Our Bissett Shield team were at Pakuranga in a must-win match to advance their cause to the semi-final.  Although Pakuranga were already out of contention, we knew this would not be an easy set of matches on their home course where they beat us last year.  True to form 6 matches went all the way to the last hole, but it was great to see the fighting spirit in the team as they managed to win all but one of them.  Robby Turnbull (1up), Matthew Cormack (2up), Bailey Smith (1up), Kahu Tataurangi (2up) and Daniel Freeman (1up) gave us critical wins in the top 5 matches.  Rakesh Patel added to this with a 4/2 win at No.7.  A 6-2 overall win puts us ½pt ahead of RAGGC, who beat Akarana 5-3 at RAGGC.  This weekend we play RAGGC at home, with the equation simple – a win will ensure we go the semi-final as top qualifier in our division.  Akarana are 5pts behind us in third place.

 

The Championship 1 team slipped to their first loss of the season away to Pukekohe by 5-3, but all the matches were very close.  Nathan Smith (No.1) was the biggest winner by 3/2.  The other winner was Chris Goad (2/1).  Eamon Wairepo and Karl Jorgensen both had halves.  Narrow 2/1 losses to Logan Driver and Manu Taylor, with Andrew Hipkiss losing 1down on the final hole.  This team is still 7pts clear at the top of the table and play Maungakiekie at home this weekend.  We are sure of a semi-final place and virtually certain of qualifying in the top slot.

 

Championship 2 gave themselves an outside chance of making the semi-finals with a very good win over Titirangi at Titirangi by 4.5-3.5.  The winners were Brett Geyer, Peter McCormack, Daniel Mar and Alex Bagley.  This week we are also at home against the section leaders, Whitford Park.  A solid win on Sunday may well be enough to secure a semi-final place in a 6-team division.  

 

Both Inter Club teams needed to win this weekend to advance their hopes of semi-final places.  Inter Club 2 won very impressively by 7-1 over Maramarua.  We are now 6pts clear of Maramarua, who are in third place.The biggest winner was John Etzine (7/6), followed by Grant Harford (6/5).  Closer wins went to Darren Soo, David Evans, Angus Mackie, JitsDoolabh and Igor Ivanov.  This weekend we are at Formosa, who are the weakest team in the group and whom we beat 8-0 in the first round.  At least 2pts from the Formosa match will see us progress.

 

Inter Club 3 meanwhile, beat Pukekohe 5-3.  This result moves us up to second, but in a tight division we still need a good result at Whitford Park this Sunday.  Mike Hyams and Erik Jorgensen continue to win well at the bottom of the order.  They were supported by wins from Ronnie Tan, Cameron Pocock and David Annan.  We only have a 1.5pt lead over Whitford Park and need to approach this game with a win in mind to shut them out of the semi-final race.