Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford took top honours at the New Zealand finewool shearing championships in Alexandra at the weekend.
He won the open shearing title, in a repeat of his success at the Waitaki McKenzie Merino Shears the previous weekend.
Stratford headed off second placegetter Damian Boyle, of West Australia, by eight points to win the 48th New Zealand Merino final in Alexandra on Saturday.
The 35-year-old said after the six-man, 12-sheep final, which ended with victory by a surprisingly comfortable margin of almost eight points over Boyle: "I struggled all day, with my gear, with the sheep, with my confidence".
But so too did Boyle, who only just made the 24-man quarterfinals cut after 50 shearers competed in the heats in the morning, while Stratford did qualify near the top of the order in fourth place.
Time honours in the main event went to local favourite Colin O'Neill, shearing his 12 sheep in 22min 55.05sec, 21 seconds ahead of Stratford, who produced the best quality points, with the fewest deductions.
Stratford will not represent New Zealand in Australia next weekend in the away leg of the Trans-Tasman Test Series, because he has a wedding to attend.
His position in the three-man shearing team, alongside Te Kuiti shearer Dean Ball and Tony Coster, of Rakaia, will be taken by O'Neill's brother, Charlie O'Neill, 34, who was fourth in the weekend final.
King Country icon David Fagan competed in the fine wool final for the first time in more than 20 years.
Golden Shears woolhandling champion Tina Rimene completed a notable double for 2009 when she won the New Zealand Merino Shears title. She previously won the Golden Shears open in Masterton.
The fine wool handling titles also went to North Islanders, with the senior title won by Krystal Wilson, of Hastings, and the junior title going to Ngahuia Thwaites, of Masterton.
New Zealand kept ahead of the Australians by winning the invitation shearing and woolhandling teams events.