Jarryd Dillas reached his first Bermuda Match Play final in three years while Ebonie Burgess is one win away from a third straight women’s title at Mid Ocean Club.

Dillas, whose bid for a fifth straight victory ended at the semi-final stage in 2014 when Ben Hodge beat him, advanced to another final yesterday after two solid rounds of golf saw him beat Damian Palanyandi 2-up in the quarter-finals before stopping Fraser Hunt, the 2014 winner, 5 and 4 in the afternoon’s semi-final.

And while Dillas has a good record in match play finals, he won’t be taking his opponent, Mark Phillips, lightly. Phillips got past Robert Vallis 3 and 2 in his morning quarter-final match before beating Tom Nolan by the same score in the semis.

Dillas found the windy conditions challenging for the two rounds. “The wind picked up midway through the morning and was quite strong again in the afternoon,” he said.

“I felt like I got pretty lucky against Damian, I was three down through twelve, he hit a loose shot on thirteen and I was able to whittle away at it [the gap]. I felt very fortunate to get through the morning, to be honest, it wasn’t looking good for a while.

“Then I played really well this afternoon against Fraser when he made a few mistakes and gave me a few holes. I think I had one double bogey, two birdies and the rest pars through fourteen holes. It was very solid, similar to my first round match with Richard Neame. I hit a lot of fairways and greens and made a lot of pars and allowed my opponent to make some mistakes and give me a few holes.

“Fraser didn’t have his best stuff this afternoon so the score is a bit flattering, but, yes, I’m happy to be in the final again and looking forward to my match with Mark. He’s playing some good golf and is probably our best amateur on the Island right now.”

Dillas is hoping to use his experience from previous finals as he goes for another title.

“Mark is top of our Order of Merit right now and because he hits the ball so well he is a tough competitor in the wind,” Dillas said.

“If he drives it well tomorrow I’ll have a hard game on my hands. Thirty six holes is a long day but in the morning round with the wind being up then pars will be good scores through the first 18, then you can see where you are standing at lunch and reassess. What I’ve got, maybe, over Mark is I’ve been there and done it four times.

“He’s a good player, a friend of mine, my cousin down the line, actually. We chatted afterwards and are both looking forward to having a good match and hopefully we both play well.”

Burgess is one win away from a third straight after beating Valerie Nearon 6 and 5 in the semi-finals, the match over quick enough so that the conditions didn’t become a factor. Her opponent today, Tariqah Walikraam, beat Katrin Burnie 3 and 1 in the other match.

“I’m just going out to have fun, do my best,” said Burgess who almost didn’t play in the tournament for personal reasons.

“It’s just another match for me, I’m not going to put that pressure on myself to go out and get the three-peat.

The final promises to be a good showdown between two of the Island’s top young female golfers. Burgess won on the 19th hole against visitor Gina Zangrillo in the quarter-finals while Walikraam stopped Linda down 6 and 5.

“We came up in junior golf together and travelled together but in the last five years or so we haven’t played [against each other] much. It is good to be back at it with her,” Burgess stated. “I definitely know what she’s capable of.”

In the Senior Men’s Championship final today Gray Yancey will play Terry Mullan after their semi-final wins over Kavon Trott and Edward Frey yesterday.