The St Clair team will now go forward to the semifinal against second-placed Island Park on the Waldronville course on Saturday week. The winner will face top qualifier Otago Blue at Balmacewen a week later.
Otago Blue was not expecting to play on Saturday, as it was set aside for a semifinal but the final round of the series was rained off.
Consequently, some key Otago Blue players had other commitments and playing at home, the top St Clair team should have achieved a better result than a half.
St Clair Blue has a lot to thank its Gold (B) team which beat Chisholm Links at Chisholm 4-2, knocking it out of contention and allowing St Clair Blue to prosper.
For St Clair Blue, Chris Snow, Michael Ormandy and Jacob Bellamy triumphed while Brandon Hodgson, Tyrone Ratahi and Luke Murdoch posted wins for the top Otago team.
The honours on Saturday belonged to the Island Park team, which beat Otago Gold at home, 5-1, to finish the 10-round competition in second place.
Playing under pressure to qualify, none of the Island Park golfers lost. No1 Andrew Hobbs and No4 Monty Wong halved their games.
Captain Michael Minty, Mike Wray and Ken Shaw all posted convincing wins for the Park team and the icing was put on the cake when No2 Jarden Hammond came from behind to beat John McIntee.
He chipped in twice on the final four holes to win 1-up on the final green.
Chisholm Links had to win to make the playoffs and captain Mark Collie and veteran Sean Geary put the team on track with good winning margins.
St Clair’s Ross Colquhoun at No3 beat Jason Pegler 2 and 1 and the remaining three matches went the full distance.
In his first year playing senior pennants, 18-year-old Cameron Botting won the battle of the No 1s, beating Brent Butler on the final green.
Nathan Swift gave St Clair Gold its third win, beating Matthew Heaton by a slender margin, while No6 Tony Giles fought back after a bad start.
Giles was three down to Kyle Geary after the first five holes but fought back, winning on the final green to give his team the 4 to 2 win and ensure the club’s top team stays in contention this year.
●New Zealand No1 Danny Lee was yesterday within striking distance of his second win on the PGA Tour, NZN reported.
Lee produced a one-under 69 in his third round at the Dean & Deluca Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas to lose his share of the lead but sit just two strokes off it.
He shared second place with England’s Paul Casey on seven-under. The pair were two shy of American four-time Tour winner Webb Simpson, seeking to break a drought that stretches back to 2013.
Lee (26) could not match the touch of his second-round 64, mixing three bogeys with three birdies on his front nine at the Colonial Country Club course yesterday. A steady back-nine was all to par until a birdie on the par-four 18th hole.
Lee’s tour win came two years ago, when he won the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia.
The Korean-born golfer had made a poor start to the 2017 season but he produced his best finish last week, also in Texas, when he placed fifth in the Byron Nelson Classic.
With one round left to play at the LPGA tournament in Michigan, Thai golfer Ariya Jutanugarn was three strokes away from claiming Lydia Ko’s world No1 ranking.
Jutanugarn fired a third-round 68 to move into a tie for sixth at the Volvik Championship, five shots behind the leader, world No7 Shanshan Feng, of China.
Any finish better than a share of third place with one other golfer will earn Jutanugarn the world No1 spot.
Ko is skipping the event, beginning a three-week break and opening the door for world No2 Korean So Yeon Ryu or third-ranked Jutanugarn.
