Women’s Interprovincials-Winners Auckland- 6 in a row

Auckland has become the first district to win six New Zealand Women’s Interprovincials in a row, defeating North Harbour in today’s final at Omanu Golf Club.

Auckland had previously won five consecutive titles twice but never won a sixth until today. They didn’t play in last year’s event due to the Covid-19 pandemic but had won the five previous district match play events.

After comfortably defeating Bay of Plenty in the semi-final this morning, Auckland lined up against North Harbour for a classic battle of the bridge clash, which they won by a narrow margin of 3 – 2.

Their middle order got the job done as number four Grace Zhan and number three Caryn Khoo won 4&3 respectively, while the winning point came from number two, Rebekah Blackwell-Chin, who defeated Amy Im 2&1.

Auckland co-captains Caryn Khoo and Vivian Lu say it’s amazing to get across the line again, especially without one of their star players, Fiona Xu.

“We’re super relieved. It’s been such a stressful week playing all the great teams here without our number two, Fiona Xu, who had to go home at the start of the week because of illness. We’re just all so proud of the way we came together as a team to get the job done.”

Auckland’s dynasty continues at the New Zealand Women’s Interprovincial, and it doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.

Vivial Lu says it’s a credit to the association and all the supporters that give so much time to the women’s game in Auckland.

“We’ve all been performing at a high-level for a long time, and it’s nice to get back into the win-column after missing out on the event last year. We’re all really good friends, so it was nice to win together as a team and prove Auckland is still a force to be reckoned with.

“This will also be my last interprovincial as I head to college next year, so it’s nice to finish on a high and get another victory for the province that I love.”

Caryn Khoo locked up the Player of the Tournament, winning eighth out of eight at number one. The Record of the Tournament went to North Harbour’s number one Eunseo Choi, who went undefeated at number one.

Next year’s event will be staged at Paraparaumu Beach and Waikanae Golf Clubs in Wellington.