Walker (65) has been one of the most successful players in the New Zealand PBA this century.
He has made six trips to the United Kingdom for major events and has been in the New Zealand test team for the transtasman series for the past five years.
But he had disappointing results last year and dropped to 29th on the PBA list for the new year.
He won nine games at the weekend and will probably be 15th or 16th when the next ranking list comes out.
Walker demonstrated all his old skills when he won the qualifying tournament for the Scottish International open singles.
He was matched against his protege, Elliot Mason (Forbury Park), and won the final 11-2, 5-4, 2-0.
Less than 24 hours later, he was on the mat again in the ranking singles and reached the last eight.
He was beaten by Ross Munro (Forbury Park) 8-6, 10-2 in the quarterfinals.
Walker was at his best when he won the first set 11-2 but Mason fought back to win the second set 5-4.
''That's the good thing about set play,'' Mason said,''I didn't play well in the first set but I was able to come back in the second.
''I was a bit more focused in the second set. I couldn't get my line or weight in the first set.
''I started to get my draw back, got a few more shots when I relaxed and settled down.''
Mason played cautiously and concentrated on getting the shot rather than taking a risk to get more points on an end.
''It's better to take the one shot instead of risking dropping one or two when going for three,'' Mason said. Nine singles in a nine-end set is unusual.
''I didn't want to play Elliot in the tie-breaker but I was forced into it by his comeback,'' Walker said.
It was a significant weekend of bowls for Mason (20), an assistant produce manager at Centre City New World, who only joined the PBA this year.
He has been a promising bowler for the past six years and reached the semifinals of the fours in Walker's team at the national championships in Dunedin.
This was his first PBA tournament and he finished runner-up in two events.
He also reached the final of the ranking singles when he lost to Aidan Lusby (Andersons Bay) 2-8, 8-5, 0-2.
A feature of his debut beating top-ranked New Zealand PBA player Duane White (Forbury Park) twice.
Mason beat White 6-5, 13-2 in the Scottish International qualifier and 12-3, 8-8 in the ranking singles.
''To knock over Duane twice was an achievement in itself,'' Mason said.
Walker has helped the development of younger bowlers over the past few years and took three teenage bowlers into his fours team at the national championships in Dunedin.
In the semifinals of the ranking singles, Mason beat Dave Hodges (Taieri) 4-7, 5-4, 2-0 and Lusby beat Ross Munro (Forbury Park) 10-2, 9-7.
