Golf: Korean teens earn captain's praise

By BOB PEARCE

Ignorance is bliss for the Auckland women's team as they head into the semifinals of the interprovincial championships at North Shore this morning.

They will play Waikato-King Country while Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley take on Wellington.

Auckland clinched the remaining semifinal berth with a 4-1 win over Canterbury in the final round yesterday morning, with wins to Brigit Holford, Enu Chung, Keun Ji Lim and Yu Jin Bang.

Team captain Rae Riggir applauded the contribution of the three Korean-born teenagers in Auckland's improvement from sixth place in Otago last year.

"They are always happy and they fit in perfectly with the more experienced players, Brigit Holford and La Nahi," she said.

"The great thing is they don't know who's supposed to be good, so they treat all their opponents just the same.

"They're also more used to strokeplay, so they concentrate on their game, not on their opponent's."

Chung, in her second year with the team, is 13 and at St Cuthbert's College; Lim is 17 and at Green Bay High; and Bang is 16 and at Avondale College.

Waikato's invincibility was shaken a little yesterday when they fell behind the feisty Taranaki in the early stages.

Sarah McDonald suffered her first defeat, at the hands of Chris Wilson, and Debbie Wells fell to Caral Hill.

But Robyn Pellow retained her perfect record and Wiki Shailer had a solid win over Debbie McCallum.

It all came down to the top match, where Waikato's Jan Storey was four down with six to play against Eleanor Hodson.

Storey suddenly found her game and stormed home to win one up with a birdie, birdie, par finish for a 3-2 Waikato victory.

Bay of Plenty emphasised their position as top qualifiers in their section with a 5-0 win over Tasman, with Brenda Ormsby and Penny Newbrook retaining their perfect records.

Wellington were almost as dominant, downing Southland for the loss of one game.

The home team, North Harbour, finished section play on a bright note by beating last year's semifinalist Otago 3-2.

Auckland's win put Harbour out of contention for the semis, but they will play off this morning for fifth and sixth placings against Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay.

The Auckland-Waikato semifinal will start at 8 am today, with Wellington-Bay of Plenty at 8.30 am. Grading matches will follow.

The final in the Lion Foundation event will start at 1 pm.

* Brenda Ormsby and Tina Howard, who are due to fly tomorrow evening to the Spirit International in Houston, Texas, are prepared to make the trip, subject to events and advice in the meantime.

The pair were given the option of withdrawing by Women's Golf New Zealand and that option remains valid. No replacements will be considered.

The men's representatives selected for the tournament, Ben Gallie (Otago) and Glyn Delany (Nelson), have opted out and been replaced by Jonathan Cane (Wellington) and Brent McEwan (Dunedin).

The tournament runs from Thursday to the following Sunday in a mixed teams format, which is a prototype for golf's future admission to the Olympic Games.