The final round robin matches of Men’s Pennants was played on Sunday. All teams were in contention for semi-final places, although some had slightly easier tasks than others. Nonetheless all teams have made the semi-finals – a huge achievement for all the teams!
Bissett Shield were at home to RAGGC battling it out for top spot in their section. At least a 4-4 draw would be enough for us to secure top qualifier spot. All the matches were close through the first nine holes. Rakesh Patel was the earliest finisher – beating Mark O’Malley 4/3. But this win was balanced out by Daniel Freeman’s 4/3 loss to Andrew Webber. Soon after James Eng lost his match 3/2, evened out by Kahu Tataurangi’s 3/2 win. Nathan Smith spent most of his match behind and went into the final 2 holes, 2down. He won both 17 & 18 to secure a vital half! This left the top 3 players on the course and all matches very close. Bailey Smith and Matthew Cormack also won the final 2 holes to win 2up. Robby Turnbull led 1up with 2 holes to play before Cameron Harlock chipped in for a birdie on 17,and birdied 18 to win 1up. A testament to the fighting spirit of the team that 3 players won the final 2 holes to produce vital wins. Overall, 4.5 - 3.5 which means we go through in top place in our section. The semi-finals and final are at Windross Farm on Sunday March 28. Our opponents will be Whitford Park, while Titirangi will play RAGGC.
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Championship 1 team were already certain of a semi-final place and probably top spot. That became an absolute certainty by the half-way mark. Big wins to Eamon Wairepo (7/5), Karl Jorgensen (6/5), Roger Hudson (6/5) and Andrew Meng (8/6), followed by Thomas Neylon (3/2) and Andrew Hipkiss (1up). Steve Callinan and Manu Taylor both halved for an unbeaten day! They will play a semi-final at Pakuranga this coming Sunday against Titirangi, who finished tied with RAGGC at the top of their section, runner-up on a count-back.
Championship 2 beat Whitford Park 5-3 at home. Wins to Robert Hill (4/2), Finlay McKechnie (1up), Max Clarke & William Kelly (6/5) at the bottom of the order were enough to set the team for a win. Halves to Peter McCormack and Daniel Mar contributed to the final winning result. On 23.5pts they finished runners-up behind Whitford Park, which means a semi-final against Titirangi at Maungakiekie next Sunday.
The Inter Club 2 team narrowly lost 3.5-4.5 to Formosa at Formosa, but that was enough to move on to the semi-finals. WInners on the day were David Evans, Krish Krishna& Darren Soo (a late replacement for Grant Harford at No.1). Alex Ivanov’s half completed their scoring. Their semi-final is against Howick at Titirangi, while the other match is between Pakuranga and Chamberlain Park.
Inter Club 3 were up against Whitford Park at Whitford. Most of the matches were very close but wins to Mike Hyams, Dean Palmer, Cameron Pocock and David Annan, plus Chris Hanley’s half gave them a very good 5.5-2.5 win over the home team. The other match finished in a 4-4 draw between Titirangi and Pukekohe which means that we are tied with Titirangi on 26pts. Unfortunately, the tie break is decided on the head-to-head clashes with Titirangi. We lost 1.5-6.5 at Titirangi and were assessed a 4-4 draw at home in a match cancelled due to the Covid lock-down. A tough way to be denied top spot. In the semi-final we will play Maungakiekie at Formosa, while Titirangi will play Chamberlain Park.