The four semifinalists — St Clair Saints, Otago B52s, Otago Bombers and Chisholm Links — are now confirmed with one round to go, with the venues and matchups to be decided next after next week’s final round robin of the Metropolitan senior A pennant series.
Players battled gale-force winds on Saturday, particularly at St Clair and Chisholm Links
At St Clair, the leading Saints side escaped 3.5-2.5 over Island Park, with the visitors letting a playoff opportunity slip through their grasp.
Most of the matches were decisive either way, with Logan Clarke earning the Saints’ first win over Brent Butler.
Park No 1 Phil Bungard relished the wind, defeating Jakob Bleach in 13 holes before Parker Aluesi (Saints) dispatched Michael Minty 5/4.
Jacob Bellamy fought off a comeback from Kade Haley Broderick to give the Saints three wins.
However, the Park tail was wagging with both Jarden Hammond and Mike Wray leading late in the piece before facing a struggle coming home.
Hammond sealed his match over Matt Crawford on the 17th then Wray found himself back to square on the 18th against Conor Howes.
Howes found trouble right on the 18th fairway, taking three shots to find the green, while Wray went long. Both halved with bogeys which was enough for the Saints to scrape home.
At Taieri Lakes, the Bombers were forced to finish strongly against a competitive Lakes side. .
Bombers No 5 Duncan Croudis had a walk in the park against Josh Boath in 12 holes before Lakes No 6 Mark Andrew levelled the scores over Josh Tasman-Jones.
Luke Murdoch ended Jarrod Mitchell’s golden run to give the Bombers the lead before Ben Patston beat Jarred Haig to give the Bombers three wins.
The result ultimately came down to the Blair Bennett (Taieri Lakes) v Callum Judkins match.
With the match all square on the last hole, a par from Judkins was enough to get the Bombers home before Jaxon Boyes (Taieri Lakes) and Brandon Hodgson shook hands half way down the 18th on hearing the result for a half for the 4.5-1.5 result.
At Chisholm Links, the home side ran out 3.5-2.5 victors over the Otago B52s to secure the fourth playoff spot.
Four of the six games went the distance. The top-order matches were the first to be completed with Will McLauchlan (B52s) defeating Kyle Geary and Luke Worthington (Links) defeating Mat Weir to keep the fixture in the balance.
John McIntee halved with Lewis Harper before the Links took the lead when Jason Pegler defeated Lachie Coutts to edge the Links ahead.
George Prendergast (B52s) won his match against Blair Liffiton to level it up before Kai Koni secured the Links win — 1up over Paul Hubbard on the 18th.
By Michael Minty
