Toro NZ Men’s Day 2 – Wellington come into contention in Hamilton

Wellington and Otago were the big movers on day two of the Toro NZ Men’s Interprovincial at the Hamilton Golf Club today.

The team from the capital set the tone this morning with a convincing win over North Harbour (4 – 1) and then backed it up this afternoon by putting away Poverty Bay East Coast (5-0) in nonchalant fashion.

Wellington manager Nigel Hillier said his boys were brimming with confidence after a successful lead up to the annual team’s matchplay championship where they won two quadrangular tournaments.

“The guys are all playing well and all come into this event in some form which always helps,” said Hillier.

“There is a real feeling that they are here to not just get into contention but to win the title.”

Hillier said his side feels very comfortable at St Andrews after Daniel Hillier and Brayden Mazey have competed for many years with success at the North Island Under 19s.

“The young guys have stacks of enthusiasm and feel good here and the older fellas are feeding off that enthusiasm.”  

Meanwhile on the other side of the draw, Otago were similarly impressive with a dominant win over Southland (5-0) and then underlined their title credentials by overcoming Aorangi South Canterbury (3.5 -1.5).

Otago manager Trewern, who remembers the time when the province won three titles from 1973 – 1982, feels like this side is on the cusp of something special.

“This year we had really good competition for places,” he said. “We had 10 players competing for the five or six places and that has made this side a lot sharper because of it.”

Trewern said they took a lot of confidence from beating Southland this morning.

“They are a good side but they are not at their best this week,” he said. “They changed their line up today and we believe that really played into our hands.”

Trewern singled out Brent McEwan as one of their standout performers so far.

“He is just so relaxed out there at No.3. He asked to be in that position because he hasn’t been able to do a lot of practice. He feels really comfortable there and that showed today.”

Both teams are looking to make history this week at the annual team’s matchplay contest.

Wellington is the most successful team in the history of the competition that dates back to 1950 with 13 wins and Otago is looking to claim the title for the first time since 1982.

They have plenty of company at the top end of the leaderboard as many of the big teams squared off on day two.

Bay of Plenty handed Waikato their first loss of the tournament when they showed big match experience in winning 3.5 to 1.5.

The 2013 finalists are in ominous form as they look to win the title for the second time in three years.

Manawatu – Wanganui, who won the title for the first time in 49 years, also enjoyed a solid day in the sun.

The defending champions had a convincing win over Hawkes Bay (5-0) before they were held to a draw by Northland.

That contest went down to the last hole with the No.1 players Joshua Munn and Kadin Neho halving their match to share the points. 

“It was a really tough match and we are pretty happy to get a half,” said Neho.

Neho made a clutch birdie on the par four eighth (his 17^th) to get his team back into the contest and then they halved the last in pars. Sheldon Kearns and Lee Neumann delivered the clutch wins to ensure Northland remained undefeated.

 Neho, the New Zealand Amateur Champion from 2013, said he was inspired by his team mates in front of him.

“It’s a long week but I was definitely encouraged to finish off well when I heard of the way that Lee finished. That helped me home and gave me a bit more energy.”

The 2005 Champions North Harbour bounced back from their round three loss with a win over Hawkes Bay to remain in contention.

With three rounds remaining the Toro NZ Men’s Interprovincial title is hard to pick heading into the final two days of the round robin play. 

The Toro NZ Men’s Interprovincial is a teams’ matchplay contest with the top five golfers from the 15 provinces around New Zealand competing over seven rounds.

There are two divisions based on the previous year’s results and the final day of the event there are semi-finals and a final to decide the champion.

The Toro NZ Women’s Interprovincial will follow the men’s event from December 9 – 13 at the Riverside Golf Club. 

Toro NZ Men’s Interprovincial Results (Hamilton GC):                                  

Round Three:

Manawatu - Wanganui 5 Hawkes Bay 0

Josh Munn bt Russell Mitchell 5/4, Tyler Hodge bt Ben Swinburne 6/5, Lachie McDonald bt Carlos Tawera 3/2, Tyler Lock bt Joshua Dasent 3/1, Junior Tatana bt Steven Harris 3/1

Otago 5 Southland 0                      

Duncan Croudis bt Vaughan McCall 3/2, James Anstiss bt Tyler McLean 6/4, Brent McEwan bt Karl Mariu 3/2, Nick Borren bt Scott Hellier 4/3, Mark Brooks bt Matt Tautari 3/2        

