WORLD
BOWLS TOUR NEWS
Harlow
Heads Provisional WBT World Rankings
A
runner-up finish in last week’s Co-operative
Funeralcare Scottish International Open in
Perth has taken England’s Greg
Harlow to the top of the first provisional World
Bowls Tour world rankings for next season.
The
43-year-old from Ely in Cambridgeshire reached the final at Dewars after a
narrow 9-9, 7-7, 2-1 semi-final victory over Robert
Weale, the Commonwealth Games singles gold medallist from Wales – then
went down, also after a tie-break, to fellow countryman Robert
Paxton.
Weale
is at 12th place in the new list – while Paxton, the first
qualifier ever to reach the Scottish International Open final, leaps to a
career-high No7. It was from a
position of 18 in the current rankings that the 33-year-old from Exeter was
forced to qualify for the established WBT event in Scotland.
Harlow,
a former world No1, is a single point clear of the current world No1 –
Scotland’s Paul Foster who is also
the reigning world indoor champion. Foster
lost out to Weale in the Perth quarter-finals.
Scotland’s
Darren Burnett holds onto third
place in the new list, while former compatriot Stewart
Anderson leaps from 12 to five, just behind England’s fourth-placed Mervyn
King.
Ian
Bond, an Exonia club-mate of Robert Paxton, also found
his form in Perth where he fully capitalised upon his wild card to reach the
quarter-finals. Out of the current
world top 16 for the first time for more than a decade, Bond now rises to 15th
place in the provisional list and will look to consolidate his success at the Potters
Holidays World Indoor Championships in January.
Prov.
Rank (Current)
Points
1
(2)
Greg Harlow
ENG
132
2
(1)
Paul Foster
3
(3)
Darren
Burnett
SCO
100
4
(5)
5
(12)
Stewart Anderson
WAL
84
6
(4)
Mark Royal
ENG
82
7
(18)
Robert Paxton
ENG
80
8
(6)
Simon Skelton
ENG
75
9
(8)
David Gourlay
SCO
73
10
(7)
Alex Marshall
11
(9)
Jonathan Ross
SCO
69
12
(11)
Robert Weale
WAL
65
13
(10)
Andy Thomson
ENG
63
14
(16)
John Price
WAL
53
15
(17)
Ian Bond
ENG
50
16
(15)
Nick
17
(13)
Jason Greenslade
WAL
46
18
(20)
Tim Stone
ENG
44
19
(14)
Billy Jackson
ENG
41
20
(24)
Brett Arkley
ENG
39
21=
(21)
Brett Wilkie
AUS
20
21=
(27)
Neil Furman
USA
20
23
(19)
24
(28)
Ben Twist
AUS
17
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