Richard Patrick took the honours in a thrilling Plate final to the 2016 Ken Hewison Winter Handicap Tournament on Sunday 6 March beating David Sledge, beaten finalist in last year's main event.
Starting on 65 to David's 75, Richard, a previous winner of the plate in 2006, took the first 7 points of the evening with a series of perfect lengths and devastating widths. Having finally managed to get on the scoresheet, David reached the 80 point milestone just 2 points ahead. Starting from this position, he was able to claw himself back into the match with some desperate retrieving backed up by a series of long range backhand dropshots which allowed him to reach every 5 point milestone ahead of Richard and even open up a significant lead in the mid 90's.
Richard did not throw in the towel though and battled back to reach 98 before David gained matchpoint. After successfully defending the matchpoint on David's serve, it seemed a mere formality that he would land the coup de grace on the next point which proved to be the case. It was a terrific end to an exciting final that had initially threatened to be a very mundane affair.