02/06/2025
2025 PBA Season Kicked Off Over King's Birthday Weekend
The 2025 Professional Bowls Association (PBA) season began with a fantastic weekend of competition over the past three days at the Waverley Bowling Club, showcasing some of the finest existing and upcoming talent in the region. Across three action-packed days, bowlers battled through three events, with standout performances, title defences, and rising stars making their mark.
Shanghai Singles – Saturday
Saturday's Shanghai Singles Main Event saw Jason Wheal from Waikiwi defend his title from last year after another recent success in a 1-8 singles event in the Dunedin stadium. He held off tough competition from Northend’s Katherine Matthews and Paul Brooks of Waverley, to claim back-to-back wins in the event which is a regular precursor to the PBA events.
The Plate Event was also a hotly contested affair, with Gary Bartlett of Waihopai Bowling Club taking top honours. He edged past Mark Smith and Isla McCallum in the final which was his first appearance in the event.
Ranking Singles – Sunday
Sunday’s Invercargill Ranking Singles delivered a special moment for Bob Johansen, claiming his first ever PBA event win. In a mammoth effort, he played six games for the day starting at 7:50am after being one of two players to miss out on a bye. His consistency across the entire day was impressive and paid off in a thrilling semifinal encounter against Craig Merrilees where he found himself down in both sets with one bowl remaining. Showing great composure, not once but twice, he rescued the situation to win both sets by one point.
The final saw Johansen come up against debutant, Warren Petterson from Winton in a game that was certainly fitting of a final. It was Petterson that claimed the first set 7-6 to take the advantage but Johansen hit back in a tense second set 9-8 before winning the tiebreaker 2-0.
Scottish Singles Qualifier – Monday
The main event of the weekend was the Scottish Singles, where the winner qualifies for the New Zealand finals in Tauranga in September with the winner heading to Scotland for the World finals.
The day kicked off with a field off 33 contesting the event, with some brilliant games across the green, resulting in 13 games going to a tiebreaker.
In the first semifinal, Craig Tinker survived a strong challenge from debutant Paul Brooks. The first set was a dominant display by Brooks as he showed great form to win the set 11-4. Into the second set, and Tinker showed his experience and ability under pressure as he found his range and took out the set 11-2 He then carried that form into the tiebreaker, winning it 2-0.
The second semifinal was a repeat of the previous day, with the inform Bob Johansen coming up against PBA’s number one ranked Craig Merrilees. On this occasion, it was Merrilees that controlled proceedings in the first set, winning 8-3. Johansen then managed to string some very good ends together and led 6-1 with three ends to go before Merrilees regrouped, scoring six shots over the remaining ends to win the set 7-6 and book his place in the final.
The final then saw teammates Tinker and Merrilees from the Waihopai club going head-to-head for the title, in what was a high-quality game that could have gone either way
The first set went the way of Merrilees 8-3, but it was a lot closer than it looked on the scoreboard as both players were drawing well and converting heads on every end.
The second set was equally enthralling for spectators as Tinker piled on the pressure and looked to be getting the better of the set at 4-4 and holding 3 shots within a foot. Merrilees then played what proved to be the game winner, running the jack in the ditch for 4 and he eventually took the set 9-5 to defend the title he won in 2024.
Notable Performances & Rising Stars
This weekend wasn’t just about returning champions. Debutants Warren Petterson and Paul Brooks turned heads with exceptional performances. Warren made a final appearance in the Ranking Singles and had other strong performances throughout the weekend. Paul Brooks also made his mark, reaching the semi-final of the Scottish Singles and the Shanghai Singles Main Event Final, confirming he’ll be a name to watch this season. Bob Johansen was one of the form players of the weekend and will be looking to continue his climb up the rankings as the season progresses. Other notable mentions are, Jordan Matthews and Ronald Plunkett who both showed some great form, amongst many others. Invercargill is the current holder of the NZ Branch trophy that was won by Tinker, Merrilees and Aidan Takarua at the NZ finals last year, and watching the high quality across the whole field from new and existing members at the weekend, it bodes well for the future.
A huge thank you to all players and supporters who made the weekend a resounding success. The 2025 PBA season is off to a flying start, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons yet!
The season continues on 6/7 July with the World Singles and Pairs qualifying events where the winners will join the Scottish Singles winner in Tauranga in September for the NZ Finals.
