The Otago women's team finished this year's interprovincial
tournament in style, posting two emphatic wins in its final
appearance on the Grange course in Auckland yesterday.
Otago beat Aorangi by 3 to 2 in the morning and followed it
up with a resounding 4 to 1 win over Wellington in the
afternoon.
Otago has a bye in the seventh round today and so will finish
with six points and 14 games.
The team's final placing will not be known until today as the
other six teams in section two have the opportunity to
improve their points and game tally in round seven this
morning.
The move to introduce youth has been rewarded as the 6 points
and 14 games is a vast improvement on 1, 7 in 2005; 1, 7 in
2006; 0, 7 in 2007 and 2, 8 last year.
In the morning, Monica Tulisi had a tight match, with Aorangi
No 1 Catherine Knight going down by one on the final green.
Shani Arona rallied on the homeward nine to have an easy win
over Janelle Amalfitano, while Kathryn Fletcher never got
going, losing to Jenny Kellahan in fifteen holes.
But the young Otago tail wagged with Riho Kanazawa birdieing
the seventeenth to beat Pauline Bell by 3 and 1.
Laura Hoskin made a slow start to be two down early but
birdied the sixth and seventh holes to get back to square
with Catherine Bell.
On the homeward nine, Hoskin won 11, 12 and 13 - the last
with a birdie - and took the honours on the sixteenth green.
The morning win gave the Otago players confidence and they
downed the favoured Wellington quintet, with only one match
going the full distance.
This was between Arona and Julianne Alvarez, and a costly
three putt on the thirteenth green cost Arona the match.
But Otago not only won the other four matches, but won them
by comfortable margins.
Tulisi beat Lucy Davis 4 and 3, while Fletcher rebounded from
her morning loss to be four up over Alanah Braybrook at the
turn.
Kanazawa turned two up on Barbara Parreno and then won 11, 12
and 14 with immaculate golf to seal the result.
Hoskin made a good start in her final outing to be two ahead
after six holes only to lose three in a row and trail Kawhena
Rangihaeata by one after ten holes.
But an impressive fight-back saw Hoskin win four in a row to
finish the match with two holes to spare.
North Harbour and Auckland both retained their unbeaten
records yesterday, with one round of section play remaining
to make the tournament semifinals.
There are virtual quarterfinals today to determine the other
teams to qualify for the play-offs, with defending champion
Waikato playing Northland in one section and Bay of Plenty
against a resurgent Wellington in the other.
There were no problems at the top of division one for North
Harbour, which last won the title four years ago, as it
accounted for Northland and Waikato by 4-1 margins yesterday.
The other semifinal spot in division one will be decided
today between Waikato and Northland, with the young
northerners needing to beat Waikato to secure their second
successive slot in the last four.
Waikato was dominant with a 5-0 win over Tasman yesterday
morning, but was never in contention against North Harbour in
the afternoon.
Northland was also on the wrong side of the in-form North
Harbour in the morning but bounced back to dominate Tasman
without blemish in the afternoon to stay in the play-offs
race.
Auckland cemented its place in the semifinals with impressive
5-0 performances over previously unbeaten Bay of Plenty and
Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay.
Bay of Plenty, which is chasing its 17th interprovincial
crown, bounced back from its hammering by Auckland with a 3-2
win over Southland.
Wellington, which had the bye in the morning, lost to Otago
in the afternoon.
However, it has six points to share third place with Otago
and must beat Bay of Plenty in its final match today to make
the semifinals for the first time in several years.
The semifinals and final are tomorrow.
