Golf: Southland achieve rare double

Two questions were going around the Invercargill Golf Club last night: when did Southland last lead the interprovincial men's tournament and what year did the team last win two games on the same day?

The best that team manager Neville Browning could offer was that it had not happened in his four years in office.

However, it is a rare occurrence, given Southland's spotty record in recent years, when their performances have been punctuated by a series of finishes nearer the bottom of the rankings than the top.

But there was no denying that yesterday, on a course whipped by rain and wind with a bit of sunshine thrown in, Southland deserved to lead.

In their first match, when the weather was at its worst, they beat Hawkes Bay 4 1/2 to 1/2 and followed that by beating Northland 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 in a match that went down to the final tees.

The value of the victory over Hawkes Bay was reflected in the second round when Hawkes Bay held the highly-regarded Waikato team to a half.

On a day of unpredictable results, there were a couple of expected results. Defending champions Wellington were buoyed by a good-luck fax from Tiger Woods, whose caddy Steve Williams has as his good friend Alan James, of Paraparaumu, whose son David was making his debut at No 4.

Wellington, who had the bye yesterday morning, duly dismissed Poverty Bay-East Coast 5-0, with David James beating Simon Jenkins 5 and 3.

Bay of Plenty, widely regarded as the favourites for the Tower title this year, dropped only half a point to Aorangi in their only match of the day, and Canterbury, another to have a bye, needed some heroics from No 3 Andrew Hobbs to beat Manawatu-Wanganui 3-2.

Hobbs was all square with Craig van der Nagel, formerly of Te Puke, when he grabbed an improbable par and the win as a charged-up van der Nagel went by the pin with his second and third shots.

Earlier, Isaac Randall had holed his tee shot at the short fourth on his way to beating Sheridan Vining.

North Harbour were full of good humour after their tight 3-2 win over Auckland, Kelvin Longstaff providing the key win by saving his par out of thick grass at the last to beat Aaron Bartrum 1 up.

While Auckland had the afternoon off, North Harbour headed to the tee to take on Taranaki, who had been beaten by Otago, 2-3, in the morning.

In keeping with the tradition of expecting the unexpected, Taranaki won 4-1, with Phil Mosley providing North Harbour with their sole win.

Southland, after a bye this morning, have face Wellington in the afternoon's fourth round.

Bay of Plenty face the intriguing double of Taranaki and Otago.

- Herald Correspondent