KEY POINTS:
Three North Harbour players birdied the final hole to win their games against Waikato yesterday to dash any hopes the defending champions had of retaining their interprovincial golf title at Mt Maunganui today.
Harbour's 4-1 victory in the final round saw them qualify top of their section and earn a semifinal against Wellington. In the other semifinal Bay of Plenty will play Tasman, who profited from Waikato's defeat.
In one of the most open contests for years, only Harbour were guaranteed a semifinal berth when the last round began. Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Tasman, Taranaki, Auckland, Northland and Manawatu-Wanganui all had mathematical chances of filling the remaining three slots.
A Waikato victory or even a half with Harbour would have settled that section. Tasman players,who had just beaten Manawatu-Wanganui 4-1, sat around the final green as Harbour's Steven Han, Scott Wightman and James Davis all played the hole immaculately to win one up.
When Scott Johnson recorded a 2 and 1 victory over Richard Wright at the top of the order, Tasman were level with Waikato on points but ahead 18 1/2 games to 14. It is the first time Tasman have reached the semifinals for 10 years.
Harbour came through section play to their third semifinal in a row, dropping only a half to Tasman in the second round. Han at No 5 has won all his games.
Tasman faltered yesterday morning when they were beaten 4-1 by Taranaki but they stormed back in the afternoon with Blair and Sean Riordan, Hamish Campbell and Riki Borell all winning against Manawatu-Wanganui.
Pre-tournament favourites Bay of Plenty battled to a 3-2 win over Wellington in the morning as Jared Pender produced a birdie-eagle finish to match a similar effort from Andrew Green that could have threatened his win.
The Bay were always ahead of Auckland in the afternoon for a 4-1 victory, though Ben Kendall with three birdies to win the last three holes and Van Wright fought back for halves to lift Auckland spirits.
The Aucklanders had earlier beaten Otago for their second win in a tournament where some of their less well-known players had the chance to shine. They also had two halved matches.
Auckland had the satisfaction of knowing that they halved their match with Wellington, who were runners-up to Bay of Plenty in their section. The Wellingtonians pipped Hawkes Bay for a semifinal spot on a countback of games won.
With Peter Spearman-Burn unbeaten, Wellington will provide a stiff test for Harbour.
Unluckiest player must be Hawkes Bay No 1 Nick Gillespie, who won all his games but will be a spectator today for the semifinals at 8 am and the final at 12.30pm.
