Golf: St Clair takes pennant on countback

After a 3-3 draw on games, St Clair won the senior A pennant final by beating Otago Blue 12-7 on a countback of holes and will now progress to the provincial club pennant final in Central Otago in October.

It is the second time St Clair has taken final honours from the top Otago Club team on countback, having won the 2013 title at Balmacewen by superior game margins.

Otago Blue was without the services of four marquee players who are attending Jason Hughes' wedding in Bali, and were forced to rope in two players to play their first senior A pennant matches.

Aaron Charteris came in at No3 while 2013 Otago representative Sean Masters returned to competitive golf after a lengthy absence.

As the final came down to the wire, a draw looked likely and it was some great golf by St Clair No4 Michael Ormandy which put St Clair in the driving seat.

Ormandy beat Ben Patston by an impressive 6 and 4 which was always going to give St Clair a healthy countback tally.

He trailed early but won five, six, seven and eight to turn three ahead, birdieing all three par-five holes on his way to victory.

In the battle of the No1 players, Otago's Tyrone Ratahi inflicted a first loss on Brent McEwan, giving the Balmacewen greenkeeper seven wins from as many outings this year.

St Clair captain Chris Snow was solid in his 3 and 2 win over Luke Murdoch at No2 while No3 Stephen Hitchcox posted the same margin at the expense of Charteris.

However, that match came to an unusual end when, on the 16th green, Hitchcox grounded his putter behind his ball which moved, incurring a shot penalty.

Charteris was unable to capitalise on this opportunity as he had difficulty getting out of the greenside bunker.

The Otago tail wagged with Michael Smith beating Jacob Bellamy on the 17th green while Masters showed his ability downing Ryan Bellamy in 16 holes. 

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