JACK'S CORNER - First major events this week

The 2007-08 season is now officially open. Centre opening was held at Dargaville Bowling Club, the home club of centre president Bill Walker, on September 15.
The first major tournaments are scheduled for this week with Bowls Mangawhai holding a 2x4x2 Pairs today and tomorrow and there is a choice on the weekend of Centre Mixed Pairs or Waipu Bowling Club 2 day open triples.
* Centre events
Bowls Northland is straight into Centre events with the Mixed Pairs set down for this weekend.
This event was originally known as the Astrograss Pairs and was played over the winter months on artificial surfaces. It has now become a Gold Star event and is still played on artificial surfaces, but is positioned right at the beginning of the season. The draw is.-
• At Maungakaramea: P. Wardell, J. Booth, G. Lyddiard, Harris, S. Prasad, A. Stebben, C. Crawford, P. Wightman, A. Muir, P. Nicholas, R. Bowmar, G. Bond.
• At Ngunguru: S. Nelson, S. Mitchell, P. Warth, A. Rakich, G. Herbert, I. Halls, C. Van Haaften, S. Smith, G. Parker, C. Ruawhare, M. Parker, P. Lison, D. Dalton, K. Sidwell.
• At Hikurangi: D. Haslam, A. Carson, S. James, R. Sowerby, B. Horscroft, J. Erceg, G. McKinnon, J.P. Van Haaften, J. Dunn, L. Reader, A. Trimmer, J. Ganley, J. Mc Lean, M. Attwood.
Post section play will be at Onerahi on Sunday and start time both days is 9am.
Any queries to Bruce Horscroft on (09) 436-1921.
* 9am starts
You will note in the above item that the start time is 9am.
This start time will apply to all Centre events this season and is a change from past seasons when such events have traditionally started at 8.30am.
The change was brought about at the request of the Greenkeepers Association who feel that an additional half hour will be beneficial in allowing dew to dry off before rolling and also give them a bit more time to put down chalk lines before play commences.
It may also help a few players who always forgot that Centre events started earlier than normal tournament play.
* Interclub Sevens
Interclub Sevens for both men and women has been set down to commence on Saturday, October 13.
I understand that the women's competition will, however, not commence until Sunday, November 11, which was the scheduled second day. This has been brought about because there have been insufficient entries to need three full days. The men's event will still commence on October 13.
* Early form
Men's and women's selectors had the opportunity to study some early season form a couple of weeks ago when Northland teams travelled to Coopers Beach to play the Far North. This was very much a trial, with players being selected on previous season's form but gave selectors the opportunity to try out some combinations before the big events come along. Results did not mean a great deal but Northland came out on top in most divisions.