Twenty-two-year-old Welsh international Andrew Hopkins achieved one of his bowls dreams on Saturday - winning Tenbys coveted Gold Cup.

Andrew, the 2008 Percy Howells Silver Bowl champion, lives overlooking Resolven Bowling Club where he plays, but has been coming to play at the Tenby Open Week for the last five years.

In recent years, Andrew, a clerk to the contracts and tenders team in the legal services department with the City and County of Swansea, has been unable to actually play in the Gold Cup because the opening day clashed with the junior international trial, but this year, with the trial being already out of the way and Andrew retaining his place as one of the skips, he was able to concentrate on the Tenby tournaments.

After sneaking home 21-20 in the semi-final against Nicky Jones, of Ystradfechan BC, Andrew played David Evans, of Llanellis Parc-y-Dre Club, in the final.

In the first round, David knocked out previous doubles winner, Lee Williamson, of Cheltenham BC, and in the semi-final ended the hopes of the last local man standing, John Roberts.

David, whose clubmate is five times Gold Cup winner, David Kingdon, got off to the better start, leading 8-3 after six ends. He led 10-6 at 10 ends, but then Andrew scored a single, a three, a two and a one without reply to get his nose in front 12-10.

The pair peeled at 12-all on the 14th end, before Andrew stepped up a gear.

He chalked up seven shots to his opponents single and had one hand on the Gold Cup as he led 17-13 on the 18th end.

Thirteen did not prove too unlucky for David, the Five Arches Bowl winner in 2005 and 2006, but he did only score another single as Andrew scored two ones and a double to win 21-14.

First to congratulate Andrew were his opponent and the marker, Brian Kingdon, closely followed by Andrews biggest fans, his parents Carol and John.

Said Andrew afterwards: The Gold Cup win is probably ranked up there with my career highlight of winning the Welsh U16 and U25 singles indoors in 2005, as I was the first player to do this. I also had a fifth place finish at the Junior Worlds the following season.

The feeling of winning the Gold Cup is like no other, as you know that you have played out of your skin to win it, such is the quality of the field, as well as the quality of players who have won it previously.

The tournament is one of the most respected and prestigious, not just in in Wales, but in the whole of the British Isles, so to rise to the top is just a fantastic feeling.

For most of the week, Andrew was in contention for the dream double.

He also enjoyed a successful run in the Percy Howells Silver Bowl until he was beaten in the quarter-final by Anthony Smith, of Gilfach Goch, the Vale of Glamorgan singles champion, who is the uncle of junior star, Jarrad Breen.

Incidentally, Andrew had beaten him on the way to the Gold Cup final - funny old game bowls!

Tenby hero

The host club had their own hero in the Percy Howells Silver Bowl in Tenby skip, Phil Carpenter.

Saturdays success was his third in the silver, having previously won the bowl in 1998 and 2003.

Forty-four-year-old Phil, who lives and works in Aberfan, had already enjoyed victories in open tournaments at Brecon and Llandrindod this year.

In the final, he played the renowned David Kingdon. He has his name on the Gold Cup honours board five times, but amazingly had never won the silver. And so that remains.

Despite having the better start, Phil came from being 8-3 down at seven ends, to draw level eight-all on the ninth end.

David then picked up five shots on the trot, before Phil replied with two singles and a double to close the gap to just one shot, 13-12, on the 14th end.

Alas, that was the last time he was to score as Phil, who recently won the county fours with clubmates Mike Jackson, John Baggot and John Roberts, finished strongly, scoring three singles, a two and a full-house as he ran out a 21-14 winner.

It was a great game, said Phil afterwards, as it always is against David. It could have gone either way, but on this occasion my weighted bowls came off.

Tenby very nearly had two players in the final, Craig Guymer being beaten by David Kingdon in the semi-final.

Five arches

winner

The Five Arches Bowl, meanwhile, was won by Daniel Davies, of Beaufort, grandson of Tom Daniel, a former Gold and Silver winner.

