Champs semis spot goes begging

Northland golfer Sheldon Kearns provided the heroics to keep Northland's hopes of making the semifinals of the Toro New Zealand Men's Interprovincial championships in Hamilton.

Kearns trailed North Harbour's Cameron Jones by one shot on the 18th tee, with the other matches all completed and the score locked up at two-apiece yesterday morning.

Northland went into the sixth round match in third place in Division One, so a loss would have meant the end of their chances of being one of the two top teams to reach today's semifinals.

Both players hit good tee shots but Jones put his iron into the bunker at the par-4, while Kearns' shot landed on the green around five metres from the hole. The pressure was on the Harbour No4 and he fluffed his sand wedge, leaving Kearns a comfortable two-putt to win the hole and halve the game.

The result saw Northland move into second place behind Manawatu-Wanganui, who thrashed Auckland 4.5-0.5 to win the division. Wellington lost to Tasman 1.5-3.5 to drop from second to third, with Tasman moving up to fourth and North Harbour fifth, still retaining a slight chance of making the semi-finals.

Unfortunately, the Northland team's luck ran out in the afternoon against their old foes Auckland in the final round.

Northland needed a victory over Auckland to clinch their semifinal spot but lost two matches on the final hole to fade to a 3-2 defeat.

Kearns (1-up) and Alex Neely (5/4) won their games, but Kadin Neho and Lee Neumann both lost their games 1-down, with Luke Brown going down 2/1.