David Stephens took up bowls only three years ago, but he got the biggest thrill in his brief career yesterday when he was in the winning combination in the final of the North Harbour invitation triples at the Browns Bay Club.
Stephens led for the many-times national champion Petar Sain,
from Auckland's Carlton Club, and regular Harbour centre representative, Brent Turner as they won from Steve Cox's Henderson combination, 17-15.
Stephens had never played with Silverdale club mate Turner, and only did so when Sain and Turner were left without a tournament when the Rawhiti pairs were cancelled.
A 46-year-old who is in the Harbour junior representative squad, Stephens was elated by the victory which brought him, Sain and Turner $800 each for the first prize.
In the final, the 13th end was the game's turning point. Trailing by three and three down on the end, Sain drove the kitty into the ditch to bring the scores back to stalemate.
Cox, Kevin Craft and Garry Breckon made the final with a comfortable semifinal win over the host club's Rob Laird.
A disastrous drop of six on one end enabled Sain to edge past a top Harbour trio of John Walker, Tony Marinkovich and Colin Rogan in the other semifinal.
* Dwayne Cameron added to his increasing demand for a New Zealand position by winning the Manurewa pairs with his former Gisborne club-mate David File.
In the final they beat the 2005 national pairs champions, Waikato's Steve Posa and Kevin Robinson.
Cameron and File now have automatic entry in one of Australia's biggest events, the Warilla Classic.
Cameron won the national singles title last season and was the winning fours skip this year.
The dominant player in yesterday's final, he later emphasised his quest to regain a national team spot.
"I don't know what else I have to do," he said. "I guess I'll just keep trucking on."
