Work still in front of Harbour

North Harbour will need to adjust their game to the special contours of the Westown course if they want to grab their second women's interprovincial golf title in New Plymouth today.

Harbour confirmed their semifinal place, ending section play unbeaten after a 4 1/2- 1/2 canter over luckless Northland yesterday.

They meet Canterbury in this morning's semifinal of the Lion Foundation-sponsored championship.

Hosts Taranaki meet unbeaten Wellington in the other semi, with the final this afternoon.

Harbour's New Zealand representative, Anita Boon, said the team were confident of adding a second interprovincial crown to their first back in 1995.

She believed the team still needed to adjust their game to the hard and sloping greens. "You can't fly at the pin here, the greens are too hard.

"Our young players are used to playing flop shots, but here you have to play a lot of different shots and a lot of bump and runs.

"You have to use the land shape to your advantage. I believe the team who think best will win this title, and right now we are thinking our way around the course."

North Harbour, the youngest province, have enjoyed considerable success in this event, making the final on two occasions apart from winning at the first attempt seven years ago.

Apart from Boon, the lineup includes junior international Natalie Storck and Catherine Mitchell, who is unbeaten at No 4.

Hosts Taranaki dug deep again to win through to the semifinals. The experienced lineup came from behind to edge out Otago 3-2 to keep alive their dreams of a first national interprovincial title.

Wellington secured their place after a tough battle with an inexperienced Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley, who needed a win to push their semifinal claims but had to settle for a half.

That allowed Canterbury to capture the other spot in section two following their 4-1 victory over Manawatu-Wanganui.

In other games, Waikato-King Country edged Auckland 3-2 and Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay beat bottom-placed Southland by the same margin.