Bowls: Budge bounces back

It has taken a long time, but Kelvin Budge is back.

He does not intend to blow his opportunities this time.

Budge and Matt Watt (North East Valley) won the Bowls Dunedin open pairs on Monday night when they beat Peter Wilson and Verne Scarf (Kaikorai) 18-11 on the Taieri green.

Budge (26) was a teenage prodigy and a carded bowler with Bowls New Zealand in 2003 and a promising international career was on the horizon.

He was aged 15 when he beat Commonwealth Games representative Andrew Curtain (Canterbury) 25-12 in the Speight's North East Valley Invitation singles in 1998.

Budge won his first Bowls Dunedin title with Nigel Wright in the open pairs in 2001 and the Victorian Invitation pairs at Wellington, with New Zealand representative Jamie Hill, a year later.

He also reached the quarterfinals of the New Zealand championship pairs in 2002.

But bowls was not that important to Budge at that time.

He walked away from the game for a year and has found it difficult to regain his place in the sun.

"I did not take my opportunities with both hands, like I should have done," Budge said.

"I didn't realise how prestigious bowls was. I blew my opportunities."

In those days Budge did not have a cool head and often lost games he should have won because of an erratic temperament.

"I got upset at losing and threw the toys out of the cot," he said.

"I was young and other things came into my life.

"I've been fighting to get back into the mix ever since."

It was a long eight-year wait for Budge before he won his second Bowls Dunedin title.

"It's a good feeling to be back, but its been a long time between drinks," Budge said.

"I want to go on."

Budge was aged 11 and a pupil at Dunedin North Intermediate School when he started playing bowls.

In those days three generations of the Budge family played bowls at North East Valley.

Heading the family hierarchy were his grandparents, Graham and Ivy Budge, and his father, Dave Budge, who has won five centre titles and his gold star.

Budge played a key role in the win against Kaikorai with his lead bowls.

It was decisive on the 11th end, when North East Valley gained two shots to stretch its lead to 10-5.

Budge's first bowl nestled close to the jack and his second bowl stopped beside it.

It was the break point in the game and the North East Valley pair protected those shots to stretch its lead to 12-5.

The game plan was for Budge to get his three bowls within 1.5m of the jack and Watt would blast out the opposition bowls that were in the count.

North East Valley led 10-5 after 10 of the 18 ends, 17-6 after 15 ends and then played it safe.

Watt won his first Bowls Dunedin title in the open fours in 2007.