Elliot Mason (Forbury Park) has yet to win a tournament but he has been the big winner in the first two Professional Bowls Association weekends this year.
Mason (20), an assistant produce manager at Central City New World, is in his first year in the PBA and has already reached the top 10 on the national ranking list.
He started from scratch at the beginning of the winter season and was 34th after the first events at Queen's Birthday weekend.
Mason continued his rise up the ladder at the weekend by reaching the semifinal of the Scottish International singles qualifying event at Westpac Stadium.
He lost to clubmate and top-ranked New Zealander Duane White 8-4, 8-4 in the semifinals.
Mason is teamed with veteran Ken Walker (Taieri) in the ranking pairs and they have reached the last three.
They play Aidan Lusby (Andersons Bay) and Phil Austin (Taieri) in the semifinal at Westpac Stadium tonight.
There have been five PBA events at the stadium this winter and Mason has shown his maturity by reaching the top four in all of them.
Mason started playing bowls when he was a pupil at Otago Boys' High School and was a member of Walker's four that finished third-equal at the national championships in Dunedin in January.
White, the top-ranked bowler in the PBA last year, remains at the top of the ranking list after losing the singles final to Andy McLean (North East Valley) 10-5, 8-9, 0-2.
It was the second singles win of the season for McLean (33), the marketing manager for Otago Cricket, who also won the Shanghai singles at Queens Birthday weekend.
McLean, a member of the Bowls New Zealand board, also won a singles event last season.
McLean is one of the most promising bowlers in the country and reached the semifinals of the pairs at the national championships in January.
He was a member of the second New Zealand PBA team that played in Australia this year and has the ability to reach the top five if he continues his form,He teamed with Bob McAuley (South Otago) in the pairs and they reached the quarterfinals. They were beaten by Mason and Walker 10-1, 8-4.
