THE inaugural Open 4’s Winterfest Bowls Tournament is set to ‘roll off’ at the Jeffreys Bay Bowling Club from July 4 to 7 this year – forming part of the action-packed JBay Winterfest 2019.
Sponsored by Investec and Trink, the four-day event, that will see 36 teams from across South Africa battling it out on the greens, boasts a whopping R64 000 in prize-money.
The tournament comprises eight games of 15 ends, running over the first three days. Two games of 18 ends will be played on the last day.
Also on the Winterfest-menu is the Corona JBay Open – the anchor event of the festival and the number six stop on the World Surf League’s (WSL) Championship Tour (CT).
The contest, with a waiting period from July 9 to 22, will see both male and female surfers taking to the waves at Supertubes in Jeffreys Bay.
Filipe Toledo will defend his winning-title against the likes of 11-times world champion Kelly Slater from USA, two-times event winner Jordy Smith from South Africa and two-times world champion Gabriel Medina.
On the women’s side, the inimitable Steph Gimore will be returning to defend her title, but all eyes will be on the surfing of upstart Caroline Marks from USA and the dark horse Keely Andrews from Australia.
There will also be a number of rookies competing at Jeffreys Bay for the first time at a WSL CT level, including Deivid Silva and Peterson Crisanto from Brazil, Soli Bailey and Mikey Wright from Australia and the lone Hawaiian natural-footer Seth Moniz.
The women’s rookies comprise Brisa Hennesy from Costa Rica and Macy Callaghan from Australia.
In addition to the Bowls Tournament and Corona JBay Open, the festival will be home to the Endurade JBay X Trail Run, the Skins Fishing Competition and the Winterfest Funduro.
Music-lovers can look forward to the Live in the Park free music evening featuring award-winning South African artists.
For more information, visit www.jbaywinterefest.com.
