World champions 2014: Danny O'Connor

Danny O'Connor. Photo / Paul Estcourt

One of Auckland's top bowlers, Danny O'Connor, is relishing what could be his last chance to achieve one of the sport's rarest milestones when the national championships start tomorrow on North Harbour and Auckland greens.

O'Connor has nine national titles and should he achieve another, he will join two legendary players, his old mentor the late Nick Unkovich, and Gary Lawson, as the only men to have added a bar to the gold star which is awarded for winning five titles.

Now in his 60s, O'Connor points out that he is no longer a serious bowler and does no practice.

But he agrees he has an opportunity of doing well at the championships if only because of the quality of those with whom he'll play.

In the pairs he will be teamed with current Blackjack Richard Girvan, with whom he won his last national title 10 years ago in the fours.

In the fours, he'll be with Girvan, the great Peter Belliss and Belliss' long-term Wanganui pairs partner, Lance Tasker.

"I couldn't get three better blokes to play with," O'Connor said. "And, yes, it would be great to achieve another title and join legends like Nick and Gary."

Most of O'Connor's bowls now are played in the North Harbour centre with the Birkenhead club, and he is especially pleased the Harbour centre, with headquarters at Brown's Bay, will host this season's nationals. Most of the greens on the North Shore, he believes, are of an extremely high standard.

He does have a couple of regrets, though.

One is that for the men the championships start tomorrow with pairs qualifying and not the singles, and another is that the number of entries has fallen far below what used to be customary up until the 1980s.

Several of New Zealand's current internationals, including Ali Forsyth, Shannon McIlroy, North Harbour's Tony Grantham and Nelson's celebrated women's stars, Jo Edwards and Val Smith, will be absent.

And high travel and accommodation costs mean most entries are from the north.

One South Islander who will be attending is Lawson, who will play in the singles, the pairs with Wellington's Ben King and the fours with King, Auckland's Danny Delany and the outstanding Dunedin bowler Mike Kernaghan.

It might be premature to speculate whether Lawson's presence is a sign of his future intentions.

Rather than his own aspirations, Lawson preferred to focus on Kernaghan, with whom he has started to play only recently.

"Without doubt he is still one of the top three or four players in the country," Lawson said.

Despite the absence of some stars, there is still a solid cross-section of talent in men's and women's events, including former champions or internationals Petar Sain, Jamie Hill, Blake Signal, Rob Ashton, Alvin Gardiner, Mandy Boyd and Sandra Keith.

The championships start tomorrow with qualifying in women's singles and men's pairs.

Finals will be Sunday, January 4, after which the fours will start, with the final on Friday, January 9.