Despite two of the men's senior A pennant series being canned, there was plenty of drama in the contest between the top two teams in the eighth round of the match.
The scheduled matches between Taieri and Otago Gold on Saturday and the catch-up match between St Clair and Chisholm Park yesterday were postponed as the Taieri and St Clair courses were closed due to course conditions.
However, the match between Otago Blue and St Clair went ahead at Balmacewen. That is, until a savage front dropped hail stones on to the Otago Club's greens and the players quickly retreated to the clubhouse.
The leading Otago team was in control at the break - Jamie Anstiss (No 2) and Jason Hughes (No 4) were 6-up on their opponents at the turn. The Balmacewen tail was also wagging and Tyrone Ratahi and Luke Murdoch were three ahead of Stephen Hitchcox and Greg Johnson respectively.
With Nick Borren narrowly ahead of Brent McEwan in the battle of the No 1 players and Brandon Hodgson also leading Chris Snow by one after 10 holes, the Balmacewen sextet was looking at a 6-0 drubbing of the Corstorphine golfers.
Under rule 6.8, play was to be continued at the next opportunity, but two of the St Clair players were unavailable for the resumption yesterday and St Clair captain Brent McEwan raised the white flag.
The result certainly means Otago Blue will have a home final while St Clair will have to stave off a challenge from the minnows in a semifinal match for a chance to beat Otago in the final for the second year in a row.
An exhilarating run of six birdies in a row, two shy of the European Tour record, catapulted veteran Thomas Bjorn into a five-stroke lead after the BMW PGA Championship third round yesterday, Reuters reports.
The 43-year-old Dane left a world-class field trailing in his wake with a dynamic 5-under-par 67 at the tour's flagship event.
Luke Donald (68), the 2011 and 2012 champion, was in second place on 206, one ahead of Irishman Shane Lowry (73).
Former world No 1 Rory McIlroy (69) was tied for fourth spot on 208 with Dutchman Joost Luiten (67).
Additional reporting by Reuters.
