Alex Marshall stares intently at the small white ball on the other end of the green, puts his left hand on his thigh and in one sweeping motion genuflects while swinging his right arm like a pendulum, releasing the bowl on its precise, short-lived journey.
The bowl rolls smoothly down the green in an arc before resting a foot away from the jack.
To the untrained eye, Marshall’s delivery may appear to be nothing special. But expert lawn bowlers would disagree: Marshall’s arm motion is a thing of beauty.
“It’s like watching Arnold Palmer swing a golf club or Tom Brady throwing a football,” said Barry Hayes, a lawn bowler from Huntington Beach. “It’s a super smooth delivery and he makes it look very easy.”
Marshall, a 46-year-old from Edinburgh, Scotland, is among several of the world’s best bowlers competing at the U.S. Open of Lawn Bowls, which is being held at the Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club and other locations.
About 300 players from nine different countries are participating in the “biggest bowls event in America,” U.S. Open of Lawn Bowls Chairman Mert Isaacman said.
This week, men and women have played several games – as singles, pairs and quadruples – leading up to Saturday’s grand finals at the Laguna Beach Lawn Bowling Club.
Lawn bowling is similar to bocce in that the objective is to roll a ball – called a bowl, a sphere weighted on one side – close to a smaller white target ball about 75 feet away called a “jack” or “kitty.” On the surface, the game may look simple, but there’s an element of strategy, precision and physical stamina involved.
“It’s like a game of chess,” said Myrna Chan, a committee member at the U.S. Open of Lawn Bowls. “You have to be able to not only place your bowl next to the jack but also have to think two, three or four moves ahead of your opponent, and do it all day.”
Games range from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours.
Once a popular sport in the American colonies in the 1600s and 1700s, the sport lost its status after the American Revolution. Since then, the sport is a fraction of what it once was in the U.S., but in Europe, Asia and Australia, it is a popular recreational activity and sport.
In the U.S., people are usually introduced to lawn bowling in their 60s; everywhere else, kids as young as 6 begin playing.
“Lawn bowling in the U.S. is equivalent to the Jamaican bobsled team,” said Janice Bell, secretary of Bowls USA, the national body that governs lawn bowling in the U.S.
In Scotland, there are about 900 lawn bowling clubs and 90,000 participants, said Dave Sneddon, assistant coach at Bowls Scotland, the national governing body for outdoor lawn bowls in Scotland.
Despite the event’s serene setting, a competitive fire stirs in the competitors.
For players on Team Scotland, the tournament is a proving ground to impress coaches.
Sneddon brought 12 players and will choose who among them will represent the country in next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Even with 19 world titles under his belt, Marshall is not guaranteed a spot. Four of his teammates are ranked ahead of him, according to the World Bowls Tour.
For American players, the tournament is an opportunity to learn and compete against the best.
Chan said it’s these types of tournaments that could increase the sport’s visibility in the U.S.
“The caliber of players here is incredible,” Chan said. “This is the tournament to attend if you’re interested in getting into the sport or want to learn about it.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7977 or jpimentel@ocregister.com
