Ryan Bellamy (St Clair) is the only Otago player trialling to win both matches yesterday and make the semifinal of the Otago men’s matchplay championships which conclude on the Balmacewen course today.
Bellamy will meet top qualifier Scott Hellier (Gore), while Southland has another possible winner in Jeremy Hall (Greenacres) who will play Balmacewen’s Ben Turner this morning.
Hellier eliminated 2013 winner Kayne Wardell in the morning and required 16 holes to beat Michael Smith (Otago) in the afternoon.
The match of the day was between Bellamy and Brandon Hodgson (Otago) in the morning, which provided low scoring on the pristine Balmacewen greens.
Hodgson eagled the first and eighth holes and with four more birdies went well under par.However he lost on the final green to Bellamy who also had a birdie feast — a total of seven — during the round.
In the afternoon Bellamy had a tight match against schoolboy Joseph Hancock but took the honours on the final greens.
Otago Gold pennant player Ben Turner beat Jacob Bellamy in the morning and St Clair’s Jakob Bleach in the afternoon to take his place in the semifinal.
After qualifying in second place, defending champion Chris Snow (St Clair) looked set for further success but Michael Ormandy (St Clair) triumphed in a tight tussle.
Snow birdied the final hole to force a playoff but Ormandy won the playoff, going forward to meet Hall in the afternoon.
Hall was too strong in the second round downing Ormandy with two holes to spare.
In the plate event for morning losers, Matt Tautari (Southland) will play Hodgson and Jacob Bellamy will meet Matt McLean (Harewood) in the other semifinal this morning.
Many of the results have not helped the new Otago selection panel, who are to name the eight men to compete in the South Island teams event at St Clair on November 5 and 6.
Matchplay for the women’s title begins this morning, after only five players opted to compete in province’s top championship.
