READ MORE – Eaglehawk v Golden Square | PHOTOS

GOLDEN Square produced the first headline performance of the Bendigo Bowls Division weekend pennant season with a stunning upset of reigning premier Eaglehawk on Saturday.

The Hawks are again tipped to be one of the standout sides this season, but they were upstaged by Square on their home greens.

Golden Square triumphed 101-94 in what was a strong round one statement.

Square’s Tas Wallis is the first to sit at the top of BBD skipper rankings following his rink’s 29-14 victory over Simon Carter.

Wallis’ rink, along with a 30-23 victory for Mal Finch over Dean Carter, swung the result the way of Golden Square.

New Eaglehawk skipper Darren Burgess led the highest scoring rink across the competition for the opening round in its 32-21 victory over Daryl Cheeseman.

The result was one of three round one games decided by seven shots.

• The blowout result of the opening day was Bendigo East obliterating Castlemaine by 38 shots.

Castlemaine has proven a bogey side for Bendigo East in recent seasons, having won their previous four meetings.

However, it was all one way traffic on the carpet at Castlemaine as the Beasties had all rinks up in a 109-71 belting.

High profile Beasties recruit Leigh Schraner’s first outing for his new club was a 29-18 victory over Greg Podesta.

The most competitive of the Castlemaine rinks was that of Darren Taylor, which was narrowly beaten 22-21 by Brad Marron. 

• South Bendigo began its campaign with a 79-72 victory at home over Kangaroo Flat.

Both teams won two rinks apiece, but it was victories by nine shots to Mitch Sidebottom and seven shots by coach Brad Holland that ensured South got over the line against an opponent that it lost to twice last season.

• After taking seven rounds last season to win its first game, this time Bendigo has wasted no time in getting off the mark.

Bendigo emerged victorious from its trip to Inglewood with a 93-86 triumph.

Bendigo won three rinks – Andrew Brown (+6), Ian Ross (+6) and Torie Babitsch (+8) all getting over the line.

Bendigo’s win would have been far more comfortable had it not been for a strong performance by the rink of Inglewood’s Lindsay Kelly, which defeated Nick Belt by 13 shots.

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