This match was always going to be a season defining one and with the course closed the preceding week for coring, we hoped the home course advantage would be negated but sadly this wasn’t to be. It was an early finish as only one match went as far as the 17th. We thought we were in with a good chance playing off the stick, our handicap index totalled 20 points less than theirs.

Playing off the first we were able to see the lines of the putts clearly for the first nine holes because of the heavy due but otherwise it was a stunning morning. Dean Phillips & Bruce Walkley led us out and both didn’t play up to expectations with Dean getting back to square on the 12th after being 3 down at one stage but couldn’t mount a comeback. Bruce’s opponent shot out of the blocks and was to one over at the turn and didn’t slow down finishing the match one over on the 12th.

A big thank you for Rod McColl (who normally supports Manaaki) stood in for one of our players who slept in to give us at least a chance of a point. Although Rod enjoyed the experience, the bar was a welcome sight as the match finished on the 12th. His playing partner Andrew Jones enjoyed the largest differentiation between handicaps to win well, this gives him the most wins of anyone for the team. Andrew Meng again proved his vast potential being promoted to number four and turned in one over to give us two wins at that stage. The remaining three matches (Rob Briscoe, Michael Maingay & Manaaki McColl) would prefer to remain anonymous as they were on the day.

Results

Dean Loss 2 & 1

Bruce Loss 6 & 5

Rod Loss 6 & 5

AJ Win 5 & 4

Andrew Win 5 & 2

Rob Loss 4 & 2

Michael Loss 4 & 3

Manaaki Loss 4 & 3

Points

Titirangi 33

Formosa 30

Maungakiekie 29.5

Akarana 24.5

The Grange 24.5

Remuera 22.5

Aviation 14.5

Howick 13.5

With one round to go our season is finished but we could improve to fourth as we play the bottom placed Howick at Akarana and we have a remote mathematical chance of getting to third. Maungakiekie plays Titirangi and we need to win 8 zip and Titirangi needs to win by a similar margin.