24 Any Combination teams of six players in Singles, Pairs and Triples entered this season’s 1-5 Year Interclub. Each side played a round-robin in a scatter draw during the qualifying rounds, with only the section winners proceeding to post section.

Heavy rain on Friday night meant Papatoetoe Hunters Corner’s natural greens were unplayable, forcing two sections to move to carpet at Ōtāhuhu Railway Bowling Club and Bridge Park Bowling Club. 

Five section winners were clear cut, but Section 2 had two sides neck-in-neck with 18 points each – the NToS determined the winner.

Post Section
Saturday’s fine weather enabled Post Section to be moved back to Papatoetoe HC on Sunday. Even though green keeper Mike Galloway was away in Christchurch for National Intercentre, the green was well prepared before 8:30am!  

There were some very close games in the Quarter and Semi-Finals, where three sides won 2 out of 3 games, and a mere one shot in a game decided the winner of the match.

It was the same in the Final – the match could have gone either way until the last 15 minutes. The two finalists were even in the Pairs and the Triples. Howick Red was 15-20 down in the Singles but came back strongly with two consecutive winning ends of 3 shots to clinch the win and hence the title. 

Congratulations, Howick Red. For the second year running, Howick has qualified for the regional Mercedes Cup, to be held in Hikurangi on Saturday, 7 May 2023.