Bay golfers celebrate a three-peat | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua
Bay golfers celebrate a three-peat
Terry Hong
By CRAIG TIRIANA in Napier
Take five seasoned individual winners, add them to a happy team environment, and you have the best province in the land three times over.
That's the simple recipe Bay of Plenty skipper Mark Smith believes sets his team apart from New Zealand's other 14 golfing provinces after the blue and golds won their third successive national teams title on Saturday.
Bay of Plenty's five-man team of Smith, Josh Geary, Jae An, Terry Hong and Jason McIntosh overcame their earlier sketchy week by beating firstly Hawke's Bay and then perennial runners-ups Waikato - who took care of Wellington in the semifinals - to secure the Lion Foundation Interprovincial title at Napier Golf Club.
The defending champions weren't in commanding form during section play where they dropped two games - more than the last two campaigns put together - but they knew if they made the final four they stood a great chance.
According to their coach Geoff Smart, they went to bed on Friday night following a relaxing team barbecue confident they would make it through the semifinal to a final they could then win.
Hawke's Bay were playing at home - under pressure - and hadn't been involved at semifinals stage of the tournament since 2001 while Waikato have become the Bay's interprovincial easy beats in recent years.
Despite making the last six successive play-offs, Waikato have not won a title.
On the other hand, on the four occasions Bay of Plenty have got that far, they have knocked their neighbours out.
Waikato No 1 Brad Shilton told The Daily Post it was frustrating to lose again but conceded the Bay had a "bloody good team".
"We've beaten them a couple of times this year but I'd swap them both for just one of these," he said.
Both of Bay of Plenty's Saturday opponents were unbeaten going into the knockout phase and both were ground into the Waiohiki links' dust as Smith's combination confirmed their class in the annual teams' matchplay tournament.
Hawke's Bay put up a fight with their No 5 Norrie Culshaw coming back at McIntosh and both players holing four-metre putts on the final green for a half that confirmed the defending champions were into their third straight final.
Smith, An and McIntosh had the final wins while Hong escaped with a miraculous half after finding himself four down with six holes to play against Richard Wright.
Hong won a couple of holes with solid pars and then pounced on Wright on the short par five 17th as he pitched in from 15 metres for a winning eagle.
He calmly two-putted the final green while his opponent capitulated with a nervous three-putt.
Nineteen-year-old Hong finished as the only unbeaten player for the Bay, winning five and squaring three encounters.
The team's youngest member, 16-year-old Jae An, won all but one of his matches.
The Rotorua-based pair hit two of the shots of the week.
An holed out for a rare albatross two on the par five 12th on Thursday while Hong went one better with a hole-in-one on the par three 7th on Friday afternoon.
Wellington's Brendon Stuart continued the sharpshooting in the semifinal, bagging a hole-in-one also at 7th.
Hawke's Bay's Doug Holloway was judged the Player of the Tournament.
The national representative, playing at No 1 for his province, won six matches and halved the other one in an impressive showing in front of the national selectors.
Take five seasoned individual winners, add them to a happy team environment, and you have the best province in the land three times over.
That's the simple recipe Bay of Plenty skipper Mark Smith believes sets his team apart from New Zealand's other 14 golfing provinces after the blue and golds won their third successive national teams title on Saturday.
Bay of Plenty's five-man team of Smith, Josh Geary, Jae An, Terry Hong and Jason McIntosh overcame their earlier sketchy week by beating firstly Hawke's Bay and then perennial runners-ups Waikato - who took care of Wellington in the semifinals - to secure the Lion Foundation Interprovincial title at Napier Golf Club.
The defending champions weren't in commanding form during section play where they dropped two games - more than the last two campaigns put together - but they knew if they made the final four they stood a great chance.
According to their coach Geoff Smart, they went to bed on Friday night following a relaxing team barbecue confident they would make it through the semifinal to a final they could then win.
Hawke's Bay were playing at home - under pressure - and hadn't been involved at semifinals stage of the tournament since 2001 while Waikato have become the Bay's interprovincial easy beats in recent years.
Despite making the last six successive play-offs, Waikato have not won a title.
On the other hand, on the four occasions Bay of Plenty have got that far, they have knocked their neighbours out.
Waikato No 1 Brad Shilton told The Daily Post it was frustrating to lose again but conceded the Bay had a "bloody good team".
"We've beaten them a couple of times this year but I'd swap them both for just one of these," he said.
Both of Bay of Plenty's Saturday opponents were unbeaten going into the knockout phase and both were ground into the Waiohiki links' dust as Smith's combination confirmed their class in the annual teams' matchplay tournament.
Hawke's Bay put up a fight with their No 5 Norrie Culshaw coming back at McIntosh and both players holing four-metre putts on the final green for a half that confirmed the defending champions were into their third straight final.
Smith, An and McIntosh had the final wins while Hong escaped with a miraculous half after finding himself four down with six holes to play against Richard Wright.
Hong won a couple of holes with solid pars and then pounced on Wright on the short par five 17th as he pitched in from 15 metres for a winning eagle.
He calmly two-putted the final green while his opponent capitulated with a nervous three-putt.
Nineteen-year-old Hong finished as the only unbeaten player for the Bay, winning five and squaring three encounters.
The team's youngest member, 16-year-old Jae An, won all but one of his matches.
The Rotorua-based pair hit two of the shots of the week.
An holed out for a rare albatross two on the par five 12th on Thursday while Hong went one better with a hole-in-one on the par three 7th on Friday afternoon.
Wellington's Brendon Stuart continued the sharpshooting in the semifinal, bagging a hole-in-one also at 7th.
Hawke's Bay's Doug Holloway was judged the Player of the Tournament.
The national representative, playing at No 1 for his province, won six matches and halved the other one in an impressive showing in front of the national selectors.
Email
Print