Waihopai club members Craig Merrilees and Craig Tinker have won the Bowls Southland open men’s pairs title.
They beat Te Rangi bowlers Graham Low and Brent Munro 22 to 8 in the final.
Merrilees said the pair went through unbeaten in the tournament.
"A lot of our opponents played really well, but in the finish, we ended up sort of getting away."
In the final the score was close until "a slightly wayward drive" took out two Te Rangi bowls close to the jack which would have reduced the Waihopai lead to two.
"I got a bit of luck, and we ended up six points ahead and sort of kicked on from there."
The pair were members of the New Zealand Professional Bowls Association that played all its games on an artificial surface similar to the one at the Waverley club where the final was played.
"We’re very familiar with playing on carpet, so it probably was to our advantage."
Making the final of the tournament also gave Waihopai the overall best Southland club title for the year.
It was Merrilees’ 36th Southland title and Tinker’s 20th.
It was also Tinker’s sixth Southland title for the year.
The pair have been playing together for about nine years and had won more than 20 Southland titles.
The pair had been selected by World Bowls president Brett O’Reily to take part in the Lion City Cup in Singapore in June.
"We get a chance to go to an international event now, which is good because we’ve had a lot of success locally and nationally."
