Golf: Auckland, Harbour head to semifinals

Lydia Ko had two wins for North Harbour yesterday. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland and North Harbour have qualified for the semifinals with one round of section play still to be completed this morning in the women's interprovincial championships at The Grange.

Auckland, who meet Southland today, will finish as top qualifiers, whatever the result, while North Harbour, who play Taranaki, need a win to be certain of heading the qualifiers in their section.

Bay of Plenty play Wellington in the final round with the winners guaranteed a semifinal spot, while Northland need to beat Waikato to deny the defending champions another shot at the title.

Auckland made it five wins out of five yesterday as they beat both Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay without the loss of a game. It has been a stunning performance by a team weakened by defections in the run-up to the championship.

Cecilia Cho, the national matchplay champion, has usually been under par as she dismisses the best of the rest. But she has received great backup from the other four members of the team.

"We picked the best possible team," said captain Kaye Carroll. "The kids know this course like the back of their hands, when to lay up and where to position the ball. That's a credit to our coach, Susan Farron.

"Cecilia has been a great anchor at the top but the others have all contributed. We don't take any match lightly."

The match of the day yesterday saw previously unbeaten North Harbour and Waikato clash in the afternoon with the Harbour team making a strong statement for the semis by winning 4-1.

At the top of the order 12-year-old Lydia Ko saw off New Zealand representative Emily Perry 6 and 5 and there were also wins for Courtney Manning, Faye Amy Nickson and Rica Tse.

Ko has a laser like accuracy off the tee and, when the putts are dropping, she is hard to topple.

She was given a good test in the morning when she beat Northland's Caroline Bon 2 and 1 in a 4-1 Harbour victory.

Northland rebounded in the next round to down Tasman 5-0 and keep alive their hopes of reaching the semis for the second year in a row.

Bay of Plenty were disappointed with their drubbing by Auckland and they needed a return to form by leader Zoe-Beth Brake to head Southland 3-2. Southland, semifinalists last year, haven't won a match this time.

The semifinals and finals will be played tomorrow, as well as grading games for the other teams.

POINTS

DIVISION 1

North Harbour: 10 points

Waikato: 8

Northland: 7

Canterbury: 6

Taranaki: 4

Tasman: 1

Manawatu-Wanganui: 0

DIVISION 2

Auckland: 10

Bay of Plenty: 8

Wellington: 6

Otago: 6

Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay: 4

Aorangi South Canterbury: 2

Southland: 0