The BLBC 2026 2-Bowl Singles Tournament took place on Saturday, March 7 under sunny skies. But despite the higher-than-average Bay Area temperatures for the time of year, there were no complaints   from the 14 bowlers who had signed up for the competition—although maybe a few were left wondering if the late morning gusts of 25+ mph winds could be used to excuse an errant shot or two. 

The format was, as the title identifies, two bowls per player. The goal in each game was first to 15 points. Following a random draw to determine the first round of play, bowlers were matched in a modified strength v strength process. From a strong field, four players emerged as the leading quartet after the first two rounds—Kevin Reynolds, Cris Benton, Chris Davis (each with two wins) and Daniel Gorelick (one win, one loss, but just enough of a positive differential to edge out both Ben Corson and Mark Baker by one point). 

What was effectively a pair of semifinals matched Kevin against Daniel and Cris versus Chris in two tight games. In the latter, Cris and Chris traded the lead until the position stood at 9-9 after thirteen ends. But then Chris D got into a run and brought the score to 13-9 by the sixteenth end and within sight of victory. Cris B was not giving up, however, and took one point on each of the next two ends to narrow the gap to 11-13. But on the following end, Chris managed to find the remaining two points needed to secure the win.

If that was a close enough battle, over on the neighboring rink Kevin and Daniel were in a dogfight. Kevin jumped into a 10-5 lead by the tenth end, but then Daniel applied the pressure as only Daniel can, scoring seven points over the next four ends to edge in front 12-10. Kevin replied with a 2, a 1, and a 1, to reverse the lead to 14-12. Daniel wasn’t letting that phase him, and tied the game up at 14 apiece on the next end. But Kevin kept his cool and, with one point on the final end, prevailed by the narrowest possible margin 15-14. 

Perhaps it was Kevin’s continued adrenaline from the third game, or perhaps Chris had relaxed a little while waiting for the Kevin v Daniel scrap to finish, but Kevin built up a steady but substantial head of steam in the final, leading by 11-4 after thirteen ends, and by 14-5—on the edge of victory—after sixteen. Chris sought to recover momentum with one point on each of the next two ends, but Kevin killed the game off with the needed single point on the eighteenth, thereby preventing Chris from repeating his win in the 2024 edition of this tournament. Congratulations to Kevin on his consistent strong performance throughout the day, and thanks as always to the “usual suspects”—the greenskeepers, the markers, the hospitality team, and all those who helped with early set up. The TD wishes to express his particular thanks to Daniel who brought his computer to the event with the tournament spreadsheet on it—unlike the TD who forgot his!