Toro Interprovincials – Day 3 Wrap
There was some southern sting as Canterbury and Otago golf teams pushed into contention on the third day of the Toro Interprovincials in Palmerston North today.
Canterbury managed a halved effort against defending champions Bay of Plenty after lanky lefthander Tom Turner bagged a 6m birdie putt on the last green to earn the crucial half in strong winds that made for a stern test at Manawatu Golf Club.
That leaves Bay of Plenty and Canterbury sharing top spot in division one with three wins and a half, with 2005 champions North Harbour and minnows Otago only half a game behind. They scored hard-fought wins over Southland and Poverty Bay respectively.
The four teams will fight it out in tomorrow’s final two rounds for two spots in the semi-finals with Otago playing Canterbury and Harbour, who also play Bay of Plenty in the pivotal matches.
Wellington had to work hard to maintain their unbeaten record with four matches going to at least the 17th before ending the playoff hopes of hosts Manawatu Wanganui 3½ to 1½ .
Last year’s beaten finalists are joined at the top of division two by Hawkes Bay, who needed a brilliant birdie by New Zealand representative Daniel Pearce on the final hole to scrape out a 3-2 win over Taranaki.
The pair clash in tomorrow’s penultimate round with the winner assuring themselves a spot in the semi-finals while the loser could still be vulnerable to Auckland and Waikato, who are currently one and a half games behind.
Auckland, disappointing on day two, zoomed into life with a commanding 4-1 thrashing of Waikato with three of their matches finishing by the 14th.
They are in the best place to upset the loser of the Wellington-Hawkes Bay match tomorrow, with matches against Taranaki and Manawatu Wanganui to complete their campaign.
Waikato will need to get past a pesky Tasman in the morning and then clash with Wellington in the final round.
It’s been a long time between drinks for the two southern sides with Otago, a distant 11th last year, last winning the Interprovincial crown in 1982 and Canterbury, seventh in 2008, champions in 2000.
Canterbury found real leadership from their youngest player with 16 year old Andrew Namkoong, along with New Zealand representative Ryan Fox, as the only No 1 with perfect records.
Namkoong ended the winning run of the in-form New Zealand player Andrew Stewart (Bay of Plenty) although the Canterbury player was not totally satisfied with his game.
“I played really well on the first two days. And while I was happy to win today I was struggling a bit with my game today,” Namkoong said. “I had a good patch. The first two days the weather was really bad. It was hard to come back after you stop for the rain.
“While it was good that it didn’t rain today, it was quite difficult into the winds on some holes today but the hardest thing was putting in the strong winds.
“It was a good win for me today. And the team is now going well and we still have a good chance make the semi-finals.”
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