Who’s won the most home Opens?

The home nations have all held their own Domestic Open Championships over the years but who has been the best performer in this series of events.

The first record of a “British Open” was in 1963 won by Jan Roze but we are unsure of where this was held and if it continued.

The British Open as we know it was created and organised by Jock Caie of AMF and became one of Europe’s premier events attracting bowlers from all around the world. The first event was held at Sheffield in 1983 and was won by Sweden’s Mats Karsson. The first British female winner was Judy Howlett also in 1983 and the first English male winner Kevin Pollard in 1984. The British Open was part of the European Bowling Tour (EBT) for a number of years with Nick Froggatt winning in 2003.

The Scots were next on board with their very first Scottish Open held at Livingston in 1988 won by Scotsman Bruce Pearce.

Although our records are incomplete we know England’s Wayne Greenall won the event six times with Scotland’s Laura Rhoney, England’s Hayley Russell and Katie Jowsey winning three times. Katie the first to win in three consecutive years (06/07/08).

We think the first Welsh Open was held in 1992 but we have no record of where and who won. Our first recorded winners were Pauline Buck and Cliff Dew winning in 1993. England’s Paul Moor and Wayne Greenall tie for most wins with four each and England’s Pauline Buck winning four times in the womens event.

In 1994 the Northern Irish held their very first Open and won by Kenny Donnelly who retained the following year. Our next entry is in 2005 with Stephen O’Conner and Anita Watts winning.

The English Open filled the gap left by the British Open with Paul Moor winning the first event at Nuneaton in 2006. The English Open was also part of the EBT for a while with Stu Williams winning in 2007.

In 2020 the UK Grand Slam was introduced, sponsored by Qubica/AMF, where points were to be awarded to the top players in the 4 Domestic Opens. Prizes were due to be awarded to the top 2 male and female bowlers in an attempt to encourage more players to go to these great events but unfortunately we met COVID this never went ahead.

What do we know about the Grandslam history?

It is true to say there have not been many years in our history where a Grand Slam of more than three events has been possible. They overlap and in the case of British Open, changes to English Open. The British Open starts us off in 1983 and we have to wait until 1988 for the first Scottish Open and in 1992 the Welsh Open. The UK Tenpin Hall of Fame are still sourcing winners from the Northern Ireland Open and some Scottish Open and British Open winners.

England’s Lisa John and Scotland’s Laura Rhoney are the only players currently recorded as winning three of the four Home nation opens in their current form in a career. Lisa having won the English, Scottish and Welsh and Laura the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Opens. Wayne Greenall winning in old form of British Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open.

Kirsten Penny is the only bowler to have won three home opens in a year when the British Open ran by collecting the British Open, Welsh Open and Scottish Open in 2000.

Players winning two home nation opens in a year include

1993 Pauline Buck British and Welsh
2004 Wayne Greenall Scottish and Welsh
2009 Vicki Burbridge English and Welsh
2011 Laura Rhoney Scottish and Welsh
2012 Hayley White Scottish and Welsh
2013 Hayley White Scottish and Welsh
2019 Paul Moor English and Welsh

