Lawson (42) hit the high spots when he skipped the winning pair and four to gold medals at World Bowls in Christchurch last January.
He added the Australian open pairs title in Melbourne a month later with Canadian Ryan Bester when they beat Australian's Lee Schraner and Mario Cipolla 8-7, 4-10, 4-3.
It completed a golden summer for Lawson that started with his winning his ninth New Zealand title in the pairs. The great Nick Unkovich holds the record with 10.
Lawson and Russell Meyer were the key players in the four that beat Australia 20-10 at World Bowls. They also won the pairs when they beat Billy Mellors and Darren Burnett (Scotland) 18-13.
It was Lawson's third World Bowls. He won a bronze medal in the fours in Adelaide in 1996 and silver in the triples and bronze in the fours in Ayr, Scotland, in 2004.
It is two years since Lawson last played in a PBA tournament. The Canterbury international has not played in recent years because of outdoor commitments and preparation for World Bowls.
He has always been a supporter of the PBA and ran a pre-nationals pairs event in December at his home club, Hornby Domain. Lawson plays David Pile (Dunedin) in the first round.
The New Zealand PBA has four direct entry places available around the country this weekend, with events in Pukekohe, Hamilton, Hastings and Dunedin.
The winner of each event will represent the New Zealand PBA at the Potters World Indoor Singles in Norfolk, England, next January. The four winners will join Jamie Hill (Auckland), whose world PBA ranking of 19th automatically gains him entry to the richest tournament in bowls.
Former international Paul Girdler (Dunedin), who has won three bronze medals at World Bowls, will face Andrew McCallum (Dunedin) in the first round. McCallum competed in the world pairs final in the United Kingdom last year.
Dunedin's Mark Watt (19), a student at the Sports Institute of Otago, is one of the promising young bowlers who is making his mark at the national level.
He gained entry to the Engage International open singles in Sheffield last October when he beat the experienced Robbie Thomson (Fairfield) in a dramatic PBA final in Dunedin 8-7, 4-13, 2-1.
Watt, who began his bowls at the Palmerston club, will play the experienced Ross Stewart (Southland) in the first round.
Dunedin's Ken Walker (60), the grand master of the indoor green, qualified for his sixth World PBA final and his fifth trip to the United Kingdom for the Engage professional singles final when he beat Geoff Wilson (Kaikorai) 7-4, 10-7 in the qualifying event in Dunedin last month.
Walker has won 30 Bowls Dunedin titles.
• PBA tournament draw
The draw for the PBA tournament at the Westpac Indoor Bowls Stadium on Saturday is. -
Noon report for 12.30 start: Bob Crawford v Sue Hodges; Miguel Rodriguez v Steve Kannewischer; Blair Barringer v Mark Cowan ; Peter Wilson v Wayne Stewart; Mark Lister v Doug Thomas; David Pile v Gary Lawson; Dave Archer v Colin Ward; Duane White v Bevan Clark.
1.30pm: Jim Scott v Ross Munro; Ken Walker v Evan Roberts; Andrew Kelly v Brent Webster; Paul Girdler v Andrew McCallum; Shayne Sincock v Steve Wilson; Beth Brown v Bill Hinton; Steve Jones v Andrew McLean; Peter Unkovich v Trish Marr.
3.30pm: Andrew MacGregor v Nick Buttar; Joko Susilo v Bob McAuley; Shaun Scott v Cliff Morgan; Denis Leeden v Terry Scott; M Grey v Robert Gibson; Geoff Wilson v Bill Clements; Mike Bracegirdle v Malia Ellison; Mark Watt v Ross Stewart; Carolyn Crawford v Robbie Thomson.
