Liam Balneaves (Greenacres) will play Brandon Hodgson (Otago) in one semifinal while Michael Ormandy (Otago) will meet Scott Hellier (Gore) in the other semifinal of the Otago matchplay championships at Balmacewen this morning.
Top qualifier Balneaves had a golden day, beating Will Young (Otago) in the morning 7 and 6 with the help of an eagle 2 on the third and a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th.
In the afternoon he had a close tussle with Inia Logan (Wakatipu Junior) and required an extra playoff hole to go forward to this morning's round.
Hodgson had to play three extra holes to beat Queenstown's Jack Turner in the morning but posted a good win over Southland's Mathew Tautari yesterday afternoon.
In his quest to make an Otago interprovincial team before embarking on a professional apprenticeship, Ormandy had a good day beating Chris Snow (St Clair) in the morning and Fraser MacLachlan (Millbrook) in the afternoon.
The upset of the morning round was when 15-year-old Taieri player Hayden Robertson beat Duncan Croudis (Otago) on the second playoff hole. But he could not take the next step: Hellier was in pristine form in the afternoon, winning his quarterfinal on the 14th green.
Balneaves has a liking for the Balmacewen layout after setting the course record at nine-under-par 62 six years ago. He continued his romance with the course by winning the Ritchie Cup after finishing top qualifier.
The top Southland trio dominated Saturday's qualifying, with Hellier finishing second and Tautari fourth. It was only Millbrook's Fraser MacLachlan who prevented a Southland trifecta when he came in third on 147.
