Northland were facing an all-or-nothing clash with North Harbour today to try to squeeze their way into the semifinals of the Toro New Zealand women's inter-provincial golf tournament in Nelson after a giant-killing day on the greens yesterday.
Northland beat defending champions Bay of Plenty, yet again Caroline Bon proving an
ace card at No1, and are now back in the mix for a semifinals berth if they can get the wood over the young North Harbour outfit today.
Auckland and Waikato have already booked their spots in the play-offs by remaining unbeaten after three days of competition.
But the remaining semifinal positions are still undecided, the only certainty today being that Northland need to beat North Harbour to qualify.
Northland's heroines in the win against Bay of Plenty were Bon, No3 Sunny Namkoong, and No4 Aroha Tito, all of whom beat accomplished opponents.
Bon, the South Island champion, inflicted the first defeat on fellow international Zoe Brake since the 2006 tournament. Brake had won 16 consecutive matches.
Namkoong, 2 down after 10, to the well-performed Susan Lines won 13, 14 and 16 to win 1 up. Tito and Krystle Kearns had a topsy-turvy match which went Tito's way when she won 12 and 13 and the 17th with a birdie.
The unbeaten Aucklanders stormed to their fifth straight success yesterday, ensuring themselves top qualifying spot from the tough first division despite there being one round of section play left tomorrow.
In section two, Waikato were equally dominant, stringing together their fifth successive victory at Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay's expense and, as with Auckland, having the luxury of knowing they will be top qualifier regardless of tomorrow's match with Taranaki.
