BAINFIELD crowned its first Masters champion and the hero figure hailed by the crowded banking was one of Scotland's finest in the shape of Willie Wood MBE of West Barns in East Lothian.
Wood is no stranger to taking the Capital by storm as he was always the major crowd puller when competing in the famous Balgreen Tournament when it was at its height.
The then Wizard from Gifford reached five finals of what became known as the Edi
nburgh Open and was the title winner in 1967 and 1976. The Bainfield Masters is seen as a successor to the now defunct Open so Wood has created a memorable link. And it was a fitting baptism for the £1500 event sponsored by Brian Dickson Green Services that the 128-strong field was whittled down to a high profile final featuring Wood, the No.1 seed, and No.3 Robert Marshall of Slateford.
"It is extremely sad that the old Trades Holiday tournament at Balgreen is dead and buried but the writing was on the wall for sometime.
"It is greatly encouraging however that a neighbour club has made this big effort to fill the gap," said Wood.
Wood triumphed 12-7 over Marshall having fired up his challenge for the £600 title with a sizzling start to lead 5-1. Then, with Marshall showing menace at 8-5, the 70-year old bowling phenomenon raised the stakes with a 1, 2 response to 11 with two ends to play. His road to the later stages of the event saw Wood first of all beat an old rival in the shape of City legend Willie Dyet then account for Robert White (Dean), Mandy O'Donnell (Bainfield) and Alan Young of Tranent. It then looked all over for the top seed when he trailed Alan Poole of Carrick Knowe 9-4 in the quarter-finals. However, a typically gargantuan effort saw him escape to a dramatic extra end victory with a 3, 2, 1 finish.
Wood next clashed with former Edinburgh Open champion Jamie Gracie of Sighthill in the semis and having raced into a 7-0 lead answered growing pressure at 9-7 to win 14-9 against the No.14 seed.
Robert Marshall's early battles saw him defeat Martin Cameron (Bainfield), Tony Abernethy (Bainfield) Kevin Hunter (Craigentinny) and Scott Cumming of Bainfield to reach the last eight. Marshall then crushed No.2 seed Mal Higgenbotham (Tanfield) 13-4 but found life much tougher in his semi-final where an epic battle saw him edge an 11-10 win over Richard Tough of Carrick Knowe.
Other quarter-final highlights saw Jamie Gracie stage a sensational fight back from 3-9 to pip local icon Alex Ross with a 1, 2, 3, 1 finish, while Tough finished with a hat trick of 2s to beat David Ross of Juniper Green, 14-10.
Four seeds bit the dust in the first round, Colin Walker of Pathhead (9), Colin Hutchison of Goldenacre (12), Craig Moss of Bainfield (13) and Slateford's Andrew Ramsay of (15) the victims.
Walker was dispatched by Graham Pringle of Carrick Knowe, Moss by his 16-year-old club mate Kyle Clabby, Hutchison by Murray Brown of Bainfield, and Ramsay by Ian Brown of Bainfield..
"We had thrills and spills and moments of great drama and exciting climax all watched by a large crowd on both days so our first Bainfield Masters has been an outstanding success and will be back on the calendar for 2009," summed up organiser Paul O'Donnell.
