HEREFORDSHIRE bowls star Rob Weale featured in the first tie-break in a major televised event when he won through in the BUPA International Open at Blackpool this week.

Weale lost the first set of the first-round game 7-5 to Ireland's Neil Booth but then battled back to win 10-4 to take the match into a sudden-death decider.

Booth was poised for victory when he held shot but Weale sent the jack out of the rink but still on the surface of the green. A one-ball showdown with a re-spotted jack then went Weale's way when he scraped a winner.