Manawatu-Whanganui provided the upset of the final section round when beating a strong Wellington team after winning three of the five games in the final round on the Clearwater course in Christchurch yesterday morning.
The win tipped Wellington out of the semifinals of the women’s national interprovincial team championships today and means Manawatu-Whanganui meets the favoured Auckland team while Canterbury carries South Island hopes against North Harbour.
Otago finished on a high note defeating Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay with three wins and one half.
Otago finished fourth in division one with six points and 13.5 games.
That places Otago eighth behind Bay of Plenty which finished fourth in division two but on one more point and 4.5 more games.
Otago No1 Laura Hoskin gained her fifth win from six games and was always in control, eventually beating Tessa McDonald on the 16th green.
No2 Danielle Bailey was in command at 5-up at the turn over Janie Field.
She lost some ground on the homeward nine butposted another win in finishing three ahead on the 16th green.
No3 Abigael Crawford was no match for Hanna Seol turning two down and slipping further behind on the back nine before losing 5 and 3.
Otago No4 Sumin Kang was always in front of Samantha Carroll turning three ahead and she never gave an inch on the homeward run.
She finished with a 3 and 2 win ensuring Otago was going to gain two points in the final round.
The experienced Susan Greig was on target to give Otago its fourth win at dormie 3-up after 15 holes.
But she lost the final three holes and had to be content with a half which still increased the Otago game tally.
To finish with a higher place, Otago needed Tasman to beat Northland in the final round.
But that match finished tied at 2.5 games each which kept Northland one point and one game ahead of Otago in division one.
