Jacobs, big names return for Singles

By ADAM HICKS

WALTER JACOBS is returning the Ballina Bowling and Recreation Club greens.

And this time he is going solo.

Last week, he partnered Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Kelvin Kerkow, to within one match of winning the Summerland Pairs.

They cruised into the final and jumped to an early 9-3 lead, before eventual champions Chris Ramage and Neville Downs took control.

"My performance was pretty good except for the final," he said.

"The conditions were very difficult ... very wet.

"The opposition lead really found his line and weight and he basically out-played me and that cost us the match.

"At that level you have to be pretty close to the jack if you are going to score."

Tomorrow, the Sydney bowler returns for to compete in the Summerland Singles, his fourth year at the event.

"The singles are very hard up here," he said.

"It is a very high standard of competition.

"The best bowlers come to play here."

Big names

Confirmed entrants in this year's Summerland Singles are defending champion Brian Baldwin, NSW champion Matthew Pietersen, and the up and coming Ballina 14-year-old, Aaron Teys.

The singles format sees the first group of 32 players compete tomorrow.

The second group of the 32 play on Saturday and the top four from each day go through to Sunday's finals.

Jacobs said the draw included too many good players to predict who would win.

"There's some terribly good names there," he said.

He would make not predictions about his chances either.

"I don't make predictions," he said.

"You just play as hard as you can.

"Shot for shot. End for end.

"You focus on winning one at a time and if you can do that you can achieve.

"It's when you think about winning the game that you don't usually win."

So the trick is to win without thinking of it.

"You just try to maintain momentum and score head for head and not let them get in front," he said.