St Clair retains Blackhead Cup after beating Island Park

St Clair handed Island Park its first loss and in the process retained the Blackhead Cup for summer in pennants play on Saturday.

All three matches were tight.

At Chisholm Links, the home side and Otago B52s were fighting to stay in the hunt for the semifinals.

Wins from Matt Weir and Tom Gillan set the tone and when Glen Christie beat Links captain Mark Collie on the 17th, the result came down the battle of the No4s. With the B52s only needing a half, Will Young had earned the right to lose the last two holes to halve his match against Kyle Geary and win it for his team.

The mouth-watering clash between the leading Bombers and Taieri Lakes at Balmacewen went the way of the home side. The 4-2 result mirrored the hard-fought 5-1 fixture last month, with four fixtures going to the final green, but momentum was always in the Bombers’ favour.

The match between between top players Brandon Hodgson and former Otago representative Mark Andrews was all square on the 17th tee. However Hodgson’s length off the tee proved an asset.

A big drive from the Balmacewen man ensured only a short pitch was required. It was landed to 30cm and conceded for a birdie.

That ended Taieri’s chance to draw level, with Hodgson going on to win 2 up.

Island Park lost to St Clair up on the hills.

Island Park No6 Phil Bungard scored first, ruining Kade Haley Broderick’s perfect record before St Clair’s Cody McMullan accounted for Monty Wong in stylish fashion.

Chris Snow recorded Park’s second win but when Matt Crawford and Jacob Bellamy secured the cup with wins for the home side, the competition points hinged on the Matt Tautari-Joseph Hancock match that was all square on the 18th tee.

With Island Park needing a Tautari win to halve the fixture, his 5m birdie putt missed, leaving Hancock a short putt to give St Clair a handy 3.5-2.5 win.

Scores.—

Chisholm Links 2.5, Otago B52s 3.5 (Paul Hubbard lost to Mackenzie Gibson 4/3, Howard Maxwell lost to Jason Pegler 1 down, Glen Christie beat Mark Collie 2/1, Will Young halved with Kyle Geary, Tom Gillan beat Mike Weastell 2up, Matt Weir beat Matt Heaton 5/3).

Otago Bombers 4, Taieri 2 (Brandon Hodgson beat Mark Andrews 2up, Tyrone Ratahi beat Hayden Robertson 4/2, Nick Borren lost to Ken Shaw 1 down, Ben Patston beat Josh Boath 1 up, Duncan Croudis beat Blair Bennett 7/6, Jason Hughes lost to Matt Mercer 1 down).

St Clair 3.5, Island Park 2.5 (Joseph Hancock halved with Matt Tautari, Jacob Bellamy beat Mike Wray 3/2, Parker Aluesi lost to Chris Snow 3/2, Cody McMullan beat Monty Wong 5/4, Matt Crawford beat Michael Minty 2/1, Kade Haley-Broderick lost to Phil Bungard 5/4).

Points: Bombers 18, St Clair 11, Island Park 10, Taieri Lakes 8, B52s 7, Chisholm 4

 - Michael Minty
 

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