The New Zealand men's club triples title has stayed with a Dunedin family for the second year in a row.
It was won at the Westpac Bowls Stadium yesterday by the Kaikorai team of Dave Budge, Kelvin Budge and Mike Kernaghan. It beat Hornby (Canterbury) 20-9, Coromandel 17-16 and Paritutu (Taranaki) 24-11.
Blair Barringer, a son-in-law of Dave Budge and a brother-in-law of Kelvin, was a member of the winning Fairfield triples team last year.
It was the first national title for Dave Budge (61) after 37 years of bowls and the second for Kelvin (31), who has been playing the sport for 19 years.
Kernaghan (58), a Commonwealth Games singles bronze medallist in 2002, has won more than 10 national titles. But this was his first Pathways club championship title.
''It feels good, especially playing with my son,'' Dave Budge said.
''I played with Mike at the North East Valley club and we got together again last season after a bit of a break.
''After all these years it's good to get a national title. I'd always wanted to get one but I'd probably forgotten about it as a dream in the last few years.''
Kelvin was in the North East Valley sevens team that won the club teams title in 2011, but it was special yesterday because he was playing with his father.
''It feels great to win the title with Dad because he has supported my bowls over the years,'' he said.
It was Kernaghan who sparked his team to life in the third game against Paritutu.
Kaikorai trailed 7-4 when Kernaghan trailed the jack to his back bowls for five with his last bowl. They scored eight shots on the next five ends to lead 17-8.
They showed their class by scoring a second five on the 16th end to win comfortably.
The unbeaten teams in the women's triples after three rounds are Karen de Jongh, Judi Wong, Bev Crowe (Carlton Cornwall, Auckland) and Lynn Stowe, Colleen Ferrick, Lois Stewart (Heretaunga, Hawkes Bay).
They meet in the fifth and final round at the Westpac Stadium today.
The final placings in the men's triples are: Kaikorai 1, Hornby 2, Coromandel 3, Paritutu 4.
