EIGHT men are now just one step away from finals day in the Examiner Matchplay Golf Tournament – and another step closer to winning our FREE holiday in Portugal!

And out of the eight players remaining, only one of them has experienced victory in the final and that is Fixby’s Nick Wilson, who won the first-ever tournament, held in 2004.

The six-handicapper defeated Bradley Park’s Daz Johnston 5&4 to go through after a close battle over the opening nine holes.

Johnston in fact took the lead at the first after getting a nett birdie three, before Wilson hit back to lead by one at the turn.

However, home advantage began to play its part on the back nine with Johnston struggling to get the pace of Fixby’s lightning fast greens and Wilson sealed the match on the 14th.

His club colleague Jonny Heyes (a frequent visitor to finals day) set up the chance to make yet another final when he ended reigning Matchplay champion and the Examiner’s current Overseas Challenge winner Andy Mear’s hopes of retaining the title with a 6&5 win, also at Fixby.

Like Johnston, Mear drew first blood on the opening hole, his opponent double bogeying, but Heyes then found his usual consistency with nine pars and a birdie, plus two more bogeys to reach the 13th.

That run of pars helped him reach the turn five up, with Mear further hampered when jarring his back during his swing.

Despite that he did manage to get up and down from a bunker at the 11th, but the end was in sight, and when Heyes parred the 13th with a three, the game was up for the champion from Cleckheaton.

The third Huddersfield member Keith Stones, was unable to make it a Fixby hat trick however, as he tumbled to Chris Holmes at Meltham, the home player winning comfortably 5&4.

Longley Park’s Ian Colleton is rapidly getting the nickname as the ‘comeback kid’ after two fantastic escapes in the last two matches.

In the opening round against Woodhall Hill’s Shaun Acaster, he was five down at his own Longley course, and then compounded his worries by hitting Acaster’s ball by mistake on the first at Woodhall to go six down, before roaring back to win on the 18th.

And Colleton followed that up with a second round win over Simon Whitham after playing at Crosland Heath where he found himself three down after three holes, but roared back to win by one hole.

The longest match of the round was at Meltham, where Michael Cooke eventually overcame Steve Whiteley at the fourth extra hole, after the former was laying dormie two, while in another all-Meltham clash, Jack Thewlis ended David Law’s dream of a free holiday to Portugal for another year, winning 4&3.

Probably the surprise result of the round came at Blackley, where two-times Overseas Challenge winner Denis Walters was defeated by Woolley’s Corie Johnson 3&2.

Johnson’s dubious reward for beating Walters is a visit to Fixby to tackle Heyes, while former Meltham captain Ian Saxton who had a bye in the previous round, will entertain Wilson at the Thick Hollins club, who are guaranteed at least one member at finals day, which this year takes place at Woodsome Hall, on Thursday, September 20.

The full draw (to be completed by the end of August) is:

Chris Holmes (Meltham) v Michael Cooke (Meltham).

Jonny Heyes (Huddersfield) v Corie Johnson (Woolley).

Ian Saxton (Meltham) v Nick Wilson (Huddersfield).

Jack Thewlis (Meltham) v Ian Colleton (Longley Park).

The winner will join the Examiner’s Overseas Golf Challenge at Lagos in Portugal in November for a free eight-day golfing holiday.

The Challenge is open to anyone, and there will be five days of golf included in the cost of the holiday at the brand new complex at Palmares and Boavista.

This year’s holiday departs on Thursday, November 1 for seven nights accommodation at the four-star Hotel Tivoli in Lagos, at a cost of £789 (or an option of £729 for four rounds), while for non-golfers, the cost is £489.

Place are now filling up fast, so for further information or booking please contact Paul Hanson, at Hanson Travel, on 01132 393300.