It is business as usual for the best two teams in the metropolitan senior A pennant series as the St Clair Saints prepare to host the Otago Bombers in the final at St Clair this Sunday.
The Saints beat Chisholm Links 4-2 at St Clair in Saturday’s semifinal while the Bombers beat club counterparts, the B52s, thanks to a late momentum change midway around the back nine.
At Balmacewen, Duncan Croudis scored the biggest win of the day to give the Bombers an early lead.
Croudis beat Paul Hubbard 5 and 4 before Ryan Rosevear putted his way to victory over George Prendergast to make it two wins for the Bombers.
Wins to Andrew Hobbs and Will McLauchlan put the B52s in a steady position with Lewis Harper 3-up against Ben Patston through 12 holes in the battle of the No3s.
But a birdie on the 13th to Patston changed the momentum. He won four holes in a row to be 1-up on the 17th tee before going on to win 2-up and give the Bombers three wins.
No 2 Luke Murdoch sealed the win for the Bombers, beating Mat Weir 2-up, but the result was already in the bag on the 18th tee.
At St Clair, the Saints earned another chance to get the monkey off their backs.
Their clash with Chisholm Links in the semifinal was close despite the two-game margin.
No 3 Parker Aluesi secured the Saints’ first win, 4 and 3 over John McIntee, before their next two games came in quick succession through Jacob Bellamy and Jakob Bleach.
At No 4, Blair Liffiton earned a valuable win over Connor Howes to give Links some hope, but ultimately the fixture was decided by Cody McMullan, who won the last three holes to halve his match with Luke Worthington in the battle of the No 6s.
At No 2, Logan Clarke and Jason Pegler fought out a tight one to add half a point to each team’s tally.
— Michael Minty
