It was Ali Forsyth's day. He dominated the final from the start to win his first North East Valley invitation singles yesterday.
It was the eighth time Forsyth had contested the event. He had reached the semifinals three times previously.
But he made no mistakes when he outplayed Palmerston North senior police sergeant Philip Skoglund 25-16 on the North East Valley green.
''I couldn't get the centre line,'' Skoglund (50) said.
''If you can't get that right you can't get your weight. I found the rink very tough.
''But Ali was too good today. I didn't give him any competition.''
Forsyth (33) is one of New Zealand's best singles players and won back-to-back national titles in 2003 and 2004.
He finished third-equal at World Bowls in Christchurch in 2008 and was fifth at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.
Forsyth has won two Asia-Pacific singles gold medals and a world champion of champions title.
But the prestigious North East Valley singles had always eluded him.
''I've been knocking on the door but to get this result against such a high-calibre field is great,'' he said.
Forsyth has based himself in Sydney since 2007 and relishes the consistently high quality of the competition he faces each week.
This helped Forsyth to get on top of Skoglund in the difficult wind conditions in the final.
''The wind was changing around and it made accurate draw bowls difficult,'' Forsyth said.
He kept to his simple game plan of not dropping big numbers on any end.
''You can't do this against good players,'' he said.
''You must maximise your opportunities and minimise the damage when you can't score.''
The statistics tell the story of the game. Forsyth scored threes on six ends and conceded just one four and one three to Skoglund.
He also made the most of the bonus shot to add points. He did this on the fifth and 18th ends to turn two shots into three. Skoglund missed three chances to add the bonus shot.
''When I look back on some of my games in the past I'm amazed how many shots I have left out on the green. You must make these shots count,'' Forsyth said.
Forsyth was also skilled at the nudge shot when he used his opponent's bowl to nudge in for the shot. He did this on the 10th end when he was two shots down on the head to take the shot.
Forsyth's draw play was more accurate and he made four touchers in the game compared with one by Skoglund.
He hit one of his three drives while Skoglund failed in his only attempt to drive.
Forsyth took control early and led Skoglund by nine shots after 10 ends when the score was 13-4. His biggest margin came five ends later when he led 19-7.
Skoglund closed the gap with a four and a three late in the game. But it was too little, too late.
In the semifinals yesterday, Forsyth beat Shannon McIlroy (Nelson) 25-21 and Skoglund beat Sydney-based Richard Girvan 25-23.
In the plate event, Andrew Kelly (Canterbury) beat Blake Signal (Auckland) 21-15.
In the semifinals, Kelly beat Justin Goodwin (Auckland) 21-6 and Signal beat Pete Hodson (Nelson) 21-20.
• Dunedin intercentre representative Regan Larkin (Kaikorai) won his second Taieri Invitation fours title when he skipped the winning team.
He was the guest player in the club team entered by Taieri club president Chris Cookson. The other Taieri players in the team were club stalwarts Craig Forgie and Andy Gawn.
Larkin's team beat the Composite team of Elliott Mason, Oliver Mason, Sheldon Bagrie and Ken Walker 11-6 in the final played in blustery conditions on the Taieri green on Sunday.
Forgie and Gawn were in Cookson's four that reached the semifinals in last year's event.
It was the 15th year of the annual invitation tournament restricted to 32 teams. Larkins team collected the $2800 winner's purse. The total prize money was $7000.
In the quarterfinals, Walker's team beat Jim Culbert (Kaikorai) 11-7 and Cookson beat Dwayne White (Forbury Park) 11-8.
In the semifinals, Cookson beat Ross Brown's Composite team 12-9 and Walker beat Alistair Keith (Taieri) 12-4.
One of the feature teams was skipped by Tom Webb from the Far North in Dargaville.
