It is probably the final most predicted at the start of the season but the St Clair Saints and Otago Bombers got there in vastly different style.
The Saints led the Dunedin Metropolitan pennants competition all season and romped into the final in dominant fashion with a 5-1 thumping over Taieri Lakes at St Clair on Saturday.
On the other side of town, defending champion the Bombers had to fight hard — which was typical of their scrappy season that started slowly — to beat their B52s clubmates in a predictably torrid tussle.
At St Clair, the Saints always looked comfortable and were aided by a good start with all but two players up at the turn.
Saints No4 Jacob Bellamy was the first to earn the home side’s points, defeating Matt Mercer 4/3.
Saints No5 Cody McMullan’s 2-up advantage at the turn disappeared quickly against Mark Andrews but a meltdown from Andrews on the 13th green resulted in McMullan wrestling back the ascendancy to earn a 3/2 victory.
Form player of the series Parker Aluesi (Saints) beat Ryan Rosevear 4/3, while Lakes No1 Matt Tautari prevented a whitewash by beating Ryan Bellamy 3/2.
At Balmacewen, the Bombers rose from the ashes after a late-season rally to just make the semifinals and account for the B52s.
The fixture was on a knife edge the whole way with no player able to break the shackles and get more than 2-up until late in the piece.
Bombers No5 Luke Murdoch started slowly against Andrew Hobbs but had one of the more comfortable victories of the day, finishing on the 16th green to set the tone for the Bombers.
B52s No3 Tom Lee eventually shook off Duncan Croudis 2/1 to get the B52s on the board, but when Bombers No2 Brandon Hodgson beat replacement Harrison Maaka, who filled in for Steve Horn, the Bombers only needed a half to seal the fixture.
That half was not coming from the No1s with Matt Weir (B52s) springing an upset on Callum Judkins. Weir held his nerve after being 3-up at the turn to win 2/1 — putting the focus on the Dylan Stock/Chris Snow match.
With that one all square going up the last and the B52s needing Snow to win the hole to force a playoff, Snow could only manage a five, which left Stock two putts for bogey.
Stock only needed one putt — holing out for par and a deserved 1-up victory, sealing victory for the Bombers.
Metropolitan semifinals
The scores
St Clair Saints 5, Taieri Lakes 1
(Ryan Bellamy lost to Matt Tautari 3/2, Parker Aluesi beat Ryan Rosevear 4/3, Tony Giles beat Jaxon Boyes 3/2, Jacob Bellamy beat Matt Mercer 4/3, Cody McMullan beat Mark Andrews 3/2, Matt Crawford beat Ken Shaw 2/1).
Otago B52s 2, Otago Bombers 4
(Matt Weir beat Callum Judkins 2/1, Harrison Maaka lost to Brandon Hodgson 3/2, Tom Lee beat Duncan Croudis 2/1, Chris Snow lost to Dylan Stock 1 down, Andrew Hobbs lost to Luke Murdoch 3/2, Lewis Harper lost to Ben Patston 1 down).
-- Michael Minty
