Then there were four.
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Duntryleague’s annual match-play Club Championship is rocketing toward its crescendo, a quartet of contenders remain as the tournament moves into the semi-finals on Sunday.
In what will be two battles of epic proportions, it’s arguably the four best players in the club who have won through to the final four.
Veteran, 12-time winner Robert Payne has won through as has reigning champion James Conran.
They’ll take on perennial contenders and regular regional Open winners Andy Campbell and Rob Parfett, respectively.
Try picking a championship favourite out of that bunch, especially considering the smallest win any of them have had so far is 3 and 1.
None of the four’s other games, combined, have gone past the 31st hole – out of 36.
Payne plays Campbell from 8am on Sunday, while Conran faces Parfett from 8.07am.
In A reserve, Justin Thrift plays Marco Pasquali (8.13am) and James Colgan faces Paul Birrell (8.19am).
In B grade Kevin Tandy plays Adrian Acheson (8.25am) and Brian Kay takes on Grant Barrett (8.31am) while in C grade, Ron King faces Logan Hignett (8.37am) and Dale McIntosh faces Dennis Russell (8.43am).
Wentworth’s equivalent tournament has reached the same stage, the final four, and so far the fixtures have been as fierce as the results have been surprising
A number of former champions have been knocked off in the early stages of the knockout rounds.
Two of those champions were swept aside last weekend as Troy Swain and Jason Griffiths progressed to the final four, where they’ll face each other in what is sure to be a battle of epic proportions.
Both gritty competitors, as Wentworth professional Todd Brakenridge labelled them, neither will give an inch in Sunday’s penultimate fixture.
In the other semi-final Michael Davis will face-off with Mark Fliedner.
The former has assumed competition favouritism after knocking off No.1 seed Tony Wilson in last weekend’s quarter-finals, while Fliedner scraped through.
He was down and out on the final nine holes, but an unfortunate recurrence of injury forced Jamie Newman to withdraw.
The two A grade matches tee-off from 7.07am and 7am respectively.
In A reserve two former champions in Murray Robotham and Steve Hooper will face-off (7.21am) in an inevitably entertaining match, while No.9 qualifier Scott Wright – who knocked off the No.1 seed last week – will play No.12 seed Simon Atkinson (7.14am).
In B grade Dave Keegan plays Don Gorton (7.28am) while Steve Fairley takes on Ged Fulwood (7.35am).
Wentworth’s games-of-the-round is arguably the C grade fixtures though, with Wayne Newton taking on John Dalton (7.42am) and Gary Williams playing Graham Percy (7.49am).
Newton and Dalton have both played in the higher grades and the former has had plenty of Club Championship heartbreak.
In the other game, another tough to call one, both players have taken down good opposition.
Brakenridge said “Williams has the fitness, Percy has the Yoda-like mental state” and expects this one to go down to the wire.