Bowls: Tough on the greens

A major bowls tournament will make its debut this weekend in Remuera and organisers are confident it will become a regular feature in the Auckland region.

Pat Campbell, from the Rawhiti club's organising committee, said an outstanding field had been assembled for the inaugural Rawhiti 10,000 invitation pairs, even though he and his fellow workers had had only a limited amount of time to make arrangements.

A decision to stage the tournament had been made only a couple of months ago when the Browns Bay pairs, which has been held every Anniversary Weekend since the early 1990s, fell over.

"We felt that the Auckland region still needed something like this," Campbell said.

Thirty-six combinations from throughout the country will contest the tournament, starting with qualifying rounds today and climaxing with the final on Sunday.

The winning pair will collect $3000 and the runners-up $1600.

The playing format is for pairs in the two-by-four-by-two system.

Heading the entries are a strong Wellington pair of Rob Ashton and Adam Newman, who recently led for the Gary Lawson-skipped four who won the national title; veteran Ivan Kostanich and his Helensville lead Wayne Robertson; Auckland representatives Mike Farac and Steve Cox; Bay of Plenty representatives Chris Smith and Dennis Schollum; and Campbell himself with a former national fours winner, Barry Greer.

Another of the Lawson championship-winning four, Glenn McDonald, is also expected to play, but he has been entered, too, in another of the Auckland region's high-profile Anniversary Weekend tournaments, the Manurewa pairs.

"We're not too sure what's going on there, but no doubt someone will turn up if he can't be in two places at once," Campbell said.

Now in its 26th year, the Manurewa pairs, played in the two-by-two-by-two-by-two format, will start tomorrow with the final on Monday.

Several former national champions are in the field.

They include Danny O'Connor, Nick Grgicevich and Ivan Marsic from Auckland, Marlborough's Lloyd Gallop, Canterbury's Kelvin Scott and Maurice Symes, Waikato's Neville Risbridge and Kevin Robinson, and Dunedin's Jim Scott, Terry Scott and Ken Walker.

So, too, are Australians Tony and Sam Laguzza, and Jason Pietrazak and Nathan Dawson. First prize in the tournament for New Zealanders is direct entry into the Warilla pairs later this year.

Instead of their pairs, the Browns Bay club is holding an invitation triples tomorrow and on Sunday in which some well-performed bowlers from Northland, North Harbour and Auckland will compete.