THIS weekend, Fraserburgh Leisure Centre stages the first qualifying session for the Gray & Adams Invitation Bowls, which, as it did last year, attracts a very large entry.
Pictured (from left) are Alex Marshall MBE, James J Gray of Gray and Adams, and Paul Foster. Alex and Paul won the tournament last year.
The final will take place on Sunday, April 18 but qualifying sessions will be on Sunday, March 14 and Sat 20th and Sunday 21st March. The winners from those qualifiers will play the final stages of the competition over the weekend of April 17-18.
The draw for the qualifying sessions has been made and as always some good pairings have been drawn from the hat.
On Sunday, March 14 battling it out for a place to take on the big guns of Scottish Bowls will be: J. Robbie and P. Smart; A. Noble and K. Harper; D. Colvin and G. Barclay; S. Murray and S. Davidson; I. Cartney and L. Forbes; Kevin Stephen and M. Burden; B. Menzies and B. Smith; A. Bruce and B. McKay; M. Baxter and G. Forbes; P. Hay and A. Elrick; D. Murray and A. Rough; Kenny Stephen and D. Mitchell; D. Brown and G. Pirie; A. Campbell and W. Tulloch; J. Harper and D. Anderson; D. Pirie and G. Fraser.
Sunday's line up includes one of last year's runners up Dod Barclay who, along with Neil Warren, in last year's final gave the two seasoned professionals such a good game.
This year the defending champions, Alex Marshall MBE and Paul Foster, will be joined by 'Mr Bowls' himself, Willie Woods MBE, and David Peacock.
Annette Christie and Jean Sykes from Scotland Ladies will also be trying to wrest the top prize from Tattie Marshall and Paul Foster's grip.
Next week's Herald will carry a list of players who have qualified for the final session and also a list of players due to play on March 20 & 21.
