Murray Wilson beat national No1-ranked Sheldon Bagrie-Howley 10-4, 7-3 in the second ranking singles final.
Wilson has been a model of consistency this season. He won the Scottish open singles in the first round of competition at Queen’s Birthday weekend and finished runner-up, with Owen Bennett, to Leif Selby and James Williams (Auckland) in the national champion of champion pairs two weeks later.
In section play of both ranking singles two weeks ago, Wilson catapulted his national PBA ranking up to No5, which will surely be cemented following his win over Bagrie-Howley.
He could also be in with a chance of selection for the transtasman team to play Australia next month.
Wilson had little time to reflect on the scalp of Bagrie-Howley as he had to contest the semifinal of the world indoor pairs with Sacha Taylor.
His golden touch continued in a 7-2, 8-7 win over the combination of Leo Brett and Cameron Cook to book a ticket to the final of the world indoor pairs against Niel Louw and Ethan Flynn.
Scheduling could not have been better, as that final proved a fitting climax to the competition, an intense clash between two very competitive combinations that attracted a throng of support.
Heading into the seventh and final end of the first set, Wilson and Taylor were up 5-3, but Flynn drew two shots with the final bowl to lock the set up at 5-5.
That set up a winner-take-all second set, which was a nail-biter.
Wilson and Taylor again led 5-3 going into the final end.
Louw and Flynn hammered home a possible three-shot advantage, and had one hand ready to raise in triumph as they waited for Wilson to deliver the final bowl.
He went on his favoured backhand and, with near-perfect weight on the shot, parked up his bowl to reduce the deficit to just one to clinch the match and the regional title 5-4.
Wilson said winning the pairs and progressing to the national finals was even more rewarding given that he had the opportunity to play in a national final alongside Taylor — his partner in life as well as the green — with the prospect of progressing on to the world final early next year.
As for Taylor, she was proud to be joining only a handful of other women, such as Beth Brown and Helen Carman, in representing the Dunedin branch of the PBA on the national and world stage.
In qualifying for the final of the world indoor pairs, Lowe and Flynn dealt a blow to Bagrie-Howley and Elliot Mason, beating them 9-4, 2-12, 2-1 in the semifinals.
Form continued to favour the players at longer odds when Andrew McCullum beat No3-ranked Oliver Mason in the final of the world indoor singles, winning in straight sets 9-7, 12-7.
It concluded an impressive run by the veteran McCullum, who in 2003 won the national pairs with Robbie Thomson to qualify for the world indoor pairs in Norfolk, England.
In semifinal play, he took the scalp of Ray Webster 6-6, 10-8 in a nail-biter, and dispatched hotshot Oliver Mason comfortably.
The final of the first ranking singles allowed Bagrie-Howley and Oliver Mason, the No1 and No3 respectively, a chance to salvage some pride, as they had both progressed to face each other in the final.
It proved somewhat of a battle royal between the two, with Bagrie-Howley taking the first set 9-4.
Mason bounced back, pulling four shots on the second and seventh ends to secure an 11-4 victory and force a tie-break, which Mason won on golden point on the third and final end.
The day also marked the end of an era, with PBA Dunedin co-ordinator Ken Walker calling time on his administrative duties after two decades of creating opportunities for bowlers in the South.
