Three of last year’s I.O.M.G.U. Championship semi-finalists at Ramsey are back again for this year’s renewal at Peel, the only one missing is Mark Pugh who lost to defending champion, Paul Lowey, 2 and 1. The new face is David Sutton who was taken all the way to the 18th by Island Junior champion, Chris Kneen.

Donal Mulholland, who lost to Paul last year, was first to book his place holing a two foot birdie putt on the 15th for a 4 and 3 win over Steve Ellis. Steve had been in front early on but the game seemed to slip away from him after losing the 8th to par and then playing a wayward tee shot on the 9th which found deep rough in the trees – he conceded after hitting another four shots and went 1 down. He was never really to get back into the match after that.

Next through was Paul but not after a valiant fight by Mark Pugh. Never more than two holes in it, it was nip and tuck for most of the round. Mark may not have won the match but he did win admiration for his honesty. On the 4th referee Mike Robinson had to penalise Mark after he reported to him that the ball had moved after address, no-one else had seen it only the player – the result was loss of hole instead of a half. Mike was called to adjudicate further on the 16th when Paul Lowey’s ball ended up on a path at the back of the green. He was allowed to take relief by going back towards the tee – chipped into three feet and sunk the putt for a half – sometimes you need a bit of luck. A par on the 17th saw him half the hole and go through

David and Chris had a great battle, neither deserved to lose but Chris did on the last. It was a great performance from both the lads, golf of the highest quality.

The last name in the line-up is Moore, Kevin Moore but for 23 holes it could just have easily been Peter Moore, that’s how close it was. It took six extra holes to get a winner – at the par three 6th Kevin hit the green, Peter found the sand and laid his next dead but younger brother, Kevin, sunk his putt for a birdie and with it Peter’s hope of a semi-final place. This was the second longest one round matchplay tie in the history of the Championship.

Thursday evening's semi-finals are:-
5.30pm - Kevin Moore (Douglas) v Donal Mulholland (Castletown)
5.40pm - David Sutton (Castletown) v Paul Lowey (Castletown)