Durbanville Bowling Club’s burgeoning star Debbie Phillips (56) shone brightly by finishing runner-up last Sunday in the prestigious Bowls South Africa (BSA) Women’s Open Singles Championships.
“It was my best performance on the greens so far,” Phillips said of her silver medal win.
And rightly so: out of 189 starters in the Singles, Phillips and Gauteng North’s veteran Sue Tarr fought through to the final at Parkhill Bowling Club.Tarr, winner, amongst others, of BSA’s SA Ladies Veterans Masters in February this year, pipped Phillips 21–14.
A chuffed Phillips said: “I’m particularly pleased with my consistent performance. I won all seven games leading up to the final with a margin of eight shots or more.
“My opponents included some strong inter-district provincial bowlers and a past Protea.
“”y a strange, amusing coincidence, yet another Debbie Phillips (from Krugersdorp) also played in the Nationals and made it to the last sixteen.
Debbie Phillips (Sables).
“We are not related,” Phillips said with a smile.
“She is also an inter-district player, so we run into each other at tournaments and have a photo together.”
Meteoric rise
Phillips has had a meteoric rise since starting to play bowls at Durbanville in 2017.
After moving from Johannesburg in 2016 with her husband, Eddie, now a bowling coach, they joined Durbanville Bowling Club, the club her parents played at.
Success at provincial level came quickly: in 2019 her DBC team won the WPB Triples and also WPB Fours Gold in 2022.
After numerous WP and All Cape successes, her breakthrough at national level came in 2024.
She and skip Maggie van Zyl won pairs bronze at the BSA Nationals.Phillips was first picked for WP in 2022 (v. Namibia) and has four caps so far.
“My ultimate goal is to get an invite to the SA Masters and win gold in the national singles.”
Phillips is district administrator for the Western Province Bowls Association. She and Eddie recently celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.
Their son, Kyle (33), lives between the USA and Durbanville, and their married daughter, Robyn (30), lives in Stellenbosch.
Their “third child”, Koda, a live-wire Yorkie, is almost a Durbanville Bowling Club mascot. When he is not cosying up to members in the clubhouse, one can see him sniffing and motoring at full tilt around the greens.
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