Two players - Adrian Burbridge and Mike Ricketts both qualified for three semi-finals at Weston Men’s Open Tournament.

ADRIAN Burbridge and Mike Ricketts both qualified for three semi-finals on day five of the Weston Men’s Open Tournament, then were faced with difficult decisions.

Under tournament rules, aimed at avoiding finals day scheduling problems, players in three semis have to drop out of one event, pairs, mixed pairs or triples. Watch this space!

Besides those two, the star of the day was Clarence’s former president Don Towie. He beat 2013 champion Ricketts by three shots in a brilliant singles quarter-final, after they had been tied at 18-apiece.

Seven-times champion Adrian Burbridge came through comfortably against Victoria’s Lee Stocker, while the semi-finals also include two players from Hereford’s St Martins club, tournament regular Jim Knowles and newcomer Keith Caldicutt.

Local Towie is also through to the semis of the mixed pairs, with Wessex Ladies’ Carol Webb. They won the mixed two years ago and Towie’s accurate drawing proved decisive against the Victoria duo Pete Wyatt and Margaret Hillman.

Through to the semis for the first time are Warwickshire husband and wife Ron and Christine Povey. Wessex Ladies’ Chris Peart and Mike Ricketts, champions in 2011, came from 6-13 down after 13 of the 16 ends to beat 2014 winner Doug Lewis and Rebecca McMillan.

The fourth mixed pairs semi-finalists are two newcomers, Phil and Mary Brown, from Llanbradach, near Caerphilly. They won a close match against Brian and Betty Lindon (Barbourne).

Clarence club secretary Tony Mannion is having an outstanding tournament. He and clubmate Brian Ballinger edged out the Cornish team of Coad and Williams to reach the men’s pairs semi. Then Mannion joined two other clubmates Trevor Pritchard and Mick Edlin to give one of the strongest teams a tough test in the triples before going out.

Defending champions Gareth Burbridge and Doug Lewis picked up three shots on the last end of their pairs semi against Victoria’s Mike Cooper and Colin Gazzard, but it wasn’t quite enough and they lost by one.

Thursday’s results - singles, quarter-finals: M Ricketts (Ledbury) 18, D Towie (Clarence) 21; B Forse (St Andrews) 15, J Knowles (St Martins) 21; A Burbridge (St Dunstans) 21, L Stocker (Victoria) 9; K Caldicutt (St Martins) 22, T Bourne (Worcester) 12.

Men’s pairs, quarter-finals: M Scoins/D Thomson (Clarence) 6, M Ricketts (Ledbury)/A Burbridge (St Dunstans) 27; T Mannion/B Ballinger (Clarence) 13, P Williams (Callington)/N Coad (Carnham Down) 12; A Steer/P Villis (Banwell) 8, J Cambridge/R Gravenall (Brotherhood) 18; M Cooper/C Gazzard (Victoria) 15, G Burbridge (unatt)/D Lewis (Gloucester City) 14.

Mixed pairs, quarter-finals: S Neal (Whitehall)/M Davison (Clarence Ladies) 7, R Povey/C Povey (Kineton) 17; D Towie (Clarence)/C Webb (Wessex Ladies) 20, P Wyatt/M Hillman (Victoria) 11; D Lewis (Gloucester City)/R McMillan (St Andrews 14, M Ricketts (Ledbury)/C Peart (Wessex Ladies) 16; B Lindon/Betty Lindon (Barbourne) 14, P Brown/M Brown (Llanbradach) 16.

Men’s triples – second round (played Wednesday evening): D Quick, P Neal (Whitehall), J Couch (West Backwell) 12, T Pritchard, T Mannion, M Edlin (Clarence) 17; A Owens, B Forse (St Andrews), T Mangan (Olveston) 32, B Rogers, T Ware (St Andrews), I Shannon (Ashcombe) 0; N Stocker, L Stocker, M Stocker (Victoria) 2, D Mitchell, B Ford, J Cambridge (Brotherhood) 24; M Simpson (St Andrews), K Harvey, Will Harrison (Victoria) beat R Walker, D Taylor, M Taylor (Brotherhood), no scorecards returned; A McMillan (St Andrews), D Lewis (Gloucester City), G Burbridge (unatt) 13, R Gravenall, R Bennett, D Wood (Brotherhood) 9; T Drake (St Dunstans), K Caldicutt, J Knowles (St Martins) 19, T Hyde, P Villis, T Steer (Banwell) 10; M Campbell, D Fairhurst, D Hurst (Victoria) 11, M Laight (Pershore), B Lindon, T Arnold (Barbourne) 12; P Leadbeater (Victoria), M Ricketts (Ledbury), A Burbridge (St Dunstans) 17, K Bowen, R Priddey, William Harrison (Vines Park) 12.

Quarter-finals (played Thursday evening) – Pritchard, Mannion, Edlin 10, Owens, Forse, Mangan 17; Mitchell, Ford, Cambridge 6, Simpson, Harvey, Harrison 15; Laight, Lindon, Arnold 5, Leadbeater, Ricketts, A Burbridge 22; McMillan, Lewis, G Burbridge 16, Drake, Caldicutt, Knowles 8.