Bowls Tauranga South hosts annual Cooper Crest Invitation Ladies' Pairs tournament

Former Black Jack and three time New Zealand Pairs champion Mary Campbell will compete at this weekend's Copper Crest Invitation Ladies' Pairs tournament in Tauranga. Photo / George Novak

Some of New Zealand's top bowlers are heading to Tauranga to compete in the two-day annual Cooper Crest Invitation Ladies Pairs tournament.

The tournament, which is an event on the Bowls New Zealand Summer of Bowls calendar, gets under way with qualifying games tomorrow , followed by post-section and finals on Sunday.

Hosted by Bowls Tauranga South, the prestigious tournament is in its seventh year, with 42 teams made up of past or present New Zealand players, representative bowlers and centre title winners competing this weekend.

Among them are bowlers from as far afield as Southland and throughout the North Island.

There are some big names in the sport entered in the event, while Bowls New Zealand has entered two teams from their High Performance and Talent Development squad.

Among them are Auckland's Liza Prideaux and North Harbour's Selina Goddard, both selected for the Bowls New Zealand High Performance Squad and both with a long list of achievements in the sport nationally and internationally.

A Waikato team consisting of Ashleigh Jeffcoat, who won gold at the 2015 Youth Commonwealth Games in the singles, and Kimberly Hemingway will play while among the locals competing are current and former Bay of Plenty representatives with 2018-19 Open Singles winner Marilyn Constantine making her first appearance.

Former Black Jack and three-time New Zealand Pairs champ, Tauranga South's Mary Campbell will partner Gayle Melrose, who is the current Bowls New Zealand national high performance coach.

Results will be available on the Bowls bay of Plenty website throughout the tournament.

Copper Crest Invitational Ladies Pairs

Hosted by: Bowls Tauranga South.

When: Saturday, Sunday.

Where: Bowls Tauranga South greens, Tutchen St and Tauranga Domain, Cameron Rd.

What: Qualifying games from 9am on Saturday; Finals from 1pm on Sunday.