Golf: Auckland's quiet man steps up to save the day with a couple of dazzlers

By BOB PEARCE In Christchurch

Logan Holzer, often the quiet achiever of Auckland golf, stepped into the limelight yesterday to keep his team's hopes alive at the interprovincial tournament in Christchurch. Holzer, playing at No 1 against New Zealand representative Brad Shilton, of Waikato, was two down with two to play.

But he won the par-three 17th on the tough Coringa course with a par after Shilton missed the green.

Then he birdied the last after firing a pitching wedge to two metres and holing the putt.

His halved match allowed Auckland to share the points with Waikato, and a 4-1 win over Poverty Bay leaves them unbeaten with two halves and that win.

But their task of qualifying for the semifinals on Saturday gets no easier.

This morning they play defending champions Bay of Plenty, who beat Poverty Bay and Aorangi yesterday and have won three out of three.

The other team with a perfect record are Otago.

Wellington have also won three times, but lost to Manawatu yesterday and have the bye this morning. Hawkes Bay and Waikato have each had two wins and a half.

The Auckland-Waikato encounter was a tense struggle all the way.

At the bottom of the order, James Gill had the better of Ross Valentine, and Travis O'Connell faltered in the closing stages to lose to Mark Purser two down.

Richard Hislop continued his winning run at No 3 for Auckland.

But Kevin Chun, after being three up with three to play over Mathew Holten, had to withstand a rally from the New Zealand representative before winning one up.

So it came down to Holzer, who at one stage was three down to Shilton and seemed out of contention.

In the afternoon he trailed Baden Waiwai at halfway, but took five holes on the trot to win comfortably.

Auckland's only loser was O'Connell, who blew an early lead to lose 2 and 1 to Hamish Douglas.

North Harbour and Northland halved their match in the morning to score their first points of the tournament.

Harbour were poised to win when Ryan Leslie played a superb second to the final hole, but he missed the birdie putt to allow Michael Perrin a half.

Harbour were again well in contention against Wellington in the afternoon.

Ben Jujnovich had a win and Bevan Dennison a half, but No 1 Josh Carmichael missed the last green with his approach and lost to Brad Iles one down.

Otago, who have not won this event since 1982, exude experience with Jim Lapsley and Andrew Hobbs, who are veterans of more than 30 tournaments between them.

But Bay of Plenty, who have now gone 11 matches without defeat over the past two years, are still favourites.

No 1 Mark Smith lost to Waiwai in the 4-1 defeat of Poverty Bay yesterday morning, and George Kinghorn was well beaten by Glen Drummond in the 4-1 win over Tasman in the afternoon.

But Terry Hong, Jae An and Jason McIntosh have won all their games and have rarely looked under pressure.