Favourites to fight for supremacy in semifinals

Favourites Wellington, Waikato, Otago and North Harbour have made the semi- finals at the 2016 Toro Interprovincial hosted by the New Plymouth Golf Club.

Wellington play North Harbour and Waikato face against Otago in a rematch of the last t wo Interprovincial finals.

Wellington’s Jono Cane was the player of the day after recording two dominant 6 and 4 victories to anchor the side into the final four. He was supported by his No 1 Daniel Hillier who also made light work of his crucial match this afternoon winning 5/ 4 to retain an unbeaten record.

Cane who is a three- time champion at the interprovincials is pleased with where his game is at, along with his team’s progress.

“It’s nice to contribute as the boys are starting to come together well before the big day tomorrow,” said an excited Cane.

“I feel we have grown so much from last year and gained that extra bit of experience which is massive in this form of the game.”

Cane hasn’t won the title since 2001 at this venue, so to get over the line would be satisfying.

“To me personally it means the world, I have won three of these things now and it’s been a while since [ the last one]. It’s a feeling you can’t reproduce in any other form of the game, we have eleven other people here as a team, so hopefully we can do it for everyone tomorrow.”

Holding strong in Wellington’s No 5 position is unsung hero Kerry Mountcastle who is yet to lose a match this week with five wins and one halve showing the importance of a full team effort.

Waikato were again clinical yesterday and will ride the wave of the favourites tag into the final day today. Luke Toomey and Nick Coxon have been dominant all week and remain the undefeated backbone of this successful Waikato golf era.

Chris Charlton has replicated his 2015 form and has only lost one match at number five which has been a simple recipe for victory throughout the week.

Otago demonstrated why they have made so many finals yesterday after bouncing back from an early loss to Wellington to beat Northland in the dying moments and claim a spot in the top four. It was a stressful week for the southerners with t wo draws adding pressure, but once again they now have a chance for glory.

North Harbour were in the clubhouse early after a dominant win in the Battle of the Bridge with Auckland and could only wait and watch as Waikato did enough against Bay of Plenty to keep their hopes alive and progress to the semifinals.

Led by No 1 Jason Gulasekharam, the young side went quietly about their business all week and will have the chance to win for the first time since 2005 at Titirangi Golf Club.

Bay of Plenty and Canterbury will go home with heartbreak after they fell agonisingly close to the semifinals. Bay of Plenty lost to North Harbour earlier in the week which proved to be the decider, while Canterbury couldn’t continue their golden run with a poor final day, losing to Northland and Wellington.

The semis start at 7.30am with the final at 12.30pm.