NZ Men's Interprovincial 2019
The NZ Men’s Interprovincials was held last Tuesday – Saturday at Hastings Golf Club.
The team of Mako Thompson, Adam Winter, Ben Swinburne, Jeff Tuoro, Stuart Duff and Russell Mitchell representing Hawkes Bay.
The weather all week was nothing but Hawke’s Bays finest with sun and hot weather greeting the players from all corners of New Zealand.
Tuesday saw the first 2 rounds with the team taking on Taranaki 1st up in the morning. After a very hard fought battle with it coming down to the last hole it came out to be even steven with it ending 2.5-2.5. The afternoon saw the team up against the defending champions in Northland. After a very hot afternoons golf Northland came out too strong with a 4-1 victory.
Wednesday saw Rounds 3 and 4 with the team up against neighbors Manawatu/Wanganui in the morning and then Canterbury in the afternoon. As all of the matches have been all week the battle against the neighbors was very close with all but 1 match going to the last couple of holes. Unfortunately the team came out on the wrong side of the ledger going down 3-2. This left the team with some work to do in the afternoon to get them back in the hunt to play on the weekend. This lead to another great battle vs Canterbury with the team wanting a win to get back on track. Again the matches were extremely close with 4 of the 5 games going to the 18th hole. After some tense last hole plays it ended up 2.5-2.5. This left the team needing to win in the next couple of days to have any chance of a semi final spot.
Thursday saw only 1 round for all the teams in the morning with everyone having the afternoon off. Needing a win to keep them in the mix the team came out hot in the morning vs Tasman leading to a much needed 4-1 win giving the team some momentum going into the last days play. At this stage there was still a mathematical chance of a semi finals spot but with only 1 round on Friday due to the teams bye coming on Friday morning their fate was in others hands.
Unfortunately for the team the results on Friday did not go their way after having the bye on Friday morning they were out of the hunt for a semi final spot. In their last round on Friday afternoon was the battle of the bays up against Bay of Plenty. The team came away with their most dominant performance of the week winning the battle of the bays 4.5-0.5. A nice way to finish a good week for the team which left them with a record of 2 Wins, 2 Halves and 2 Losses. This meant the team finished 7th overall.
After two tight semi finals on Saturday morning with Auckland beating Manawatu/Wanaganui on a play off hole and Otago beating North Harbour it came down to Auckland and Otago to determine the winners for 2019, Auckland put the pressure on early leading in 3 matches at the turn. They never let go of their lead coming away 5-0 winners.
Congratulations to Auckland who will look to defend their title in home territory with the 2020 edition at Whitford Park Golf Club.
