Canty into women’s national golf semi-finals
Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury and North Harbour will battle it out in the women’s interprovincial golf tournament semifinals today.
Auckland came through division one undefeated, dropping just 21⁄2 points all week at the Sherwood Park Golf Club in Northland.
That included a resounding 41⁄2-01⁄2 win over Wellington on Thursday morning, ending the latter’s hopes of making the semifinals. That second spot went to North Harbour instead, who beat Northland 31⁄2-11⁄2 in a losergoes-home contest.
On the other side of the draw, Canterbury finished top, despite losing 4-1 to Bay of Plenty. Olive Tapu recorded what proved to be a vital 2up win, which meant they finished 11⁄2 points above BOP, ensuring they avoided playing Auckland in Friday morning’s semifinals. The final will be played on Friday afternoon.
Three teams finished on five points in division two, Canterbury, Bay of Plenty and Waikato, which saw games determine the top two teams on a countback. Despite losing to Bay of Plenty 4-1, Canterbury needed just half a game to ensure they finished top of the division.
The new-look Canterbury team, which has four players on debut for the tournament, have handled the pressure well and enjoyed the teams event.
Canterbury has had to overcome being without recent No1 Amelia Garvey, who is bound for a college schoolarship in the United States, and Hilary O’Connor.
After sweeping Southland 5-0 on the opening day, Canterbury trounced Tasman 4-1 and Otago 41⁄2
-1⁄2 on day two. Then followed a harder-fought 31⁄2 -11⁄2 victory over Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay before Waikato was walloped 5-0.
Despite the loss to Bay of Plenty yesterday, Canterbury has still overall won 22 of the 30 matches they have played giving them confidence ahead of the semi-final battle against North Harbour. The other will be contested between reigning champion and favourites Auckland and Bay of Plenty.
The men’s competition remains up in the air, with plenty of teams still in contention for a semifinals spot when the final two round robin matches are played on Friday.
Canterbury are one of those but have experienced mixed fortunes at the tournament.
They lost their opening match to North Harbour 4-1 then toppled Taranaki 31⁄2-11⁄2 on opening day. They then cleaned up Poverty BayEast Coast 5-0 but were brought back to earth with a 4-1 loss to Hawkes Bay yesterday.
Division one sees five teams separated by just 41⁄2 points, although two, Northland and Aorangi, have byes on Friday morning.
Waikato lead the division on 151⁄2, but have tough matches against second-placed Auckland and fourth-placed Wellington which will play a huge part in deciding the semifinalists.
Wellington slipped up on Thursday, halving their match against strugglers ManawatuWanganui, while Auckland beat Northland 3-2, Waikato defeated BOP 31⁄2-11⁄2 and Aorangi were 31⁄2-11⁄2 winners over Tasman.
North Harbour’s young side continued on their merry way with another good win against Taranaki on Thursday, which moved them top of division two.
Otago had a slight hiccup when halving their match against Poverty Bay-East Coast.
Hawkes Bay have been superb this week to sit second going into Friday, although they have a bye in the afternoon which could let either Otago or Canterbury back in for a semifinal spot.