trophies, in the grounds of the luxurious InterContinental, Malta. A lively presentation banquet was held at the hotel, during which Neil Dent, SuperBowl GM presented over EUR15,000 in prize money, as well as trophies for the new champions.
All details of the Eden Leisure Senior Open, including all scores and standings, can be seen at www.edensuperbowl.com (tournaments section).