Auckland, North Harbour win Interprovincial titles

Two of New Zealand’s provincial golfing powerhouses prevailed again at the Interprovincials hosted by Canterbury last month. 

Auckland men won their second consecutive title in their third straight final against Bay of Plenty (BOP), establishing themselves as New Zealand’s top golfing province once again. Meanwhile, an inspired young North Harbour outfit upset the most successful women’s province in the competition’s history, defeating Auckland to lift the women’s trophy. 

All 15 provinces flocked to the immaculate Russley and Harewood golf clubs at the beginning of the week for seven round robin matches across the two courses. Once the top four men’s and women’s sides were found on the Friday afternoon after pool play, Russley Golf Club held the semi-finals and finals in front of a sizeable home crowd who were supporting one of the amateur game’s most treasured events. 

In the first men’s semi-final, the hosts Canterbury took on Bay Of Plenty but were eventually outclassed, falling to a 4-1 loss with New Zealand Amateur champion Cooper Moore the only player to notch a victory for Canterbury. In the other semi-final, Auckland beat  Wellington 3.5-1.5 to set up a third straight final rematch against Bay Of Plenty. 

Bay Of Plenty got off to a flying start against the defending champions with Francis Lockwood and Kevin Bang in the  No 4 and 3 matches getting 5 and 4 and 4 and 3 victories respectively. However, Auckland No 5 Steven Van Heerden was too strong in his match winning 3 and 1 with New Zealand Strokeplay champion Robby Turnbull squaring the ledger with an impressive 5 and 4 win of his own, leaving it down to the No 1s to decide the title. 

After losing to Mitchell Kale at Omanu Golf Club in the 2022 final, Auckland’s Joshua Bai got his revenge, beating Kale 3 and 1 to seal another victory for the city of sails and player of the tournament honours for winning six matches and halving two. 

Meanwhile, North Harbour went one better than last year’s effort, lifting the women's trophy after a tense final day which went down to the wire. 

North Harbour beat Wellington in the first semi-final but needed extra holes to book it's place in the final. With scores level 2.5 a piece, the two No 5s, who halved, went out for a sudden death playoff to decide who would progress, with North Harbour’s Olivia Yoon prevailing on the second extra hole. 

North Harbour played their Auckland counterparts in a battle of the bridge final, after Auckland beat Canterbury 3 - 2 in the other semi-final. 

The final was close all afternoon. Auckland’s No 5 Cherry Lee beat Yoon  one up while the two No 4s Gabriela He (Auckland) and Sarah Li (North Harbour) halved, leaving it to the top order to decide who would take home the spoils. 

North Harbour’s top three proved too strong, with Sophie Yu winning 6 and 4, Teresa Wang winning 4 and 3, and Juwon Kim getting over the line one up.