Previous champions show their experience in semis

Both Andy Eggo and Jamie Blondel were made to work hard for their victories, though, as Rory McKenna and Jason Savident demonstrated their never-say-die attitude as well as no shortage of quality in matches that finished within just a few moments of each other a hole apart, which allowed the crowd to enjoy the concluding stages of both.

The number of spectators had swelled by that point compared to the handful who saw Eggo get his evening under way in perfect fashion by making an almost casual birdie at the first.

His lead over McKenna quickly doubled as the junior went out of bounds on the second, but the 17-year-old shook off that one aberration to settle into his game.

Although McKenna was always playing catch-up and saw Eggo’s lead increase to three at one stage when the youngster’s drive on the 11th was just a couple of yards off line but ended up in a horrible spot resulting in a double-bogey six, he never gave the impression that his race was run.

He chipped away at the lead and got to within one when Eggo failed to save par from the left of the 16th green.

However, Eggo knew that he could ill afford any more mistakes and played the last two holes without undue risk to force McKenna into searching for birdies that did not materialise and successive halves in pars saw the 2009 champion into another final.

Behind them, Blondel and Savident were serving up something of a cracker.

The underdog briefly edged ahead when the seeded player bogeyed the second, but Blondel responded by playing the next six holes in three-under-par with birdies at the fifth, sixth and eighth - the latter two being matched by Savident.

By the time they reached the turn, Blondel had a narrow one-hole advantage but he gave that up when his second at 11 flew just a couple of yards too far and put him in a heap of trouble.

He immediately regained the lead with a par on the 12th and he played the long 14th superbly to make birdie and double his lead.

But Savident was not done yet and he hit the shot of the night on 15 where his four-iron approach to a hole 182 yards away finishing within 4ft of the pin.

A half in pars on 16 meant Blondel still had the upper hand and he closed out the match in befitting style, rolling in the birdie putt after a terrific second into the 17th.