It was the first time since the prestigious Speight's-sponsored invitation singles started 21 years ago that a day's play had to be abandoned.
"It's the first time we have lost a full day," the North East Valley green keeper, Terry Scott, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
It was understandable because the rain made the greens slippery and dangerous for the players.
"If we had played it could have affected the greens for the rest of the season," Scott said.
The event is the top-rated singles event held in New Zealand and each year and has a prize pool of $15,000. It always attracts the best players in the country and is watched by the New Zealand selectors.
Organiser Colin Adams said in order to complete the seven rounds of section play it is intended to start play at 8.30am and play four rounds today.
"To assist in making up time, all games in the preliminary rounds will now be played to 21 shots instead of 25," Adams said.
The three extra preliminary rounds will be played tomorrow and the quarterfinals are still scheduled to start at 2.45pm.
The other time when rain intervened in a major bowls event at the North East Valley club was in 1994 when the annual transtasman three-test series between New Zealand and Australia was played in Dunedin.
"The first two days were washed out because of the weather," Scott said. "Play was only possible on the last day."
