Park will look to regain No 1 status in Tairāwhiti men’s club golf on their home fairways, led by Anaru Reedy and Dan Collier.
Collier is at No 1 for Sunday’s showdown and will go head to head with Brown.
Reedy, with a record of seven wins and just one loss over the series, takes on Dwayne Russell at No 2.
Matt Henwood, one of the region’s most improved players over the past couple of years, is at No 3 for the Park and will duel with one of Tairāwhiti’s most naturally gifted golfers in Shayde Skudder.
Wily Park man Peter Stewart has the task of conquering matchplay specialist Eddie Brown jnr at No 4 – Brown jnr losing his perfect record in round 7 last weekend, but bouncing back to take his 2025 series stats to seven and one with a win in the semifinals.
The semis, held at Poverty Bay on Sunday afternoon, produced drama of Ryder Cup magnitude in the tie between Poverty Bay and Patutahi (1).
At the end of regulation play, it was 4-all, so the match went to an individual sudden-death shootout.
Patutahi chose Hukanui Brown as their warrior while Poverty Bay, nostalgically referred to as “The Linksmen” by co-captain Reece Witters, went for youth in left-handed teenager Marcus Gray.
Gray, described by teammate Peter Anderson as “the real deal”, had won his round 7 and semifinal matches – both against Russell, as the teams met in the last round of round-robin play that morning to set up a 2 versus 3 top-four semifinal in the afternoon.
Brown, fresh from beating Anderson 4 and 3 in the semis and on the same first fairway where he won the Full Send long-driving competition in January, missiled two shots to just off the par-5 green, then putted close for a gimme birdie.
Gray, showing all the composure of a seasoned pro, was on for three and had to attack. His positively-struck five-metre birdie attempt was on track but burned the left side of the hole as it rolled past.
Eddie Brown avenged his 3 and 2 morning loss to Hayden Keast by, in his own words, sinking a “snake” on the 18th for the win.
Skudder defeated Marcel Campbell 4 and 3 in the morning, but pizzeria owner Campbell delivered the goods to beat Skudder on the 15th in the afternoon to keep the Linksmen’s title hopes alive.
Park took a more conventional path to the grand final in their semifinal wrestle with Waikohu, who beat Tolaga Bay 6-2 in the morning to snatch fourth place by one point from Te Puia Hot Springs.
Reedy inflicted the first defeat of the series on Glenn Solomann, 4 and 3, while Stewart brushed aside Mike Christophers.
Waikohu No 2 David Solomann beat Collier 2 and 1, but with Henwoood 3-up with three holes to play against Terry Reeves and a Park team victory in the bag, they did not carry on and called their match a half for a 5-3 win to the Park.
The Pounamu Cup bottom-four semis also featured extra holes as the seventh and eighth qualifiers upset the fifth and sixth.
Patutahi (2)’s Jace Brown beat Te Puia Hot Springs’ Wade Wesche on the third hole of their sudden-death playoffs after the teams ended regulation play 4-apiece.
Brown put his tee shot on the par-3 sixth hole to less than a couple of metres from the hole and did not need to putt out as Wesche made bogey-4.
Park (2) beat Tolaga Bay 5-3, courtesy of wins to Anthony Pahina and Brad Reynolds and a half for Bailey Matoe.
Sunday’s final tees off at 7.30am and the other positional playoffs over 18 holes start at 10.30am and 10.45.
The Park will be humming as it also hosts the final round of the Endeavour men’s handicap pennants, in which several clubs are still in the title hunt.
Waikohu’s Endeavour boys have the chance of making it a club double after their women won the Tairāwhiti women’s pennants crown on Wednesday.
