10 March, 2017
In just his second season on the World Bowls Tour, 29 year old Aero Sales Executive Jamie Chestney from Exeter won his first ever Ranking event denying Blantyre’s Stewart Anderson in the final of the Co-op Funeralcare International Open at Blackpool last night.
After an engrossing two hour head to head, Chestney, seeded 14, who lost in the final last year to Scotland’s David Gourlay, put the first set in the bag with an end to spare, scoring a treble on the tenth end and after a titanic struggle in the second, scored singles on each of the last three ends to seal the title 9-4, 8-6.
On his way to the title he beat Israel’s Shalom Ben Ami in the first round followed by a 7-7, 10-5 win over English qualifier Scott Edwards and got revenge over Gourlay 8-8, 8-5.