Two former top amateur golfers, Brent McEwan (St Clair) and Coryn Huddy (Brighton), are keen to make their mark on the New Zealand PBA tournaments this winter.
They are both making their debut at the Westpac Bowls Stadium this weekend at the start of the PBA season.
McEwan is rated as one of Otago's top amateur golfers and Huddy, the chief operating officer of Dunedin venues, represented Canterbury before shifting to Dunedin in 2002.
The major event in Dunedin this weekend is the Scottish Open singles qualifying event that started last night.
It is followed by the Shanghai singles on Sunday and the ranking singles on Monday.
There will be three regional events at five different venues this winter: Pukekohe, New Plymouth, Hastings, Invercargill and Dunedin.
The big carrot is to win the national final at Dunedin in September to qualify for the three big international events in the United Kingdom: the Scottish Open, in Perth in November, the World Indoor Singles, at Norfolk, England, in January 2017 and the International Open Singles in Blackpool, England , in February.
There is also the incentive to be ranked in the top five at the end of the year and be selected for next year's Trans Tasman Challenge.
Ken Walker (Taieri), the winner of the Trans Tasman singles last year, will be making his seventh consecutive appearance at the Heretaunga Bowling Club, Hastings, in late August.
But Walker (70) is ranked only 11th at the moment and must work hard to do get into the top five for the 2017 event.
"I was ranked 29th at the start of the season two years ago but got back,'' Walker said.
"I'm determined to reach the top five again.''
Murray Glassey (Hawkes Bay) tops the national ranking at the start of the season and fellow New Zealand PBA international Rob Ashton (Auckland) is third.
The Dunedin branch continues to dominate the national rankings, with nine bowlers in the top 20.
They are Andrew Kelly (Elmwood, Christchurch) second, Andy McLean (North East Valley) fifth, Duane White (Forbury Park) eighth, Oliver Mason (Forbury Park) ninth, Ken Walker (Taieri) and Ray Webster (St Clair) 11th, Aidan Lusby (Andersons Bay) and Ross Thomson (Fairfield) 14th and Marty Kreft (Alexandra) 17th.
A total of 45 bowlers have entered for the Dunedin events this weekend.
Fifteen new bowlers have joined the Dunedin PBA this year.
They include Tom Taiaroa (17), from the West End Club at Timaru, who has represented the South Canterbury inter-centre sevens team for the past two years, Ross Stevens (St Clair), Dave Natta (Macandrew Bay) and 72-year-old Gordon Davis (Forbury Park).
Women bowlers making their debut are Julie Dalley (Cashmere, Christchurch) who is a former winner of the New Zealand champion of champions pairs and Barbara Walker (Fairfield).
Other women competing this weekend are Tania Woodham (Cashmere), Dale Bourke (Taieri), Jessica Matheson (Caversham) and Sue Smeaton (Taieri).
PBA 2016
Key events
• Scottish open singles qualifier and Shanghai (June 3-6).
• World indoor singles qualifier (July 29-31).
• International open singles qualifier (August 12-14).
• NZ finals, Dunedin (September 9-11).
• Trans Tasman Challenge, Heretaunga, Hastings (August 30 to September 1).