He beat John Smith, of Ammanford Park, 21-10 in a 19-end contest, to record his first success on the Sutton Street green.

Two Tenby teenagers did particularly well in this contest, Ben Cloake was one of the semi-finalists, while county Under 18s champion, Cameron White, got to the quarter-finals.

Sponsored by Carlsberg/Tetley, the 86th Tenby Open carried a total prize money of £2,090.

The tournament was organised by Lynn Delabertouche, who ensured everything ran like clockwork.

The trophies were presented by the Mayor of Tenby, Clr. Mrs. Julie Evans, assisted by Deputy Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sandra Williams. The prize-money was presented by club president, Pat Currie.

Results in the closing rounds were as follows:

Gold Cup

Quarter-finals: Nicky Jones 21 Harry Phillips 16; Adrian Evans 11 Andrew Hopkins 21; John Roberts 21 Steve Hill 4; Ashley Hooper 11 David Evans 21.

Semi-finals: Andrew Hopkins 21 Nicky Jones 20; John Roberts 15 David Evans 21.

Final: Andrew Hopkins 21 David Evans 14.

Percy Howells Silver Bowl

Quarter-finals: Phil Carpenter 21 Steve Hill 18; John Roberts 6 Craig Guymer 21; David Kingdon 21 Paul Diment 19; Andrew Hopkins 19 Anthony Smith 21.

Semi-finals: David Kingdon 21 Craig Guymer 12; Phil Carpenter 21 Anthony Smith 15.

Final: David Kingdon 14 Phil Carpenter 21.

Five Arches

Quarter-finals: Paul Bancroft 10 Danny Davies 21; Tommy Nutt 12 Mark Howells 21; John Smith 21 Cameron White 15; Nigel Davies 18 Ben Cloake 21.

Semi-finals: Mark Howells 19 Daniel Davies 21; Ben Cloake 13 John Smith 21.

Final: Daniel Davies 21 John Smith 10.

St. Thomas 80 Five Arches 65

After a lengthy break since our last game, almost three weeks, we travelled to Haverfordwest to take on St. Thomas.

Although the league title is beyond us, it was important to do well in the last three games to secure second place.

Unfortunately, we were denied one of our players shortly before we had to travel and therefore had to play with only 15.

The games against St. Thomas are traditionally close - only six shots separated the teams at the beginning of the season.

On rink two, Roy, supported by Ken, Ken and Joe, who stepped in to help us out after his Carruthers triumph the day before, were involved in a tight game until the 15th end.

With the game evenly balanced, the St. Thomas quartet forged ahead, winning five of the last six ends to run out winners, 25-14.

Rink three saw Tony and his triple of Mike and Clive up against a tricky rink and an on-fire Peter Jenkins. Again the game was evenly poised until the 16th end where a loss of six shots proved decisive and St. Thomas pulled away to win by 23 shots to eight.

Ashley and his rink of Dai, Tony and Gwyn were hoping to continue their winning ways from previous weeks. However, a slow start saw them down by 10 shots to three after eight ends. A fine comeback was mounted, though. Winning 10 of the remaining 13 ends, they overwhelmed their opponents and eased to a 23-13 win.

Lee, ably supported by the returning Stuart, John and Ray, had an explosive start, being 11-1 up after seven ends. In an evenly-matched second half, the St. Thomas foursome fought back well and almost clinched the game on the final end. However, Lee and his rink hung on to record a 20-19 victory.

Another disappointing result for the Five Arches, but with the next game on Sunday against the Pembroke Dock Mariners, which in effect will be a play-off for second place, all is not yet lost.

Rink scores (Five Arches first, St. Thomas skips only):

Ken Lloyd, Ken Williams, Joe Richards, Roy Powling 14; N. Brown 25.

Mike Gouldingay, Clive Webb, Tony Brown 8; T. Harries 23.

Dai Rees, Tony Powling, Gwyn Beynon, Ashley Hooper 23; L. Hoad 13.

Stuart Askew, John Hubbard, Ray Taylor, Lee Richards 20; R. Harries 19.

