South of Ireland Championship: Johnny Foster is getting to the stage of his life where work - more often than not a forbidden word in the world of amateur golf - is beckoning.

"I've a lot of ambition left in golf," said the 27-year-old from Ballyclare, outside Belfast, yesterday after negotiating his way into today's semi-finals of the South of Ireland Amateur Championship here, "but this will be my last year as a full-time amateur."

Indeed, as if to testify to the new generation which is taking a grip on the game, Foster is comfortably the eldest of the four survivors. As he continues his quest to regain a title he won in 1998, Foster will meet Greg Bowden - a 22-year-old former Youths' international from Hermitage - in one semi-final, while Cian McNamara, just turned 18, must face full international Richard Kilpatrick, aged 22, in the other.

Yesterday, with barely a breath of wind and splendid sunshine showcasing the links, Foster was an impressive winner over former international Pat Murray in the fifth round, winning by 5 and 4. The foundations were built early on with a par-birdie-par-birdie start that had him three-up after four holes.

"It's very important to get off to a fast start," remarked Foster, which he has done in all his matches.

As a course and distance winner, so to speak, Foster has probably assumed the mantle of favourite. But he suggested there weren't too many comparisons left between his win of six years ago and his game now.

"The only things left from '98 are my three-wood and my caddie (Patrick Glynn)," quipped Foster, adding: "My game's different now. I'm a better striker of the ball and I've also converted to the belly putter. There's no stigma attached to playing with one any longer and I think it has given me an edge."

Foster first used the belly putter some 13 months ago and reached the North of Ireland final, and last year he regained his place on the Irish team which went on to win the Home Internationals.

However, he believes the time has come to find a job, rather than play golf full-time. Given that he has also earned a masters degree in social science along the way, he has been able to play golf "guilt free", as he put it.

To get a chance to repeat his win of '98, Foster will first have to overcome Bowden, which will be a tough task given the way the Dubliner - a finalist in the West of Ireland earlier this season - has performed.

In yesterday morning's fifth round he accounted for Mark Campbell by 5 and 4, and then went on to defeat Mark Shanahan 2 and 1 in the quarter-final.

"The key is putting," remarked Bowden, who, nevertheless, showed some real quality in other areas of his game, most notably on the par five second where he hit a four-iron approach in to 15 feet and sank the eagle putt.

McNamara, too, played some fine golf in moving into the semi-finals. In the morning, he overcame Youth's international Paul O'Hanlon by one hole - sealing the match with a wonderful three-wood second shot onto the final green - and then defeated Des Morgan by 3 and 2.

But McNamara, seeking to become only the second teenager to win the South, a feat achieved in 1897 by Fred Ballingall, has managed to produce match-winning golf despite being bothered by a back strain. Indeed, so tired was he that on Monday evening he went to bed at eight o'clock and had an unbroken sleep until waking at seven yesterday morning.

The long sleep obviously stood to him, and his continued winning ways earned him a semi-final showdown with Kilpatrick, who has just completed the second year of business studies at Toledo University in the US.

Kilpatrick, though, had a real scare in his quarter-final where he was forced to go to sudden death, eventually beating 44-year-old Pat Lyons at the 19th after the Cork golfer put up a tenacious battle.

Fifth Round: R Kilpatrick (Banbridge) bt M Horan (Birr) 8 and 7; P Lyons (Cork) bt K McGarry (Bandon) 2 and 1; D Morgan (Mullingar) bt D O'Dwyer (Buxton) 2 and 1; C McNamara (Limerick) bt P O'Hanlon (The Curragh) 1 hole; G Bowden (Hermitage) bt M Campbell (Stackstown) 5 and 4; M Shanahan (West Waterford) bt M O'Sullivan (Galway) 6 and 5; J Foster (Ballyclare) bt W Telford (Rathmore) 4 and 2; P Murray (Limerick) bt D Conway (Portmarnock) 1 hole.

Quarter-finals: Kilpatrick bt Lyons at 19th; McNamara bt Morgan 3 and 2; Bowden bt Shanahan 2 and 1; Foster bt Murray 5 and 4.

Semi-finals: 8.30 - Kilpatrick v McNamara; 9.00 - Bowden v Foster. Final at 2 p.m.