17-Year-Old Wins NSW Open with Bec Whiting Winning a 4th Title

At the age of 17, Tenpin City bowler Jordan Dinham has defeated the likes of Sam Cooley and Glen Loader to win the weekend’s NSW Open, with Bec Whiting taking out the women’s division for a 4th time.

After winning last month’s SA Youth Masters, Dinham lined up for qualifying on Saturday as a ranked outsider with the field boasting plenty of talent.  However, from game 1, Dinham came out strong bowling 235 to then back it up with 237, 277, 268 and 248 in the first block of 5 games.

In block 2, Dinham kept his strong start bowling games of 255, 234, 246, 194 and 184 to lead qualifying heading into Stage 1 of the finals by 70 pins from next best Glen Loader.

In Stage 1, Dinham continued to find his line bowling games of 203, 205, 257 and 230 to increase his lead by 145 pins from second-placed Sam Cooley.

With the field cutting to 16 and a further 4 games to decide the top 8 for the match play rounds, Dinham bowled 217 in game 1, to then wobble in games 2 to 4 bowling 186, 198 and 184. But the junior bowler still held a sizable lead of 66 pins heading into the match play rounds.

With it on the line Dinham won the first match and then went on to win matches 4, 5 and 6 to take the 2018 NSW Open title by 60 pins from fast finishing Glen Loader (5615) and Sam Cooley (5442) in 3rd.

In the women’s division, Australia’s number one female bowler Bec Whiting was the favourite leading into the tournament having claimed the title in 2014, 2015, 2016.

When qualifying got underway for Whiting on Saturday afternoon, it took her the first two games of 180 and 183 to find her line.  The powerful right-hander then showed why she is leading the 2018 rankings after bowling games of 243, 258, 268, 212, 202, 213, 205 and 171 to lead the field by 96 pins and head into the match play rounds.

After winning the opening two matches, Whiting firmed her lead.  After dropping the third match the Victorian hit back in matches 4 and 5, which was enough to see the 28 year-old win her third title of the year by 42 pins from Minhee Kim (3551) and 2017 winner Narelle Baker (3479) in 3rd.