Leif Selby ‘Overcomes Demons’ to Win Men’s Open

It’s been a very good week for Leif Selby, who won the Men’s Australian Open, which was held at the Darebin International Sports Centre on February 19. The game certainly wasn’t an easy one for Selby and even though it wasn’t his first one, he said that it did help him overcome some of his demons from losing in the past.

In 2006 Leif Selby came to the Australian Men’s Open and faced Kiwi Russell Meyer in the final, only to lose out to him in the end. And even though Selby came back to the Open and won in 2008, he felt as though he still had some demons to overcome. That he was given the chance and in a very similar predicament, fulfilled what Selby had been hoping to do for the past few years and now he says, he can truly rejoice in his victory.

Selby looked almost out of the game completely when he was tied with opponent, Shannon McIlroy. McIlroy had one last bowl to throw, which he played out of bounds and allowed Selby the chance to draw and win the tournament, which he did. After the match, Selby spoke out about both of his wins, and revisited that time so many years ago that were really the driving force of both,

“Sheer determination drove me in 2008 to come back and win,” Selby said.

“Now to come back and win again, yeah it’s buried the 2006 loss a little bit deeper.

“I’m very proud to have made three finals, but to win two of them, it’s unbelievable.”