Robert McDonald

Bob McDonald was one of the early greats of New Zealand bowls. He was born in 1933 and competed at four Commonwealth Games, the first way back in Perth, Australia, in 1962, winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the men's pairs.

Strangely, the immensely popular McDonald, representing the Onehunga club, won only two New Zealand titles – the pairs with Frank Livingstone in 1962 and the fours with N Church, Morrie Davis and C Smith in 1973, though he had a lot of near misses along the way.

At the 1962 Empire Games in Perth, McDonald and Robbie Robson won the men's pairs gold medal, winning 9 of their 10 matches. They lost only to Scotland, the silver medallists. They were a somewhat unlikely pairing, McDonald, the skip, still in his 20s and Robson, a Mangakino cartage contractor in his 40s.

New Zealand and Scotland were level-pegging for much of the event, each having lost one match, and were still even going into the final match, when McDonald and Robson played Fiji and the Scots faced hosts Australia.

The New Zealanders won well, 25-10, but on the next green the Australians upset the Scots. The gold medal was New Zealand’s.

McDonald and Robson teamed up again for the pairs in the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, and just failed to repeat their Perth heroics, winning the silver medal with 10 wins and three losses. A surprise loss on the final day to Kenya ended their challenge for gold.

In Christchurch, 1974, McDonald returned for the pairs and for the third time came away with a medal, this time winning the bronze with Phil Skoglund. They had losses to Fiji and Northern Ireland and drew with gold medallists Scotland. On the final day, with their bronze medal not secure, they played very well in the crucial stages to beat England 23-21.

McDonald, by now entering the veteran stage, tried to make it four medals in a row, when he and Ivan Kostanich contested the pairs at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games. Kostanich and McDonald began disastrously with losses to Canada and Hong Kong in their first two outings. But they picked themselves up and made a concerted charge for a medal. Only a 27-18 defeat by Scotland in the second-last round halted their run.

McDonald also played in two world championships.

In 1972 in Worthing, England, he was the New Zealand singles representative and finished 8th with a record of nine wins and six losses. He was going very well until the 11th of the 15 rounds when he lost to the USA, followed by losses to South Africa and Australia, and dropped out of the medal reckoning.

In the 1976 world championships in Johannesburg, Dave Baldwin, John Somerville and McDonald contested the triples. A loss to Wales on the final day pushed them out of the medal race and into 4th with 10 wins and six losses. The same three New Zealanders plus Vic Sellars competed in the fours, but their form was spotty and they finished with eight wins and seven losses.

McDonald won the fours title at the 1973 Australian championships, bowling for the Onehunga club.

He was awarded a QSM in 2002 and died in 2006, aged 72.

In 2013, Bob McDonald was an inaugural inductee into the Bowls New Zealand Hall of Fame.