Golf: Bay on brink of semi action

Rica Tse

It's reached the business end at the Toro New Zealand Women's Interprovincial at the Riverside Golf Club in Hamilton, with Auckland and North Harbour the only teams assured of making the semifinals after six rounds.

Bay of Plenty are likely to join them as the leading team in division two but they will have a nervous final round after they were upset yesterday by Canterbury (4-1), their first loss of the tournament.

The real intrigue on the final day of pool play will be the match between hosts Waikato and Canterbury as that match is a virtual quarter-final.

North Harbour advanced from Division One when they defeated Northland 5-0 in round six.

The return of Rica Tse and Sai Ma from overseas has been a godsend for North Harbour and sees them as genuine title contenders on Saturday.

At the same time as North Harbour were booking their place, Auckland were trouncing Wellington and that loss (4.5-0.5) ensured that the 2012 finalists would miss the semifinals for the second year running.

On the other side of the draw, Bay of Plenty dealt a body blow to Manawatu-Wanganui's top-four chances (3.5-1.5) yesterday morning and then lost their way in the afternoon round when Canterbury provided one of the upsets of the tournament.

That result means that the 2007 champions must beat last year's semifinalists Hawkes Bay Poverty Bay in the final round to secure their place in the semifinals.

Hawkes Bay and Manawatu Wanganui played out a 2.5 all draw yesterday afternoon and both sides are out of contention after Canterbury's timely win over the Bay of Plenty.

Waikato, who were humbled yesterday by Bay of Plenty, stayed in touch of making the top four when they defeated Aorgangi-South Canterbury (5-0) yesterday morning. They had a bye in the afternoon.

The hosts, who are looking to win the title for the first time since 2008 and follow in the footsteps of their men who won at St Andrews, have a crucial final round match against Canterbury with the red and blacks beginning the final round with an edge on individual points.

Tasman are off the pace in division one but still had reason to celebrate yesterday as their side won their first pool match in three years when they defeated Otago (3-2) in round five.

Tasman No5 Eve Clarke delivered the important 1up win over Robyn Chambers to end their drought in the event.