Unbeaten Auckland No 1 Ryan Fox was the player of the tournament, but Bay of Plenty emerged with the major prize for the third year in a row at the interprovincial golf championships in Palmerston North.
And after the Bay had beaten Wellington 3-2 in the semifinals and Canterbury 3-1 in the final to clinch their sixth Toro title in eight years, onlookers were asking: "How do they do it?"
For 50 years they hardly got a sniff at a title, but after breaking through in 2002 at Whangarei, the Bay have never failed to at least make the semifinals in one of New Zealand golf's premier events.
This year they seemed vulnerable with only Ben Taylor returning from last year's champion side, but they went through section play dropping only a half to Canterbury on the way.
Resplendent in the golden trousers they donned for the closing stages, they marched past Wellington with wins to Andrew Stewart, Kieran Muir and Landyn Edwards. The same three won in the final and Bradley Kendall added the half.
The Bay dominance was originally spurred by the golf programme at Rotorua Boys' High and the young Koreans it attracted, including Jae An and Danny Lee. But as that influence has faded, the winning has continued.
No surprise to manager Blair Murdock. "We've got a good group of young guys who play a whole lot of tournaments and there's a winning culture in Bay of Plenty golf.
"It was a team effort and I don't want to single out anyone but it's good to have a number one at the top of his game and Andrew has been exceptional."
The oldest player in the team is 22 and there is every expectation that they will be back for more at Paraparaumu next year.
Canterbury were an unknown quantity coming to the tournament with five players new to this level. Number one Andrew Namkoong is just 16 while Scott Ritchie is 44. Namkoong beat Stewart in section play but couldn't match his birdie blitz in the final.
Fox thoroughly deserved the player of the tournament award, winning all seven games he played to be an estimated 17 under par for the week. Sadly the rest of the Auckland team were not consistent enough to turn that dominance at the top into overall victory.
Wellington, beaten finalists last year, had their hopes pinned on the Spearman-Burn twins. But number one Peter won only three games and Thomas at three managed only two.
North Harbour finished eighth, Waikato were ninth, Northland 13th and Poverty Bay 14th.
Golf: Bay continue to dominate for third year in a row
Auckland golfer Ryan Fox. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times
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