Was supposed to be played on Saturday the 6th. But with the weather looking a bit dodgy, I had a request from my opponent to play it early. No skin off my nose. So Wednesday 8.30am it was to be.

My opponent for the day was John Christini, past Club Captain and has been a big noise in Taranaki Golf. Like a lot of us, he has been around awhile and his handicap has fluctuated from the mid teens to the mid 20's. I am currently on a 16 John on a 17 so it should be a close match. We were joined for the day by Johns wife Megan.

My name was first on the list and I got to tee off first. I hit a good one down the middle. Pressure on. For the third time in a row my opponent has a problem. John steps up and hits a hook over the fence and out of bounds. Three off the tee for John. Puts his next tee shot into the trees on the right, into the deep stuff. Like I did on Saturday, John chonked a couple to get out of the deep stuff, Hit a nice one onto the edge of the bunker. Topped his chip into the bunker, chopped it out of the bunker and three shots later he was close enough for me to give him the last putt. I was boring and hit my second down to the 90 meter marker, hit my chip short, another chip and two putts later I had a six. We wrote down an 8 for John as the maximum the computer would let him have on the hole. More importantly to me - one up.

Onto the 2nd hole. Again I hit a nice straight one to just below the green, leaving me a sort chip to the hole. John went left hit a short chip and was on the green for three and would putt first. Missed his putt and was in for five. I get my four and go two up.

Third hole I hit short left, John has a good one down the middle. My second goes to the front of the green, John on the green and is putting for birdie. I lay up my chip to the hole and John gives me whats left. In for four. John putts and the ball just dribbles past the hole, halved in fours. 4th hole we halve in sixes, both in trouble to the right and neither of us could get an advantage. Still two up. 5th hole, par 3 we halve in fours.

The 6th goes my way. We both hit into the trees on the right. I get mine just out of the trees with about 90 meters to go. John gives it a good thump out of the long grass, straight accros the fairway and out of bounds. Declines to hit another ball. My hole, three up. That was as good as it got. We halved the 7th, John won the 8th, I won the 9th and turned three up.

Halved the 10th in fours, lost the 11th John with a good putt for five all I could manage was a six. I won the 12th with a four to Johns five. Back to three up. John won the 13th and I won the 14th, still three up.

It was now I ran into trouble. Starting to get a bit tired and sore and John was starting to hit the ball better. I couldn't buy a putt. Getting lots of gimmes but not sinking them to put John under pressure. Lost the 15th, then the 16th, then the 17th. From being three up with four to play I went to the 18th all square.

We both tee off with good shots down the right, no trouble for either of us. I play first and get a slight hook on the ball which takes it just under the green on the left. John follows me. John to play and chunks his chip short. I get my chip onto the green but 2.5 meters short of the hole. John gets his next chip to 1.5 meters from the hole. Sink my putt and I win. I miss by a few centimeters and John gives it to me for five. John now has a putt to halve the hole and send us into overtime. He steps up. Pushes it left, catches a piece of the hole and spins out. I have won!!

What do I win? A chance to play in the semi-finals in about ten days time.

A small aside. The way Megan played today, she would have beaten both of us.