A SOUTH-WEST family had a monopoly on the 2016 Victorian indoor singles bowls titles.
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Woolsthorpe farmer George Draffen and his Ballarat-based daughter Anne, who attended school in Warrnambool, won the men’s and women’s crowns respectively at Sunshine on Sunday.
It was the first time the pair, who now have five state singles titles between them, had won in the same year.
“The Draffen double was pretty exciting,” George said.
George, 55, said he took strong form into the competition, which was played over a number of weeks, culminating in the final against Colac’s Chris Price.
“We have played together in national events, played triples one year,” he said.
“He’s a quality player for Australia but at the same time he’s not a noted singles player.”
The final was forced to an extra end with scores level after 21 ends.
“I was one down and had one last bowl and made two out of it,” George said.
“I was pretty chuffed. It was the most exciting final I have been in. On the last end of regulation time I was two down and in a bit of trouble.”
Meanwhile, south-west players Maureen Drennan, Jacinta Marney, Gillian Phillips, Nicole Collins, George Draffen, Shane Cashill, Brendan Keane, Debbie Keane, Sandi Johnstone, Ian Lake, Brian Lenehan, Liam Keegan , Arthur Finch, Brett Mungean, Harvey Robbins, Jenny Meade, Bec Heard and Jacoba Mungean made the Victorian side for the national titles in New South Wales in August.