Bermudian Mayne won his quarter-final match against fellow countryman Hav Trott four and three in the morning, before beating another local Malcolm Burgess seven and six in the afternoon to book a spot in the final.

After beating Tony Readwin six and five in his morning match, defending champion Hirsch had to go the full 18 holes to beat good friend Davis Sezna one-up to return to the final. The 52-year-old is chasing his fourth title.

That match was as close as it sounds as Hirsch won the second hole to go one up before Sezna pulled back even by winning the fourth.

Hirsch won the fifth, Sezna the sixth and then the seventh to take the lead for the first time.

After sharing the eighth, Hirsch won the ninth and 10th to take the lead again, only to lose it on the 11th when he conceded after putting his tee shot into the trees on the right side of the fairway.

Both players had par on the 12th to half the hole before Sezna lost the 13th after hitting a tree on the left of the green and then chipping past the pin.

Hirsch added to that lead when he won the 15th after Sezna missed two putts inside six feet to go from winning the hole to losing it.

"I certainly wanted to make that putt on 15 but I was able to pull back even on 17,'' said Sezna who took the see-saw match down to the wire by winning 16 and 17, the latter when Hirsch put his tee shot in the bunker behind the green. Sezna clinched the hole by winning with a birdie two.

His luck quickly changed when he put his tee shot near a cliff overlooking a beach, though he did recover with his second shot, a pitching wedge that finished short on the left. Hirsch landed in a fairway bunker from the tee but set himself up with a better second shot, which was chipped onto the front edge of the green. He, too, used a pitching wedge.

Sezna missed a 22-foot putt by inches while Hirsch sunk a second putt from six feet for victory.

"I could have positioned my drive better on 18,'' admitted Sezna afterwards.

"Joel played very well. This is the kind of course where anything can happen and it did today. The wind has been the winner all week long.'' Mayne, though playing behind the two Americans, finished off Burgess early enough (on the 12th) to watch the ending of the Hirsch-Sezna match. Burgess, who beat Barry Brewer on the 19th in his morning match, did not win a single hole against Mayne as he failed to get his game together.

Mayne, who won this tournament twice in the late 1980s, took control by winning holes two (after Burgess three-putted), four, five, seven, eight and nine to go six up at the turn.

"This afternoon Malcolm didn't play all that well, but he can play a lot better,'' said Mayne.

"This morning between Hav and I he played well and I played well. We both holed a lot of good putts and I was fortunate to have won in the end.

"I was happy to play a short game this afternoon, it's tiring on your feet.

Playing 36 holes in a day is very tough.'' Mayne says his game has come on in the past few months.

"I'm better now than six months ago when I started practising again,'' he said.

"Hopefully this is a stepping stone for me to the next tournament.'' Both championship finalists admits match play can be tricky.

"Yesterday I played poorly but won,'' said Mayne. "In stroke play it takes four rounds of good playing to win but in this you can play good and lose.'' Said Hirsch: "Match play is such a battle.

In its own context match play is like a small war.'' The pair have never played each other before, the closest to a contest being when they played together during Tuesday's qualifying round.

However, not much was at stake for Hirsch who was only using it as a practice round.

There will be plenty more at stake today, though, when he takes on the medallist who will have a local following cheering him on.

"Scott's been around a lot, he's a fine player and I'm looking forward to a hell of a good match,'' said Hirsch with a smile.

The 36-hole final will begin with the first 18 holes at 8 a.m. before the finalists go out again at 1 p.m.

In the other finals -- all 18 holes -- Robert De Witt will meet Rick Cunha in the championship consolation (8.15), Roger Harvey will play Dennis Lowe in the first flight final (8.30) and Joe Holden and Adrian Crockwell will play in the first flight consolation final (8.40).

Locals Eldon Raynor and Ricky Cox will battle in the second flight final (8.50), David Hunter and Dalton Barnoff in the second flight consolation (9.00), with David Braddock and Robert Golfman meeting in the third flight final at 9.10. The third flight consolation final will be between Patrick McCann and James Gibbs at 9.30.

JOEL HIRSCH SCOTT MAYNE -- Two fine victories yesterday.