The final two rounds of Woodward Cup were played at Harewood Golf Club yesterday and there were some interesting results as teams jockeyed for semi-final positions.
Round 8
Templeton kept their slim sem-final hopes alive and celebrated Dan Laughton's 100th Woodward Cup game with a 4.5-3.5 upset win over front runners Russley. Laughton beat Russley's Robbie Blount 3/1, to go with wins for Jordon Latter, Tom Wilson, Ryan Bellamy, and a half to Josh Simpson. For Russley Reid Hilton, Owen Burgess, and Andrew Dufton won, and Regan Kilpatrick got the half.
Harewood and Bottle Lake fought out a 4-4 draw with Ben Burgess taking out Matt McLean 1up in the No. 1's battle. For Bottle Lake Lachie Mackay and Steve Dellow also won with Jason Campbell and Aaron Neill halving with Kerry Branson and Harry Weeds respectively. Scott Manyweathers, Josh Smith, and Sam Watkinson won for Harewood.
Avondale kept their semi-final hopes alive with a 6-2 win over Weedons. For Avondale Sam Purdon, Nick Brennan, Nathan Andrews, Daniel Vesty, and Jack Holmes won, while Rodney Van Steenis and Hayden Burns halved with Jonathan Stieller and Auston Hamilton respectively.
Christchurch had a solid 5.5-2.5 win over Waitikiri with wins to Jordan Bakermans, Jason Sincock, Mike Toeke, Richard Reed, and John Rademakers, and a half to Nick Franzmann against Chris Bond. For Waitikiri Woo Bong Kim and Simon Marshall won.
Pegasus all but cemented their semi final berth with a 6.5-1.5 win over Hororata with wins to Peter Brinsdon, Shaun Allan, Phil Stephens, James Cadenhead, Brandon Parker, Nathan Gilbert, and a half to Marcus Mariu against Andrew Inch. For Hororata Steve Bell was the sole victor.
Round 9
Jonathan Stieller celebrated his 150th game of Woodward Cup with a win over James Cadenhead in Weedon's afternoon match against Pegasus. Unfortunately this was not enough as the team went down 5-3. Bryden Grant and Jack Ryder also got wins for Weedons, but Pegasus were too strong with wins to Shaun Allan, Phil Stephens, Brandon Parker, Nathan Gilbert, and Mike Taylor.
Avondale did enough to snatch the last semi final berth with a 4-4 draw against Bottle Lake. There was some disagreement when Bottle Lake's Ben Burgess was disqualified for using his cell phone during his match against Sam Purdon. Other wins to Richard Sinclair, Hayden Burns, and halves to Daniel Vesty and Jack Holmes got the four games that Avondale needed to get into the semis by a point. For Bottle Lake Daniel Asplin, Kieran Sharvin, and Jason Campbell had wins, while Aaron Neill and Steve Dellow had halves.
Templeton were hoping that their 5.5-2.5 win over Waitikiri would be enough to get them into the semi finals. However they came up a point short and will rue losses in earlier rounds. Tom Wilson, Josh Simpson, Dan Laughton, Rhys Wilson, and Terewa Tamihana had wins with Jordon Latter halving with Jin Sung Kim. For Waitikiri Aaron Forsyth and Woo Bong Kim won.
Harewood had a fine win against Christchurch 4.5-3.5 and were also hoping that it would be enough for a semi-final, however they also came up a point short. For Harewood Matt McLean, Sam Watkinson, Kerry Branson, and Harry Weeds won, with Scott Manyweathers getting a half against John Rademakers. For Christchurch Nick Franzmann, Mike Toeke and Dale Stevenson won.
Russley finished off the round robin with a 7-1 win over Hororata, who will now go to the promotion/relegation match as the bottom placed team.
Russley's Reid Hilton (right) and Christchurch's Mike Toeke shared the Stan Rich Salver for most individual wins, both winning 9 from 9 during the round robin.
We look forward to Finals Day at Waitikiri on 8 November where Russley will play Avondale in one semi, and Christchurch versus Pegasus in the other.
Click here for Full Individual Results
