2 December 2009
Toro Interprovincials – Day 2 Wrap
Bay of Plenty and Wellington, the country’s most successful golf districts in recent times, forged to the front on another wet day in the Toro Interprovincials in Palmerston North today.
The Bay, who have won the titles five times in the last seven years, had to work hard to beat Aorangi 3-2 and Otago 4-1 to join Canterbury at the top of division one with three wins.
Canterbury edged out Southland in the morning and neighbours Aorangi in the afternoon, both by 3-2, to remain in contention for the semifinals.
The Capital combination, who were beaten by Bay of Plenty in the last two finals, scored two well earned wins today as players again battled inclement weather that forced rain delays at the Manawatu Golf Club.
Wellington produced an outstanding effort to dispose of Auckland 3-2 meaning the powerful northern combination will have to win all their remaining matches and likely to need other results to go their way if they are to advance to the weekend’s playoffs.
They backed this up with a 4 ½ to ½ victory over Tasman in the afternoon to move to a share of the lead in division two with Hawkes Bay. Wellington had to work for the win over Tasman which featured the rare sight of two sets of brothers playing each other with Thomas Spearman Burn (Wellington) beating Blair Riordan 3 and 2 and his twin Peter Spearman Burn beating Sean Riordan 2up.
Hosts Manawatu Wanganui remained in the hunt when Ewen Westergaard nailed a 4m birdie putt on the last hole to square his match with Shaun Jones and earn a half with Hawkes Bay. This leaves Manawatu Wanganui sharing third place with Waikato in the race for the semi-finals.
Earlier Hawkes Bay looked to have secured the points when former New Zealand representative Leighton James bagged a 7m birdie putt on the last to win his match 1-up.
The highlight of the morning was the strong performance from Wellington who made 24 birdies between them beat Auckland 3-2 in a high quality match by both teams. Wellington’s wins went to Adam Church, Thomas Spearman-Burn and Sean Kells while Auckland’s wins were secured by Fraser Wilkin and Ryan Fox who beat fellow international Peter Spearman Burn 2up. The pair traded birdies in a roller-coaster match before a crucial eagle from the big hitting Fox at the 14th gave him the winning advantage.
Bay of Plenty’s young side are developing well in their attempt to win three titles in a row, although had to show their fighting after the rain delay to beat Otago 4-1.
“The result was huge,” said coach Jay Carter. “When we came in for the break we only had one game up. We nailed it when we went back out. Ben Taylor was four-under for the five holes he played, Brad Kendall held in there for a half and Nic Meyer, who came in as our reserve, was two-down and got a half.
“There’s a real challenge after a long rain suspension like that. While our guys have some experience they are still very young and it’s a challenge which they did well today.”
Carter said Bay of Plenty always planned to use their reserve after being caught short last year.
“Last year we had one player struggling but we had not played our reserve all week and could not bring him in. So this year we always planned to bring Nic in to get that experience in case he is needed. He was close to making the team anyway.”
Tomorrow’s single round pit division one leaders Bay of Plenty against Canterbury, Wellington against the local Manawatu Wanganui and a must-win match for both Waikato and Auckland.
There are two further rounds on Friday with semi-finals and final on Saturday.
For further information please visit www.nzgolf.org.nz
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