Golf: Surprise results help Otago Gold

Otago Gold beat Chisholm Park 4 to 1 at Balmacewen on Saturday to open up a commanding lead after the third round of the men's metropolitan senior A pennant series.

The win gives the Otago Club's B team nine points and a 13 game tally to lead St Clair by two points and three games, while newcomer Island Park is in third place.

The Gold team has now won three out of three but its strong position is also attributable to some unexpected results in the other two matches on Saturday.

Playing at home, St Clair was held to a half by Island Park, while Taieri made the most of playing at home and beat defending champion Otago Blue 4 to 2.

This result lifts Taieri to fourth place, ahead of Otago Blue, which is floundering in fifth place after winning the town and provincial titles last year.

Island Park No1 Andrew Hobbs led the way for his team in style, beating Brent McEwan by a convincing 6 and 5 margin.

The Park team's other wins came when Michael Minty beat Michael Ormandy on the 17th green and No6 Gary Creedy outplayed Tony Giles to win on the 14th.

Ryan Bellamy, Chris Snow and Stephen Hitchcox won for St Clair to tie the fixture, which was expected to go to St Clair on the Corstorphine hilltop course.

Taieri relished the opportunity to beat Otago Blue and the Mosgiel based team fielded a full strength team for the home match.

Otago Blue won the top two games, as Nick Borren and Duncan Croudis accounted for Mark Andrews and Callum Stringer respectively.

But the Taieri tail was dominant, led by Brett Kennelly, who beat Blue captain Brandon Hodgson 4 and 2, while Brian Shaw and Elliot Hornbrook both won on the 17th green.

Ian Boath, at No6, put the Taieri team in front, beating Luke Murdoch on the final green.

Playing at home for the third time, Otago Gold posted a dominant win over Chisholm Park. No3 Sean Geary beat Peter Lamb 6 and 5 to give the Park team its only win.

Murray Edgar lost the final hole to halve with Kyle Geary while the remaining four games were easily won by the Gold players. Gus Rattray (No1) and John McIntee (No6) won on the 14th green while Jodin Johnson (No2) and Chris Timms (No5) got home with three holes to spare.

The same teams will meet again on Saturday in the home and away event but the venues will be reversed, with Island Park and Otago Blue hosting their opponents.

Much interest will centre on the Otago Gold Chisholm Park match, as it will be the first time that the leaders will be playing away from home.

 

Add a Comment