Clean Sweep for U.S. Teams at Bridge Championships

United States bridge experts made a clean sweep of the 48-nation 1986 World Championships held here Sept. 13-27. After beginning the tournament with victories in the Mixed Pairs and the Open Teams, American players finished by winning the Open Pairs, Women’s Pairs and World Bridge Federation Pairs.

Amalya L. Kearse, a federal judge, and Jacqueline Mitchell, both of New York, won the World Women’s Pair Championship, leading the field by nearly 40 match points, scored on a 26-point top.

Leading scores were: 1-Kearse and Mitchell, 1,634.1; 2-Charlotte Palmund and Bettina Kalkerup, Denmark, 1,594.8; 3-Sandra Landy and Sally Horton, Great Britain, 1,584.1; 4-Jet Tasman and Anneke Simons, the Netherlands, 1,575.7; 5-Edith Kemp Freilich, North Miami Beach, Fla., and Nancy Gruver, Ellicott City, Md., 1,575.4.

Kerri Shuman of Los Angeles and Rama Linz of Beverly Hills, eighth with 1,505 match points, led the Southland contingent. Peggy Sutherlin of Alameda and Sharon Osberg of San Francisco were 13th with 1416.9 points.

In the Open Pair Championships Jeff Meckstroth, of Columbus, Ohio, and Eric Rodwell, of West Lafayette, Ind., led the field by nearly six times the value of a top score. Leaders were: 1-Meckstroth and Rodwell, 3,843.5; 2-Wolfgang Meinl and Heinrich Berger, Austria, 3,574.9; 3-Steven Burgess and Paul Marston, Australia, 3,572.0; 4-Chris Compton and Eddie Wold, both of Houston, 3,556.6; 5-Gabriel Chagas and Marcelo Branco, Brazil, 3,526.4.

Mike Smolen of Marina del Rey, playing with Alan Stauber of Nanuet, N.Y., led the Southland contingent, finishing 40th with 3,109.9. Other Californians in the top ranking were John Sutherlin of Alameda, partnered by Dan Morse of Houston, seventh with 3,499.6; Chip Martel of Davis and Lew Stansby of Castro Valley, winners of the World Open Pairs in 1982, 29th with 3,244.0; and Mike Lawrence, of Kensington, and Peter Weichsel, of Encinitas, 33rd with 3,195.4.

Winners of the four-session World Bridge Federation Pairs were Walt Walvick of Washington and George Tornay of New York with 524.2 match points. Sid Levey of Clovis and Jim Tritt of Fresno were third with 495.4; Gene Freed of Los Angeles and Mike Passell of Dallas were 18th with 454.1.

Earlier in the tournament Jon and Pamela Wittes of Los Alamitos won the World Mixed Pair Championship. The team of Steve Robinson and Ed Manfield, both of Arlington, Va., Bob Lipsitz, of Annandale, Va., Peter Boyd of Falls Church, Va., Kit Woolsey of Kensington and Neil Silverman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won the World Team Championship.