ALAN GEARY pipped his Boscombe Cliff colleague Nicky Jones 21-20 to win a classic Bournemouth Open singles final.
The weather was red-hot at Meyrick Park and so was the quality of the players in pursuit of the £1,000 prize as 26-year-old Geary shocked favourite Jones by making a scorching start.
Geary bounded 16-8 ahead after 15 ends and was lying game at 19-13 until Jones - 21-5 semi-final conqueror of Iford Bridge's Keith Norman - came back from the brink to inch 20-19 ahead.
But just when the current Hampshire champion looked set to complete a memorable revival, Geary levelled on the next end after his opponent had been holding game and then won the last-end decider.
"What a fantastic week! The only thing that kept me going was the adrenalin when I kept winning which enabled me to overcome the heat," said a jubilant Geary.
Geary came into the singles confrontation having just played a three-hour marathon with his father Tony (also Boscombe Cliff) against John Grant and Dave Wilson from Scottish club Broxburn in the pairs final.
But far from hindering his singles display Alan cited the pairs as the reason for his excellent start as he already knew the pace of the green while Jones struggled.
The pairs took a similar path to the singles but with one major difference - the Gearys succumbed to Wilson's second comeback.
The Gearys led 9-0, trailed 14-13 but fought back well to lead 19-16 only for Grant and Wilson to take the last six ends for a 26-20 triumph.
Alan was especially delighted at reaching the final for his dad who had undergone surgery for lung cancer last November.
Alan, who interestingly introduced his father to the sport rather than the other way round, intends to buy a brand new set of coloured (dark blue) bowls for the indoor season with his singles prize money, the rest of which will be put away towards the purchase of a house.
Southbourne's John Hutchinson teamed up with Warwickshire duo Mansell Davies and John Godfrey to capture the triples 15-14 after a thriller against Ron Calton, Barry Hunt and Graham Potter from North Walsham, Norfolk.
Godfrey, who had led 9-0 at seven ends, was the last-gasp hero delivering a brilliant toucher with the final wood of the match to snatch the verdict after North Walsham had been holding with the score on 14-14.
Losing semi-finalists were that man Alan Geary, Michael Hutley and Chris Martin (Boscombe Cliff) and Chris Euripidou, Alec McKenzie (both Poole Park) and Wimborne skipper Brian Shepherd.
Surrey's Eamon Nolan - singles winner for the previous two years - joined forces with Kenny Bond, Gerry Nash and Ian Ross to sink Brazilian Marco Fabra, tournament secretary Tony Rayner (King's Park), Roy Bray (Bournemouth) and Wiltshire international Graham Shadwell 30-23 in the fours.
A seven on the ninth end proved decisive turning a 12-11 deficit into an 18-12 lead for Nolan.
Val Snook and Tony Howard from Highcliffe seized the mixed pairs 21-16 after trailing 10-7 at 10 ends to Kathy Lloyd (Chippenham) and Justin Davis (Aldershot Traction) while Barbara Brown and Denise Madgewick of Ferndown won the ladies' pairs 23-11 against Jean Beedie and Pauline Wiseman (Redhill Park).
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