Golf: Otago Blue wins final

St Clair No 3 Ryan Bellamy lines up a putt during the metropolitan pennant final at St Clair on...
St Clair No 3 Ryan Bellamy lines up a putt during the metropolitan pennant final at St Clair on Saturday. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Otago Blue beat St Clair 4-2 in the metropolitan senior A final on Saturday and will go forward to the provincial pennant finals in South Otago on October 18.

The match was played in bitterly cold weather on the St Clair course but the tough conditions failed to prevent some low scoring and three of the Otago Bombers team were under par when their matches finished.

An unbeaten St Clair team was dominant throughout the series with seven wins and three draws while the Balmacewen golfers came to the final after posting seven wins, two losses and two draws.

But this meant nothing on Saturday, as the winner of the head to head final claimed the honours for the 2015 series.

Otago's Duncan Croudis won the battle of the No1 players, beating Michael Ormandy with three holes to spare.

Croudis turned three up after parring all of the holes on the outward nine and went four ahead with a birdie 4 on the dogleg 14th.

No 3 Nick Borren was also under par, beating Ryan Bellamy 4 and 2 after a tight front nine. The pair turned square.

Borren took the lead with a birdie 4 on the 10th and looked set to go two ahead with a gimme birdie on the 11th green.

But Bellamy holed out from a greenside bunker to halve the hole while Borren won the following hole with a par. Both players birdied the par 3 13th but Borren forged further ahead, winning the 14th and 16th with pars to close out the match.

James Anstiss posted Otago's third win at No4, at the expense of the evergreen Brent McEwan, after turning one ahead with birdies on the first and ninth holes.

McEwan squared the match with a par 4 on the 12th hole but Anstiss won 13 and 15 with pars to go two up.

The match finished on the 16th green when McEwan made a bogey 4.

Blue captain Brandon Hodgson beat St Clair No5 Stephen Hitchcox 3 and 2 to give Otago the required four wins.

Hodgson was two ahead at the turn but Hitchcox reduced the deficit to one with an eagle 3 on the par 5 10th hole.

A bogey 5 on the12th put Hitchcox two behind again and the writing was on the wall when Hodgson made a birdie 3 on the 15th to go dormie three up.

St Clair No2 Jakob Bleach continued his good form by beating Tyrone Ratahi on the 17th green.

In a tight tussle, Bleach turned two up but the match was square when Ratahi won the first two holes on the back nine.

Bleach (16) won 12 and 14 to go two up but lost the 15th and was one up with two holes to play.

He finished the match in style with a birdie 3 on the 17th to take the honours.

At No6, St Clair's Chris Snow played a captain's knock, beating Daniel Elder in a tight tussle which was tied after the first 13 holes.

A determined Snow finished strongly, winning the next three holes, with birdies on the 14th and 16th, to win 3 and 2.

 

Add a Comment