Welsh Club Championship quarter-final

Tenby v Glyncorrwg (Neath/Port Talbot)

As mentioned in last weeks report, following the conclusion of the Gold Cup tournament, Tenby faced formidable opposition in the Afan Valley side, Glyncorrwg, in their bid to retain the Carruthers Shield.

With home advantage and the manner of the win against Pontrhydyfen making Tenby favourites, the Afan Valley side enjoyed their role of underdogs and proved throughout the match that they did not travel to Tenby just to make up the numbers.

After one end, the match was 6-5 to Tenby and all looked to be going well until the Corrwg turned up the heat on an already hot afternoon.

After five ends, Pat Currie was 8-1 and Phil Carpenter was 11-0 down. Paul Diment and Craig Guymer tried to steady the ship and led 7-2 and 5-3, respectively. A lead of 11 shots to the away side this early in the game did not bode well and the large Sutton Street crowd were silenced by the scattering of away supporters who were now, even though still early in the match, sensing victory.

Paul Diments rink continued to surge away, and at 10 ends led by 13-4. Craig Guymer also extended his lead against Welsh international and current British Isles champion, Ross Tomlinson, by 10-5.

Phil Carpenter was still struggling against John Tomlinson, but had reduced the deficit to 13-6. It was on rink one, however, where all was changing in Tenbys favour, with John Roberts playing superbly to help the rink to trail by the one shot. At 10 ends, Tenby found themselves six shots ahead and had outscored their opponents by 17 shots between ends five to 10.

The question on everyones mind was whether Tenby would further press home their advantage or would Glyncorrwg find the spirit to pull the game around in their favour?

At the 15 end mark, Paul Diment, with Joe Richards and Peter Day playing some great bowls, further extended their lead to 14 shots (20-6); Craig Guymer, with his brother also playing at the top of his game, was beginning to demoralise Ross Tomlinson by continuing to convert opportunities set-up by Luke Rees and Mike Jackson, and now led by 18 shots to five.

Phil Carpenter continued to keep things tight and was behind by five (15-10) and the Pat Currie revival continued to now level the game at 15-15.

With Tenby now having a lead of 22 shots with only 24 playing ends remaining (six ends by four rinks), it was now their game to lose.

Paul Diment continued to forge ahead, taking a four, three and a two over the closing six ends to record a final winning scoreline of 29-11. Craig Guymer finished winning four out of the last six ends to record a very impressive 24-8 victory over the talented Ross Tomlinson.

Phil Carpenters four tried their best to close the gap, but in the end had to settle for a five-shot defeat, which after seven ends, when 13-0 down, would have been more than welcome. Credit to the rink for their fighting spirit.

Pat Currie had also come back level at 15 ends, but a dropped five on the 16th end, followed by losing three out of the last five ends, saw them fall away to a seven-shot defeat.

Therefore, a win of 22 shots (85-63) to the Welsh champions, in a match kindly sponsored by Betfred.

Tenby will now travel to Llandrindod Wells, the Welsh Bowling Association headquarters, on Saturday, August 21, to face Ferndale from Mid Glamorgan in the semi-finals, which will be held at 9.30 am. If a win is achieved, they will then play either Porthcawl or Dinas Powis at 2 pm that afternoon.

The team would like to take this opportunity to thank the club and in particular, Lynn Deli, for her co-operation with regard to ensuring that the match could be played due to her taking the effort to reschedule the Gold Cup.

Finally, congratulations to Phil Carpenter on winning his third Silver Bowl and to John Roberts and Craig Guymer on reaching the semi-finals of Gold Cup and Silver Bowl, respectively.

Rink scores:

N. Dickinson, J. Baggott, J. Roberts and P. Currie 18; Glyncorrwg 25.

D. Spencer, J. Richards, P. Day and P. Diment 29; Glyncorrwg 11.

G. Hewitt, J. Webb, A. Muskett and P. Carpenter 14; Glyncorrwg 19.

L. Rees, M. Jackson, L. Guymer and C. Guymer 24; Glyncorrwg 8.