The Dunedin pair of Ken Walker and Paul Girdler won the pairs at the Dunedin Professional Bowls Association tournament on Saturday and have the chance of again being the New Zealand pairs representatives at the world indoor finals in England in January.
They have represented New Zealand at Potters Leisure Resort for the last two years and are keen for another shot at the lucrative Professional Bowls Association world finals.
At the national final at Hamilton on August 30 they will meet Kevin Rice and Ross Thorn (Wellington), Brian Cathro and Alan Olliff (Heretaunga) and Justin Goodwin and Richard Collett (Pukekohe), who won the other three qualifying events at the weekend.
Girdler and Walker won the final at the Westpac Bowls Stadium when they beat Andrew Kelly (Christchurch) and Bill Clements (Alexandra) 10-5, 3-8, 2-0 in a closely fought final.
Girdler (42), who has played 192 tests for New Zealand, was in superb touch with his accurate draw bowls. The gritty left-hander has won four medals at World Bowls, in Johannesburg in 2000 and Ayr, in Scotland, in 2004.
He used this skill and experience on the crucial tie-breaker end on Saturday after the pair had scored three to win the first end.
On the second and clinching end, Girdler put his two bowls within 4cm of the jack and this put pressure on Kelly and Clements to remove them.
They failed to do this.
Walker (60), a veteran of two World Bowls and the holder of 30 Bowls Dunedin titles, is kown for his skills on the drive and upshot, but he did not need to use them much on Saturday.
The new under felt at the Westpac stadium has lifted the speed of the green to 17 seconds and this makes skill at draw bowls more important.
Girdler and Walker had won several tight games throughout the day with superb draw bowls.
They lost only one set during the day's play and this came in the final.
Walker and Girdler had no problems winning the first set 10-5.
The key to that set came on the fourth end, when the pair drew the maximum of four shots to lead 5-2.
They followed this up with a two on the fifth end and a one and two on the last two ends to win the set.
The second set was close, with Kelly and Clements leading 4-3 after six ends.
On the seventh end they drew three shots and added one on the next end to win the set.
In the semifinals, Girdler and Walker beat the Dunedin pair of Peter Unkovich and Brent Webster 6-5, 7-6 and Kelly and Clements beat Robbie Thomson and Andrew McCallum (Fairfield) 11-7, 12-5.
