Bowls: Ivan the Pro on his way to the Welsh Masters

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Nothing changes for bowls legend Ivan Kostanich. The 83-year-old master of the game enjoyed a beer with mates at the Helensville club yesterday to celebrate yet another victory.

In two dramatic matches at the Professional Bowls Association play-offs at the Frankton Railway indoor complex on Saturday, Kostanich, who has just turned professional, out-foxed Bruce Henderson and then Mark Cowan to book his place in February's NCV Welsh Masters in the Llanelli tournament and a shot at the £18,000 ($48,000) winner's cheque.

Many in the crowd were hailing what they reckoned must be the best 83-year-old sportsman in the world. Who would argue?

Sixty-one years after he first picked up a bowl, the canny Kostanich continues to win big.

The challenge when he goes shot for shot with 31 of the world's best bowlers might be his biggest yet but who would bet against Kostanich, who has won three national championships, two singles and a pairs, countless club and centre titles and more tournaments on Australia's Gold Coast than you could poke a stick at.

Not bad for a man who arrived from his native Croatia as a skinny 17-year-old and was sent to work the next day by his father, thus beginning a love affair with the Kaipara Harbour, which he has fished for 60 years.

Even now Kostanich divides his spare time - when not bowling - between cultivating his huge vegetable garden (and 60 fruit trees) and fishing.

For the past 27 years he has escaped the New Zealand winters for a couple of months in Queensland, where he can still claim to be the only New Zealander to win the sought-after Gold Coast singles, a title which has eluded our best, including Peter Belliss and Rowan Brassey.

"I did better on the Coast this year than anyone," said Kostanich, who made the trip on his own after Edna, his wife of 56 years, died last year.

He has beaten Australia's top bowlers, earning legendary status in the sport.

"I love playing singles but I'm just as happy playing pairs, triples or singles," said Kostanich, who won his first national title 27 years ago.

He followed that with the pairs title, with long-time Helensville clubmate Pat Robertson, in 1984 and completed his hat-trick in 1993 at the Rewa club in Matamata where, days after his 72nd birthday (on New Year's Day), he beat Kevin Gallop - 40 years his junior.

"I played a lot of my early bowls at three in fours under some of the good skips we had at Helensville," said Kostanich, who has won the club singles 24 times.

"I've lost count of the rest."

Yet, even with such a remarkable record, he has still to be honoured with life membership at the 80- to 90-member club.

His last-bowl victory over Cowan on Saturday brought a tear to the eye and raised more questions than it answered as Kostanich contemplated a journey to the other side of the world.

Professional association officials can already see their star player creating a media frenzy in Britain.

Kostanich had some doubts about making the trip but weakened when it was suggested the association might be able to coerce their airline, Emirates, to come up with a business-class ticket to ensure the journey is more agreeable.

"Before we started I told everybody I wouldn't go," said Kostanich. "But when I won I thought about it again. I think I will go."