It’s been a tough week for many, and our thoughts and best wishes are with those impacted. A silver lining of such disasters is the amazing ability of people to come together and help each other - which the bowling community does so well! We look forward to assisting clubs, members, players, and officials back on the greens and enjoying summer... whenever that is!

As we look to deliver Centre Events, we understand that maintaining grass greens takes time & is costly, and we tip our hats to all greenskeepers for their continued efforts. 

To ensure we have sufficient greens to deliver our tournaments for the remainder of the season, and of course, subject to club availability, we may need to use artificial greens concurrently with grass greens - in the same tournament, on the same day. Grass greens, when applicable, will continue to be the preferred option, so please don’t be surprised if some games are played on artificial greens during Centre Events. 

We thank everyone for your support and all host clubs for their continued contribution to bowls in Auckland!

A right royal final!

Wow, what a competition, what an incredible finals match - talk about a right royal final from the Royal Oak team and their opponents from Pirongia. 

Pirongia led most of the match, but Royal Oak’s tenacity saw a fight back… right to the end - the last end, the last bowl, and the last measure – outstanding! Pirongia wins the title 22-21, congratulations.

Here's Bowls Taranaki's report on Taranaki Women's Open Fours

Winner: Judy Marr, Lynda Bennett, Katrina Ensor & Denise To Momo from Pirongia
Runner-up: Nicole Singer, Lee Singer, Robyn Fisher & Rima Strickland

- Photos sourced from Bowls Taranaki Facebook

Interclub 7s

There are two divisions in this competition:

Men’s & Women’s Open

• teams in this division will battle it out for the Premier title.
• the winners in both the Men’s and Women’s Open competition will qualify for the National Interclub Finals.

Auckland Cup Any Combination 

• any combination will offer more flexibility for clubs.
• winning teams will compete for the Auckland 7’s Cup.

Clubs make sure to get your entries in, the closing date is Sunday 12 February.

Mt Albert Open 2023

You’ve got until 5pm next Thursday, 9 February to enter your team into the Mount Albert Open and get a slice of the big $10,000 prize pool. So be quick and be in to win.

The two-day Triples event happens on Saturday 11 February & Sunday 12 February.

Your food is sorted; morning tea and lunch provided on both days (our renovated bar will be open throughout). There are lots of prize levels too, so even if you don’t take the top spot it will still be worth your while.

You can enter now via our website or call on 022 695 4178.

We look forward to welcoming you to the big event.

-- Jhanna Savov

Anniversary Triples

Glen Eden Bowling Club had a few new water features spring up last Friday. There was debris everywhere, but nothing compared to some clubs and the many homeowners around Auckland.

A bit of a clean-up was needed, as we were determined to play our Anniversary Triples on Sunday 29 January, the first open tournament for the club for 2023.

We originally had 24 teams & two greens, but after Friday's heavy rain caused havoc and with our top green flooded, we had to cut the number of the teams back to 18 and play on the artificial. 

As the visiting teams arrived on Sunday, ready to brave the weather and play bowls, it was an overcast sky. The weather held for the first game. It rained off and on during the 2nd, 3rd & 4th games, but play continued. By the end of the tournament, everyone was soaked to the bone but enjoyed the banter, camaraderie, and lunch.

A very big thank you to:

• The Trusts for their kind sponsorship.
• Green Super Andrew Harry for getting the artificial green ready for the tournament.
• Melissa, Graham, Judy & Dan for the bar and quenching our thirsty bowlers.
• Jennifer, Sean, Siosiana, Janet, Lorraine Meek, Melissa & Sharon Stewart for preparing lunch.
• Sharon for helping on Match Day.

But most of all, thank you to the visiting teams and our members for making the tournament happen.

-- Darren Schroeder

Winners: Glen Eden's very own Keith, Raj, & Keith

Second place: Parmesh, Patch & Herb from Blockhouse Bay

Third place: Sean, Chris & Gordie from Glen Eden and Rocky Nook

Ultimate Bowls Championship

Sky Sport Select (Channel 50)
7:30 pm Thursdays
$500,000 prize money
Fun - Fast - Fresh 

Featuring the New Lynn Kiwis, New Lynn Spiders and other New Zealand bowling legends!

Visit ultimatebowls.com for more information.