St Clair Saints are the runaway leaders at the quarter stage of the metropolitan senior A pennant series after another emphatic victory — this time at the expense of Chisholm Links.
The Otago Bombers kick-started their campaign with a win over Island Park, and the Otago B52s emerged as quiet contenders after banking a win over Taieri Lakes in Mosgiel.
At Tahuna, the home side again missed out on favourable windy conditions as Dunedin’s calm autumn continued in the 5-1 loss to the Saints.
Parker Aluesi led the way with an 8 and 6 victory over Blair Liffiton. Other wins went the way of the visitors through former Links juniors Conor Jamison and Cody McMullan, while Logan Clarke and Jakob Bleach added to the tally.
Links No 5 Jason Pegler got his season back on track with the scalp of Tony Giles to earn the Links’ sole game.
At Balmacewen, the Bombers fielded a strong side to come out on top of Island Park 4-2, but the visitors were in familiar playoff territory right to the end.
Park No 1 Phil Bungard easily accounted for Callum Judkins 6 and 5 before Duncan Croudis levelled the fixture with a 5 and 4 win over Mike Wray.
The next two games were split with Joseph Hancock (Island Park) upsetting Brandon Hodgson, and Luke Murdoch (Bombers) defeating Monty Wong.
It came down to the battle of the No 6s, where Ben Patston and Michael Minty were all square going up the last hole in a see-sawing clash.
But when Minty went long and unable to get up and down, Patston’s par sealed the win. Bombers No 4 Ricky Stewart was in an unbeaten position through 16, adding a 2 and 1 win over Brent Butler to complete the 4-2 result.
At Taieri, the Otago B52s continued their positive start to the season by beating Taieri Lakes 4-2.
But it was the home side who got the ball rolling, with wins to Josh Boath and Jarrod Mitchell over Mat Weir and Howard Maxwell respectively.
The B52s squared the ledger through Lachie Coutts and Andrew Hobbs before Lewis Harper secured three games with attention turning to the Mark Andrews (Taieri Lakes) and George Prendergast (B52s) battle.
A bogey on the 16th for Andrews gave Prendergast a 2-up win.
The Saints lead the competition with nine points, three clear of the Otago B52s and Island Park, while Chisholm Links, Bombers and Taieri Lakes round up the lower half of the table.
— Michael Minty
