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09 December 2010 - DAY 3 WRAP OF TORO INTERPROVINCIAL MEN'S TOURNAMENT: Hawkes Bay, Otago & Taranaki...

TORO Interprovincials – Day 3 Wrap

Hawkes Bay, Otago and Taranaki – names not usually associated with provincial golfing glory – cling to title hopes going into tomorrow’s final day of section play at the TORO Interprovincials in Wellington.

Hawkes Bay lead their division after today’s fifth round as they chase their first Interprovincial title in more than 40 years. They are among a group of teams showing their teeth with two rounds of section play remaining tomorrow at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club ahead of Saturday’s semifinals and final.

With three wins each, they lead Wellington on countback of individual games, half a point ahead of Canterbury and North Harbour, with Aorangi and Southland a further half a point back.

Auckland remain on top of their division with three wins, half a point ahead of Otago, Taranaki and Tasman.
Otago, who halved with Auckland in a ripper today, have not won the Interprovincial title since 1982, Tasman for 15 years, Canterbury for a decade and Taranaki have never had their named etched on the trophy in the event’s 60 year history.

Hawkes Bay ran rampant over neighbours Poverty Bay East Coast 4.5 to 0.5 today to push to the top of their division while Wellington were forced to work hard to hand North Harbour their first loss 3-2 with Capital captain Adam Church winning the crucial game with a late run.

Canterbury bounced back from yesterday’s shock loss to Southland to vanquish neighbours Aorangi 5-0 to provide a handy advantage should a countback be required.

They face a daunting final day with matches against Hawkes Bay and Wellington, while Harbour face a less hazardous route against winless Poverty Bay and Aorangi.

Otago loom large after their excellent halved result against Auckland, on the back of the game of the tournament thus far with Brett McEwan beating Eisenhower representative Ryan Fox 2 and 1 in the clash of the No 1s. The pair fired 11 birdies between them in an outstanding exhibition, with the Otago player running hot with five straight birdies mid-round.
Auckland No 5 Jason Mann made an excellent birdie after a wayward drive to grab the half to secure half a point for his team.

Taranaki recovered from two losses yesterday to grab an excellent 3.5-1.5 win over in-form Manawatu-Wanganui while Tasman continued the misery for defending champions Bay of Plenty 3-2 to compound the log-jamb of teams with semifinal aspirations in division one.

The disappointing Bay of Plenty could prove a major impediment as they take on frontrunners Auckland and Otago tomorrow while the Manawatu-Wanganui-Otago and Taranaki-Northland could prove pivotal to the final playoff spots.
For details: www.golf.co.nz

08 December 2010 - DAY 1 WRAP OF TORO INTERPROVINCIAL MEN'S TOURNAMENT: Favourites succumb

Favourites succumb on opening day of Toro Interprovincials

Pre-tournament favourites Wellington and defending champions Bay of Plenty were both toppled on the opening day of the Toro Interprovincials on the Kapiti Coast today.

The hosts Wellington were ousted by Hawkes Bay 3-2 in the morning’s first round, while Taranaki, last in the 2009 interprovincials, downed Bay of Plenty 3-2 in the afternoon at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club.

Wellington, with two Eisenhower Trophy representatives, came to Paraparaumu with high expectations.

They were stopped by a strong Hawkes Bay combination led by North Island champion Nick Gillespie who beat the New Zealand Amateur champion Ben Campbell 3 and 2, bagging six birdies in the process. The other wins went to Pieter Zwart and Richard Squire, who proved the key, coming from two-down after nine holes to win four in a row on the way to a 3 and 1 victory over James Betts, the local Paraparaumu player and 2008 national strokeplay champion.

Taranaki, a mixture of youth at the top of their order and experience at the bottom, must have found a zip in their step from their bright yellow and black checkered pants – a la John Daly – as they held Waikato to a 2½ to 2½ half in the morning round.

That was proven no fluke when they pushed hard in the afternoon against Bay of Plenty, hoping to become just the second team to ever win the title four times in a row.

Taranaki got wins to Brad Hayward, over national strokeplay champion Brad Kendall, and Aarun Langton while Bay got wins to Andrew Stewart and Landyn Edwards, who bagged five birdies.

The key came when veteran Murray Martin managed a 1-up victory over Bay captain Kieran Muir to give his side the overall honours.

This left Taranaki, the cellar dwellers last year, as the leading team in division one with a win and a half while Aorangi South Canterbury, 12th in 2009, head division two with two wins along with North Harbour.

While Taranaki lead the way in their division, Auckland had a convincing win in their only match, Manawatu-Wanganui fought back from the morning loss to Northland to upset Waikato in the afternoon convincingly, while Otago scored a victory over Tasman.

The division has the unusual sight of Bay of Plenty at the bottom of the table.

In division two, Aorangi, who had only two wins in the entire tournament last year, win twice on the opening day, disposing of Poverty Bay and Southland. Their No 3 Simon Wright under par in winning both games, including five birdies in his afternoon victory over Southland’s Cody Harper.

Harbour beat Southland 4-1 in the morning and stepped up against Hawkes Bay in the afternoon after their barnstormer over Wellington in the morning.

With the match at 2-2, the result came down to the No 1s where Gillespie was unable to repeat his scoring blitz from the morning, giving up and early advantage to lose three in four holes to give Budden the 1-up advantage. The Hawkes Bay player won the penultimate hole but got himself into trouble on the last for Budden to claim the win and the match.
Canterbury were emphatic in their only match of the day to share third place with Hawkes Bay with Wellington joining Poverty Bay and southland in a winless opening day.

Section play continues until Friday with semifinals and final on Saturday.

