Bay of Plenty dominate at New Zealand Men’s Interprovincials in Omanu

New Zealand Men’s Interprovincial Golf Championship at Omanu Golf Course. Photo / Simon Watts / www.bwmedia.co.nz

Bay of Plenty golfers continue to impress their home supporters after building a commanding lead in their division midway through the New Zealand Men’s Interprovincials.

The 2022 New Zealand Interprovincial finals are showcasing some of the country’s best amateurs across two golf courses at the Omanu Golf Club and Tauranga Golf Club from December 6 to 9, with the men and women coming together for the finals for the first time.

Men and women have previously played their New Zealand Interprovincial event over two weeks on two different golf courses. This year, Omanu and Tauranga Golf Clubs will host the men’s and women’s sides over one week. The top four men’s and top four women’s provinces play semis and finals together for the first time in the event’s history.

The hosts have won four from four to sit on four contest wins and 14.5 games ahead of Otago, who has won two from three but have had their bye. They have accumulated nine and a half games over their first three matches.

The Bay of Plenty outfit has looked dominant throughout the four matches they’ve played so far.

After two wins against Aorangi and Wellington on Tuesday, they brought the same winning energy, beating North Harbour 4 – 1 yesterday morning and Northland 3.5 – 1.5 yesterday afternoon.

Bay of Plenty captain Jordan Golding said the team was relishing competing in front of their home supporters.

“The boys are feeling really good. Emotions are pretty high, and we’re stoked to get a big win over a tough opponent in Northland who have a couple of players that play their golf down here now.

“We’ve all played these two courses plenty of times; the greens are really fast and the rough is long, hopefully that continues to play in our favour as the week progresses.

“It’s great to see so many people out and about supporting us and the women. Hopefully, these crowds continue to grow over the week.”

The hosts have a golden opportunity to lock up a semi-finals place if they beat Manawatu Wanganui today by a big margin and have other results go their way. They have their bye tomorrow morning and play Poverty Bay East Coast on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Otago bounced back after a slow start, recording a couple of wins over Poverty Bay East Coast and Manawatu Wanganui to sit in second in Division One.

On the other side of the draw, Auckland has established itself as the team to beat, defeating the defending champions in a nail-biter yesterday afternoon after getting past Waikato 4 – 1.

Auckland beat Taranaki 3 – 2 yesterday afternoon to be three from three and accumulate 10 game wins. Auckland’s number five and four won comfortably, but the match became tight after Taranaki’s Jack Van Prehn beat Robby Turnbull 1 up and Sam Jones beat Josh Bai 5 and 4, meaning it came down to the number two match between Auckland’s Jared Edwards and Taranaki’s Ethan Jones.

Unfortunately, Jones hit his tee shot out of bounds, meaning Auckland walked away with the victory and sit atop the leaderboard ahead of Taranaki, who are yet to have their bye.

They’ll have another tough test in Southland this morning.

Canterbury sits in third with two wins and a loss but has had their bye.

Play gets underway at 7.30am today. The finals will be played on Saturday at Omanu.

In the New Zealand Women’s Interprovincials, Auckland and North Harbour have returned with a vengeance and are unbeaten through the opening four rounds alongside the hosts, Bay of Plenty and Manawatu Wanganui.

The four sides came into the week as the clear favourites and are yet to disappoint. So far, they’ve each dominated their early matches to ascend to the top of the leaderboard midway through the tournament, with no signs of slowing down.

After playing at Tauranga earlier this week, the women moved to the host club Omanu yesterday for rounds three and four.

Bay of Plenty has kept the smiles on their supporter’s faces, winning both of their games yesterday to sit half a point behind Auckland.

They had two consecutive 4 – 1 victories over Tasman and Waikato and play Otago in an important match this morning.

Manawatu Wanganui sits in fourth as the only other unbeaten side after their bye this morning and a 4 – 1 win over Tasman yesterday afternoon.

Plenty of movement can be expected on the leaderboard as Canterbury play North Harbour, Auckland play Manawatu Wanganui, and Bay of Plenty play Otago.