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IN-FORM Bathurst golfing star Dylan Thompson is just a step away from adding the Bathurst Golf Club's annual Matchplay title to his Club Championship.
Thompson will take on Todd McIntosh in Sunday's final.
Given what he has done over the last six weeks it is hard to mount a case for Thompson being anything other than a strong favourite.
McIntosh's recent resurgence, however, which has seen him finish fifth in the club championships and given him wins over Darryn Bruce and Ben Matheson in the matchplay competition, ensures that it shouldn't be one-way traffic.
"Todd has an older head on his shoulders than Dylan. He has come back to playing regular A grade golf after a bit of a break and he's hitting it very well," club captain Manuel Pro said.
"He's doing an information technology course at CSU so doesn't get the chance to play a hell of a lot of golf but he's clearly playing quite well at the moment.
"The good thing about matchplay is that it doesn't matter if you have a really bad time of it on one hole, you forget about it and move onto the next one and you only lose one point, so the damage is limited."
McIntosh had a delayed start to his tournament and had to wait until Friday to take on Bruce in the quarter-final, winning comfortably 4-and-3.
That set him up for a semi-final against Ben Matheson and this time it wasn't such an easy victory, but he did enough to clinch a 2-and-1 triumph.
In a battle of the young guns during the other semi, Thompson got off to a steady start against Scott Matheson by taking a win on the first hole and, by the 10th, he had stretched his lead to three.
His opponent pulled back two holes by the time they walked off the 15th but, with the match up for grabs, Thompson stayed composed to win the 16th and 17th, claiming a 3-and-1 win.
"The thing that gives Dylan a bit of an edge at the moment is the fact that he seems to be playing really well exactly when he has to," Pro explained.
"Even on Thursday during his mid-week round Dylan wasn't hitting it particularly well, but he really turned it on when it mattered and that's what wins you important tournaments."
In the lower grades Brad Molenkamp, who Pro describes as a matchplay specialist, will take on defending champion Matt Ryan after both players cruised through their semi-finals.
In B1, Steve Darlington plays Rod Osborne in a somewhat unexpected final after Darlington missed out on initial qualification and had to rely on another player pulling out, while Osborne was one of the last of the initial qualifiers.
In C grade Terry Lewis takes on Mark Gunning.
"Terry has played a lot of pennants golf so he knows what matchplay is all about, I'd have to give him the edge there at the moment, he seems to be playing really well," Pro said.