Winners of Home Opens

Year	Brit/Eng	Scottish	N.I	Welsh	Year	Brit/Eng	Scottish	N.I	Welsh
1983	Mats Karlsson				1983	Judy Howlett
1984	Kevin Pollard				1984	Shelagh Leonard
1985	Dave Taylor				1985	Judy Howlett
1986	Gunnar Samuelsson				1986	Tina Darvill
1987	Philip Dunne				1987	Jill Owen
1988	Teemu Raatkainen	Bruce Pearce			1988	Gina Wardle
1989	Larry Shultz	Chris Buck			1989	Hannele Uotila	Jill Sutton
1990	Adam Apo	Andy McCraken			1990	Christina Dahlgren
1991	Marcel van den Bosch	Geoff Buck			1991	Marianne Haultala
1992	Teemu Raatkainen				1992	Pauline Buck
1993	Ron Mohr	Richard Hood		Cliff Dew	1993	Pauline Buck	Lynne Terrel		Pauline Buck
1994	Chris van Damme	Richard Hood	Kenny Donnelly	Kevin Hills	1994	Gina Wardle	Judy Howlett		Pauline Buck
1995	Mats Karlsson	Paul Boyle	Kenny Donnelly	Lol Ellis	1995	Jody Ellis	Susan Campbell		Jan Steiner
1996	Goran Carlsson	Ricky Froldi		Paul Delany	1996	Susanne Olsson	Ashley Craven		Jan Hannan
1997	Thomas Leandersson	Wayne Greenall		Wayne Greenall	1997	Linda Norry	Gemma Burden
1998	Mike Mullin			Ron Oldfield	1998	Paulina Aalto			Gemma Burden
1999	Wayne Greenall	Richard Hood		Wayne Greenall	1999		Kirsten Penny		Mel Isaac
2000	Gery Verbruggen			Wayne Greenall	2000	Kirsten Penny	Kirsten Penny		Kirsten Penny
2001	Phil Scammell			Peter Lenders	2001				Gemma Burden
2002	Paul Moor			Steve Thornton	2002				Gemma Burden
2003	Nick Froggatt	Wayne Greenall		Dave Parker	2003	Lotte Houbo Pedersen	Lisa John		Kirsten Penny
2004	Tim Mack	Wayne Greenall		Wayne Greenall	2004	Jo Harries	Laura Rhoney		Pauline Buck
2005		Graham Turner	Stephen O’Conner	Nick Froggatt	2005		Katie Jowsey	Anita Watts	Pauline Buck
2006	Paul Moor	Wayne Greenall	Paul Stott	Paul Evans	2006		Katie Jowsey	Laura Rhoney	Vicki Burbridge
2007	Stu Williams	Paul Stott	Alan Gibbons	Dom Barrett	2007	Alan Gibbons	Katie Jowsey	Kerena Dykes	Fiona Banks
2008	Kirsten Penny	Nick Froggatt		Chris Oates	2008	Kirsten Penny	Debbie Watson		Jemma Smith
2009	Vikki Burbridge	Paul Stott		Paul Moor	2009	Vikki Burbridge	Nicki Ainge		Vicki Burbridge
2010	Jo Cundy	Ricki Froldi		Matt Chamberlain	2010	Jo Cundy	Laura Rhoney		Laura Rhoney
2011	Steve Thornton	Wayne Greenall		Matt Chamberlain	2011		Laura Rhoney		Laura Rhoney
2012	Lisa John	Wayne Greenall		Paul Moor	2012	Lisa John	Hayley White		Hayley White
2013	John Wells	Steven Gill		Dom Barrett	2013	Danni Hopcroft*	Hayley White		Hayley White
2014	Paul Moor	Curtis Hooper		Steve Thornton	2014	Danni Hopcroft*	Hayley Russell		Hayley Rumkee
2015	Ray Teece	Alan Keddie		Darren Cundy	2015	Lisa John*	Laura Murphy		Lisa John
2016	Steve Thornton	Kenny Jamieson		Paul Moor	2016	Jo Allsebrook*	Ashleigh Gill		Danni Hopcroft
2017	Steve Thornton	Steven Gill		Mark Patrick	2017		Tania Yusaf		Jo Allsebrook
2018	Adam Michaels	Rob Thurlby		Peter Stevenson	2018	Samantha Hannan*
2019	Paul Moor	Steven Gill	Billy Nimick	Paul Moor	2019	Franchesca Plewis*		Debbie Longstaff

*In events that male and female played together the highest placed male or female has been listed with the combined winner of that year.

Technically speaking, No player has won the four current UK Home Opens in a career and this honor is there to be gained as is the much harder task of winning all FOUR Opens in a single year for a SUPER Grand Slam.

A total of 92 UK players have won a Domestic Open Title, to find out who has won most events and gained most performance ranking points in these events, checkout the attached Ranking list.