Constant rain this week flooded all Dunedin bowling greens, but they will be ready for action when the centennial New Zealand championships open in the city today.
North East Valley greenkeeper Terry Scott said volunteers at the club spent an hour and a-half sweeping water off the two greens on Thursday evening.
''It was flooded. It was pretty chocker,'' Scott said.
''But it was good this morning and I managed to get in and cut it.''
North East Valley typifies the problems that greenkeepers throughout the city have had over the past few days.
''We haven't been able to do some things we wanted to do this week in preparing the greens,'' he said.
''We haven't been able to cut them as much and they will be a little bit slower than we anticipated. We are in the lap of the gods.''
Everything is ready for the start of the championships today, but Scott uttered a word of caution.
''It won't take much rain for the water to start lying on the green because the water table is so high.''
This year's championships are special because it is 100 years since the inaugural New Zealand tournament was held in Dunedin in 1914.
The event was officially opened on January 10 at the championship headquarters at the St Kilda Bowling Club. There was much public interest, with high spectator numbers at most greens.
The first New Zealand champion in the singles was J.
S. Kilgour, of Auckland's Carlton Club. The pairs winners were J. Johnson and E. Harraway, of the Dunedin club, and the fours title was won by the Wellington team of W. Greenfell, A. Erskine, W. Thompson and J. Porteous.
The championships have been held annually since that time, with the exception of two years during World War 2.
What lies ahead: NZ Centennial Bowls Champs
Headquarters green: Taieri.
Dates: December 28 to January 9.
Finals: Singles and pairs January 4, fours January 9.
Clubs: 24 clubs from Dunedin to Milton will be used.
Players: 1100 bowlers have entered the championships.
Players to watch: Gary Lawson, Peter Belliss, Shannon McIlroy, Ali Forsyth, Richard Girvan, Dan Delany, Tony Grantham, Jo Edwards, Val Smith, Mandy Boyd, Sandra Keith, Judy Howat.
