Experienced Tauranga lawn bowler Sue Hodges is celebrating her fourth national title after a commanding performance in the champion of champions singles at the Dunedin stadium.

The Bay of Plenty representative, who plays out of the Tauranga club in the Domain, went through the prestigious event unbeaten and beat Auckland’s Lisa Prideaux 21-16 in the final in the Hopes Stadium.

Hodges celebrated back in the city where she started her bowls, in 1995 at the Logan Park Business Women’s Bowling Club, before moving to the rural club of Outram.

“It was great,” says Hodges.

“It’s such a strong field and I was stoked just to qualify. Then I took it game by game.”

Hodges got in some handy practice by playing an evening league of three games beforehand.

“That helped me get used to the surface and speed, and then it was just mental focus.”

She breezed through the qualifying matches, beating North Harbour’s Lisa Dickson 21-11, Madeline McGee (West Coast) 21-3, Jenny Anderson (Marlborough) 21-15, and Debbie Jackson (Central Otago) 21-9.

Her consistency and focus never relented. She overpowered best friend Beth Brown (Dunedin) 21-12 in the quarterfinals and Cheryn Menhennett (Hawke’s Bay) in the semi-finals.

Hodges quickly fell behind 7-1 in the final against Prideaux. “A slow start never worries me because I’m tenacious,” she says. Hodges clawed her way back to 4-8 and then picked up a four to level at 8-all.

Hodges was finally ahead 15-14, 18-16 after picking up three shots and 19-16. Hodges played another tight end, and with her last bowl Prideaux played with weight, only to see her dangerous-looking bowl wick off a shorter one and Hodges was left with two winning shots.

She won the national champion of champions fours with Margaret Reid, Robyn Davis, and Jenny Welch while a member of the Tauranga South club; the national inter-centre championship with Bay of Plenty in 2017; and the national inter-club with Tauranga two seasons ago.

She was runner-up to Canterbury’s Sandra Keith in the national champion of champions singles event in 2015.

“All the previous national titles have been in teams play which I enjoy, and I’m thrilled to have also done it by myself - that’s the icing on the cake,” says Hodges, who is now spurred to win her fifth championship, whatever discipline.

Hodges moved north to the Bay of Plenty in 2015 after winning 18 centre titles in Dunedin. During the past decade Hodges has added a further 16 - a total of 34 centre titles in 29 years of playing.

Hodges reckons she’s just been through a quiet season.

“I haven’t done much at all except win the singles at the centre level and the national.”

But then she mentions the Taranaki Open Fours win with her dual Ōmokoroa members Ruth Lynch, Karen Pickering and Michelle Morrison.

– SunLive