Auckland 4 Poverty Bay East Coast 1

Tae Koh bt Andrew Higham 4/3, Josh Leitch lost to William Brown 1down, James Eng bt Peter Kerekere 4/3, Johnny Tynan bt Nathaniel Cassidy 3/2, Leonard Powell bt Edward Brown Jr. 3/2

Wellington 4.5 North Harbour 0.5 

Jonathan Cane bt Jason Gulasekharam 1up, Brayden Mazey bt Tadhg Campbell 2up, Marc Jennings bt Ryan Leslie 2up, Daniel Hillier bt Jake Meenhorst 3/2, Thomas Spearman-Burn halved with Cameron Jones

Bay of Plenty 4 Taranaki 1

Charlie Hillier lost to Brad Hayward 3/1, Landyn Edwards bt Jamie Reid 1up, Sam Davis bt Sam Jones 1up, Hayden Beard bt Ben Joseph 4/3, Bailey Smith bt Fletcher Broderick 3/2

Waikato 3.5 Aorangi 1.5

Luke Toomey bt Cameron Grant 2/1, Denzel Ieremia bt Jordan Green 6/5, 0Sam Vincent lost to Josh Smith 2/1, Mark Boe halved with Travis Cook, Matt Morris bt Jeff Hewitt 5/4       

BYE: Northland, Canterbury, Tasman                                     

Round Four:

Canterbury 3 Southland 2

Andrew Green bt Vaughan McCall 6/5, Connell Kilpatrick bt Tyler McLean 2up, JJ Love bt Karl Mariu 8/6, Michael McAuley lost to Scott Hellier 2/1, Scott Manyweathers lost to Matt Tautari 3/1

Tasman 2.5 Auckland 2.5 

Ryan Chisnall lost to Tae Koh 1down, Blair Riordan bt Josh Leitch 7/6, Glen Drummond halved with James Eng, Tom Dasler lost to Johnny Tynan 4/3, Nick Loach bt Leonard Powell 1up

Northland 2.5 Manawatu - Wanganui 2.5

Kadin Neho halved with Josh Munn, Luke Brown lost to Tyler Hodge 3/2, Alex Neely lost to Lachie McDonald 5/4, Sheldon Kearns bt Tyler Lock 2/1, Lee Neumann bt Junior Tatana 2/1

Wellington 5 Poverty Bay East Coast 0

Jonathan Cane  bt Andrew Higham 5/4, Brayden Mazey bt William Brown 3/2, Marc Jennings bt Peter Kerekere 6/4, Daniel Hillier bt Nathaniel Cassidy 2up, Thomas Spearman-Burn bt Hukanui Brown Jr. 6/5

Otago 3.5 Aorangi 1.5

Duncan Croudis lost to Cameron Grant 3/2, James Anstiss halved with Jordan Green, Brent McEwan bt Josh Smith 5/4, Nick Borren bt Travis Cook 6/5, Mark Brooks bt Jeff Hewitt 5/4

North Harbour 4.5 Hawkes Bay 0.5

Jason Gulasekharam bt Russell Mitchell 1up, Tadhg Campbell bt Ben Swinburne 2up, Ryan Leslie halved with Carlos Tawera, Jake Meenhorst bt 5/3 Joshua Dasent 5/3, Cameron Jones bt Steven Harris 6/5

Bay of Plenty 3.5 Waikato 1.5 

Charlie Hillier lost to Luke Toomey 1down, Landyn Edwards bt Nick Coxon 3/2, Sam Davis bt Denzel Ieremia 1up, Hayden Beard bt Sam Vincent 3/1, Bailey Smith halved with Mark Boe   

BYE: Taranaki

Toro Men’s Interprovincial Leaderboard: (* denotes already had the bye)

Division One

3 (Team Wins) 14 (Individual Points) Wellington, 2.5 11.5 Man / Wang, 2 8.5 North Harbour, 2 8 Tasman*, 2 8 Northland*, 1.5 8.5 Auckland, 0 4 Poverty Bay EC, 0 2.5 Hawkes Bay.

Division Two

3 12.5 Otago, 3 11.5 Waikato, 3 11 Bay of Plenty, 2 7.5 Canterbury*, 1 7 Southland, 0 6.5 Aorangi SC, 0 4 Taranaki*.