Big money bowls coming to Christchurch

Press, 23 September 1983, Page 13

Big money bowls coming to Christchurch

Professional bowls will come to Christchurch this summer when the Canterbury club stages a $20,000 tournament as part of its centennial celebrations. This will easily be the richest tournament played in the South Island since professional bowls was introduced three years ago, and it will also be bigger than most of those which have been staged in the North Island. Until now professional tournaments in Christchurch have been limited to prizes offered by sponsors. The Canterbury tournament, which is to be played over four days in early February, J WoStonaS Ttav

The winning four will receive $2BOO and runner-up $l6OO. There is a descending scale down to $l4O for the seventh and eighth equal in the plate. The first two days will be taken up with section play, with the top 64 teams qualifying for the major event. The next 128 will go into the plate, which, like the major event, will be played on a knock-out basis. Mr A. G. Murray, the tournament convener, said that the club was looking at an entry of more than 300 teams. There are certain to be quite a few from other parts of New Zealand and there is a strona nossibility

coming from Sydney. Just about every club in Christchurch has offered Canterbury the use of its greens for the tournament and between 30 and 40 will probably be required. The tournament has been restricted to club teams only and Mr Murray believes that this will help the entry. “For a start we thought of making it an open entry, but this would have encouraged ‘stacked’ teams and while we hope to get some of the country’s top players it is better to have them spread around in club fours. And, after all, it is a club occasion that is being