Langford Powers To Win At Kegel QLD Open
By Jim Sultana
Powerful left-hander Jarrod Langford has beaten a highly credentialed field at the weekends Kegel QLD Open at Caboolture Bowl to win the first open ranked event of 2019.
The newly developed finals format made for an exciting finish to this year’s event. The top 8 players (made up of 4 ladies and 4 men) competed in a 2 game eliminator. Langford qualified in first place and drew Bec Whiting, who qualified fourth. Langford was out of the blocks fast with an impressive 2 game series of 534 (279 & 255) to Whiting’s 404 series (221 & 183). Langford’s win progressed him to the semi-finals where he waited to see who his next opponent would be.
Number 2 seed Minhee Kim also won her first match, defeating Alicia Melton 457 to Melton’s 348, progressing Kim to the semi-finals. Kim’s next opponent would be Bec Whiting who defeated Chris Haynes from New Zealand in the second round of the finals, 200 to 170.
The scene was set for a big semi-final with Kim the former Korean representative up against Australia’s number 1 Bec Whiting. A 202-192 saw Kim progress to the final match against Langford.
In the final and with the pressure on, Langford hung on to bowl 194 with Kim bowling 178 to win the 2019 Kegel QLD Open.
On Friday in qualifying Langford shot to the lead averaging an impressive 235 across the opening 12 games to lead the 91 strong field.
In stage 3, the North Queenslander kept up the high scoring bowling games of 243, 208, 248 and it was enough to see the 23 year-old build 157-pin lead with stage 4 to go.
In the final 4 games, Langford continued his form bowling 238, 221, 222 and 249 to move into the match play rounds as the top seed.
For the final standings visit www.tenpinresults.com.au
