2023 Australian Open preview
The Gold Coast is yet again poised to play host to the world’s biggest bowls festival as the 2023 Australian Open commences for its largest edition yet, with a plethora of stars from home and abroad set to dazzle fans with sensational action.
As it was in 2022, there will be no men’s singles ‘next best qualifiers’, making every win vital and every loss a ramification that could spell the end for one’s event.
Fresh off two World Bowls Indoor Championships gold medals, defending champion Aron Sherriff returns in stellar form that sees him bolt into immediate pre-tournament favouritism for a record extending fifth singles title.
His section consists of New South Welshman Matthew Hooker and the Victorian duo of Johan Fourie and Christopher Thomas.
Sherriff’s 2023 World Bowls Championships teammate and 2022 runner-up Corey Wedlock makes his return to the Australian Open in search of his maiden crown at the event in any discipline.
The duo will also team up in the fours with fellow Right at Home Jackaroos in Barrie Lester and Aaron Teys in the fours event, with the pair also fronting up in the singles.
2015 champion Teys faces off against Victoria’s James Gonera, Western Australian Joshua Vlahos and Queenslander Frank Obah in his section, while the former pairs winner in Lester will be pitted against John Dixon, Greg John and Shane Hinsch.
World Championships bound Carl Healey, one of the defending men’s fours champions, is back in action, as are two of his 2022 Australian Open winning teammates in Gary Kelly and five-time tournament conqueror Nathan Pedersen.
Ben Twist and Aaron Wilson will return to defend their crown, with the latter looking for his third singles title in addition to his campaign with his Australian teammate.
Twist, a former champion in pairs, triples and fours, will look to complete his full set of trophies with a singles triumph on the Gold Coast.
2021 pairs winner Cody Packer and his Jackaroo teammate Matt Lucas will be back in action at the tournament, as will Jesse Noronha.
Other notables playing the tournament will be Bowls Premier League (BPL) stalwarts Chris Rosanes, Taelyn Male and Blake Nairn, while coaches John Higgins, Kevin Anderson and Ryan Burnett are also. In addition, former Melbourne Pulse coaches Rob Wilson and Scott De Jongh will try their hand at glory.
De Jongh faces a tricky singles section, consisting of 2022 multi disability pairs runner up Clive Williams and Pathways Jackaroo Jake Rynne.
Rynne’s fellow Pathways squad members and brothers Kane and Jacob Nelson will be striving for success in their home state, as will the in form Queenslanders in Nick Cahill and Cohen Litfin.
South Australian Emerging Jackaroo Nathan Black will make the trip to the Gold Coast looking for a piece of national silverware, as will Para Jackaroos David Minns and Damien Delgado, the latter being pitted against 2021 fours champion David Ferguson in his open singles section.
2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and 2021 multi-disability pairs champion Tony Bonnell will contest the tournament as well, and has been drawn against Bowls WA CEO Ken Pride in the men’s singles sectional round.
Finally, 2021 and 2022 boys’ singles winner Joseph Clarke returns but to only contest the open events, 2019 Australian Indoor conqueror Rob Briglia will be on the green looking for more success on the national stage, as will 2021 Australian fours winner Paul Sinden.
In the women’s draw, defending women’s singles and fours champion Kelsey Cottrell is back as she aims to win an unprecedented eleventh on-green crown at the Australian Open to go with her 2021 and 2022 Player of the Tournament accolades.
Her singles section sees her face off against Queensland’s Denise Burey, New South Wales’ Diane Moore and Tasmania’s Denise Tanner.
Cottrell’s fellow ten-time Australian Open champion, defending fours winner and World Bowls Championships teammate Lynsey Clarke will be back for more glory in her home city.
Clarke’s singles section fellow Gold Coast natives in Tilly Orero and Janelle Evans, as well as 2019 pairs champion and former Jackaroo Genevieve Delves in what is sure to be a mouthwatering clash.
Cottrell and Clarke will again team up in the pairs as they look to regain the title they last claimed in 2021, as well as the fours with the likes of recently retired Australian star and five-time Australian Open champion Rebecca Van Asch and Anne Johns, who has herself lifted an Australian Open trophy on eight occasions, boasting a complete set of singles, pairs, triples and fours.
World Bowls Championships bound and Commonwealth Games winning duo of Kristina Krstic and Ellen Ryan will also be back as they look to get as many ends on the Gold Coast greens as they can before they return for Australia in August.
It is no surprise that the best friends will team up again in the pairs and fours, with Krstic’s singles campaign kicking off with matchups against New South Wales’ Genevieve Staunton-Latimer, Hong Kong’s Wai-Ling Lam May and Queenslander Vikki Grenot.
Ryan, a three-time champion overall and 2017 player of the tournament, will face Barb McNeill, Gill Oliver and Rita Saunders in her singles section as she looks for her third singles crown.
Bowls Australia’s (BA) HP Manager for Para Bowls and former Commonwealth and World Champion Ellen Falkner will join Krstic and Ryan in the fours, as will Emerging Jackaroo Brianna Smith.
Jackaroo Dawn Hayman will look to go one better in her singles campaign having fallen agonisingly short of Cottrell in the 2022 final, and will kickstart her tournament with contests against Cathy Verdich, Heather Thompson and Jill Christie.
Hayman’s fellow national teammates in Chloe Stewart, Jamie-Lee Warsnop and Bolivia Millerick will also be in action as they look to etch their names into the tournament’s history books.
Inaugural player of the tournament and Jackaroo Natasha Van Eldik is back on the Gold Coast as she looks for yet more silverware for her already illustrious trophy cabinet.
The 32-year-old will strive to add to her three singles crowns as she takes on South Australia’s Hanika Booth and the Victorian duo of Olivia Cartwright and Nicole McKenzie in the sectional round.
Reigning pairs champion Olivia Bloomfield is also back for more glory after one of the most wonderful narratives in the tournament’s history in 2022.
Both will contest all three disciplines, as will the duo they defeated in last year’s decider in Wendy Wilson and Triss Doolan.
Emerging Jackaroo Kate Argent Bowden will return to the scene of her two girl’s singles titles, but at 18-years-old she will only be entering the open disciplines this year, entering the singles and partnering with Pathways Jackaroo Sophie Kurzman in the pairs and fours.
Joining them in the field will be Argent Bowden’s fellow Emerging national squad members in the form of another former girl’s singles champion in Kira Bourke, as well as Grace Moloney, Jessie Cottell and Cassandra Millerick, with both take part in all three disciplines.
New Zealand international and Queensland native Katelyn Inch will be in action as she looks to continue her solid form leading into the World Bowls Championships in August.
2022 girl’s singles runner up Taylor De Greenlaw will also be back in action, as will former Australian Champion of Champions winner Colleen Orr.
Finally, former World Bowls Championships singles winner Carmen Anderson will take her place in the draw.
The 2023 Australian Open will run from the June 10-23, 2022 on the Gold Coast in Queensland with Rinkside Live coverage from 9am AEST daily (except June 15) on Bowls Australia’s Facebook page.
The Australian Open is supported by Major Events Gold Coast and the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.
