WALKER TOPS NZ RANKINGS

Dunedin's Ken Walker tops the year-end 2008 New Zealand Professional Bowls Association rankings unseating long-time number one Jamie Hill. The PBA regional coordinator had a strong season and will represent the NZ association in the World Indoor Pairs in England in January with partner Paul Girdler for the third season running. Walker will also compete in the International Open Singles also in England this November. Two other stand-out performances during the 2008 NZ winter were from Waikato's Brian Cathro who will travel to the UK for two singles events and played in the recent NZ pairs national playoffs, and Manawatu's Philip Skoglund who won three trips to the northern hemisphere. Cathro jumped twenty-two places to number two and Skoglund thirty-four places to number seven since the rankings at this time last year.

Auckland's Linda Ralph easily retained her position as the best female climbing thirteen places to number twenty-three, and fellow Aucklander Dan Delaney was clearly the top rookie finishing at number eighty and will travel to the World Indoor Singles at the Potter's Leisure Resort in Norfolk, England in January. This was the first year former number one and world number nineteen Jamie Hill did not win a tournament since 2002.

NZ PBA Rankings:
(2007 rank) 2008 rank Player Centre Points
( 11) 1 Ken Walker Dunedin 396
( 24) 2 Brian Cathro Waikato 336
( 8) 3 Kevin Robinson Waikato 326
( 9) 4 Steve Cox Auckland 312
( 2) 5 Chris Lourie Waikato 311
( 7) 6 Ray Boffa Kapiti Coast 309
(41=) 7 Philip Skoglund Manawatu 305
( 4) 8 Robbie Thomson Dunedin 304
( 5) 9 Neil Fisher Auckland 299
( 28) 10 Phillip Bennett Waikato 298
( 1) 11 Jamie Hill Auckland 290
( 18) 12 Stephen Wood Manawatu 289
(22=) 13 Paul Girdler Dunedin 288
( 6) 14 Steve Posa Waikato 281
(43=) 15 Andrew Kelly Canterbury 278
( 13) 16 Rob Ashton Wellington 264
( 3) 17 Mark Cowan Dunedin 256
( 12) 18= Justin Goodwin NSW 241
( 15) 18= Eric Patillo Northland 241
( 33) 20= Terry Johnson Manawatu 223
( 14) 20= Andrew McCallum Dunedin 223

Thanks to Richard Corry