Full details and results: www.golf.co.nz

04 December 2010 - DAY 4 WRAP OF TORO INTERPROVINCIAL TOURNAMENT: Auckland Sneak into Semifinals

Auckland Sneak into Semifinals

Auckland fought back from the brink to give themselves a chance to defend their TOROWomen’s Interprovincials crown in Wellington.

They came from behind to beat 2007 champions Bay of Plenty in the last-gasp final round robin clash to sneak into the playoffs.

Auckland will take on neighbours Waikato who topped their division after sharing the spoils with last year’s runners-up North Harbour today.

Harbour take on the outstanding young Wellington team who topped the other division and have the chance to win the Interprovincial crown for the first time in nearly two decades.

The final round proved a real battleground with Wellington struggling to dispose of winless Aorangi South Canterbury 4-1 with four matches going to at least the 17^th hole.

There was never more than two holes in any of the matches until the end, with Wellington’s performance typified by diminutive 16-year-old Titahi Bay player Te Rongopai Clay who edged out Aorangi’s Lynda Brown 2 and 1 at the critical No 5 position. It ensured Clay would remain the only Wellington player with an unbeaten record in the round robin phase.

The key battle in that section saw defending champions Auckland stage a strong comeback to hand Bay of Plenty their first loss.

The Bay led 3-2 at the midway point with the two key performances coming at the bottom of the order for Auckland where No 4 Brianna Maynard came from 2-down to beat Krystle Holder 2-up and No 5 Alana Wylie withstanding a comeback from Rotana Howard to win 1up with an outstanding long range putt on the final hole.

New Zealand Amateur champion Cecilia Cho continued on her way making four birdies in beating Heather Lavery 4 and 2 while Mun Chin Keh grabbed the other win for Auckland.

Waikato and Harbour had already qualified and were sorting out who would be top of the division.

Waikato, the 2008 champions, were ahead in three matches with one all square with five holes remaining before Rebekah Brownlee fought back from 3-down to halve her match with Fai Tongdethsri with a birdie on the final hole.

At the top of the order Lydia Ko held off fellow New Zealand representative Emily Perry to win 2 and 1, reeling off her sixth consecutive round under par in a match of high quality by both players.

Rica Tse got the other match for Harbour while Charlotte Willson and Hanna Seifert grabbed wins for Waikato who continued to go about their business impressively without fuss.

Willson and Seifert are among only four players to win all six matches along with Ko and Bay of Plenty’s Susan Lines.

The semifinals begin from 7.30am tomorrow with the final from 1pm.

03 December 2010 - Day 3 Wrap of TORO Interprovincial Tournament: Wellington Beat Champions

Wellington Beat Champions

Wellington dug deep to upset defending champions Auckland in a must-win clash to keep their hopes alive of a semifinal spot at the TORO Women’s Interprovincials on home turf today.

After being held to a halved encounter with Bay of Plenty in the morning, Wellington needed the win over Auckland which looked improbable until they came from behind to get home 3½ - 1½ .

Bay of Plenty had to withstand a tough clash with Canterbury to win 4-1 and go to the top of division one with nine points, one ahead of Wellington with Auckland back on seven points.

That leaves Wellington needing to beat winless Aorangi South Canterbury in the final round tomorrow to earn them their first semifinal place for more than a decade while Auckland must beat Bay of Plenty by a clear match if they are to make the playoffs on countback.

In the other division Waikato, the 2008 champions, and North harbour, last year’s runners up, have already booked their places in Saturday’s semfinals.

With Waikato sneaking into the top spot on a countback of individual games, it may mean that Harbour may clash with cross-bridge rivals Auckland in the semifinal.

Both Waikato and Harbour had their moments in the sixth round in the afternoon, edging home 3-2 against Otago and Northland respectively.

Waikato’s Kelly Nicholas, Charlotte Willson and Hannah Seifert continued their unbeaten runs while Bay of Plenty got crucial wins at the top of the order by heather Lavery and Saini Skudder on the final green to get them home.

North Harbour were never threatened with Lydia Ko again in stunning form in both games today, making six birdies and an eagle in the two rounds both in red figures.

The focus went on locals Wellington, who had to bounce back after their second halved match, sharing the honours with Bay of Plenty in the morning.

They led early against Auckland but the defending champions worked back into a threatening position coming down the stretch.

Parreno, 16, had lost each of her previous four games at No 3 for Wellington but this afternoon stepped up in the crucial closing holes to grab the vital 3 and 2 victory over the impressive Caryn Khoo.

“I knew we had one win and that wasn’t enough and I had to get home,” Parreno said.

“I would prefer not to know where the match was, so I could stay in my own game. It added so much pressure. I was shaking going down my last hole. It was so scary.

“I wasn’t happy coming into this and I really wanted to win. I knew how to play well. I knew the course. All I had to do was play my own game.

“Now this is fantastic. It feels great. It was amazing and I know we can get a win tomorrow and make the semifinals. That was our main aim coming in this week.”

In tomorrow’s final round North Harbour and Waikato clash to decide who is top of the section for the semifinals, while the Bay of Plenty-Auckland game looms as a classic to decide the other division.

The semifinals and finals are on Saturday.

More information at www.golf.co.nz

30 November 2010 - Come watch the TORO Interprovincial Tournament at Miramar Links

Come support your district as they battle it out in the 2010 TORO Women’s Interprovincial Tournament at Miramar Links Golf Club in Miramar.

The weather outlook for the week ahead is perfect, and the course is in fantastic condition so come on down and check out New Zealand’s rising golf stars battle it out.

Play is everyday this week, 30November to 4 December, with a half day on Friday and the final on Saturday.

Everyone is welcome.

The course is next to Wellington airport – visit www.miramargolfclub.co.nz for more information.

If you can’t make it, don’t forget to check back here for tournament photos and for the daily wrap.