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Harbour beat B.O.P to advance to final, Batle of the Bridge commences!
North Harbour and Auckland advance unbeaten to the final, and the show down of the week was a thriller.
Earlier, that morning, was the battle of igolfs elite, with Lydia Ko and Zoe Brake representing their provinces at #1, forght it out for an important point to see which team advanced to the final later that day.
Lydia got on top early with a couple of mistakes from Zoe, and a few unlucky breaks let Ko take a 3 up advantage after as many holes. The match was won on 15 with Ko getting up and down from a great bunkershot, and Brake not being able to get up and down after missing the green pin high to the right.
That point, and wins by igolfs Courtney Manning and Rebekah Brownlee, ment that Harbour had secured enough points to move on, to see the battle of the tournement, Auckland.
Auckland just slid into the final with a close victory over last years champions Waikato, winning 4-1 with 3 matches going down the last few holes.
So the battle that everyone was looking forward to, Auckland led by Ceclelia Cho, and Harbour led by igolfs Lydia Ko, was going to be epic!
This was the first time these provinces had seen eachother this week, since they were on different sides of the draw. The number one match of the 09 interprovincials was set to start with Lydia looking for redemption after a defeat by Cho earlier in the year at the 2009 NZ Amatuer.
Harbour, chasing their fourth Interprovincial title in 10 years, were up by two matches to one with Hamilton and Faye Amy Nickson finishing all square.
Auckland forced their way into a playoff after national amateur champion Cecilia Cho made a superb par on the final hole to grab an unlikely 1-up win over North Harbour’s Lydia Ko.
It proved the match of the tournament between the outstanding No 1s with the 12-year-old Ko making six birdies to be -5 and 14-year-old Cho five birdies to be -4, in a superb display of golf.
Ko led 1-up with two holes remaining before Cho made a splendid birdie on the 17th and par on the final hole after getting up and down out of the front bunker.
The young North Harbour player then three-putted, missing a 1m par putt, to hand Cho what seemed to be her match, and an unlikely 1-up win and meant the honours were shared 2½ to 2½ to force a playoff between Hamilton and Nickson.
Hamilton hit her approach down the first hole to within 3m, watched while Nickson lipped out with her par attempt and then calmly slotted her birdie putt to give Auckland the victory, their 19th in the competition that began in 1949.
Auckland had wins today from Emily Eng and Cho, while igolf’s Courtney Manning and Rica Tse claimed the wins for North Harbour, both sides with an average age of just 15 years. Manning who remained unbeaten for the event really held the team together at #5 and firmly stamped her mark on the teams efforts.
The focus was on Cho and Ko who produced stunning golf of the highest quality today. Ko led 1-up at the turn at four-under par to Cho’s three-under. The match was all square by the 15th before Cho bogeyed the 16th but made a superb birdie at the 17th. That sent the decider down the final hole with Cho making her remarkable par for the win that looked unlikely just two holes earlier.
“I thought Lydia was going to two putt and that I had to make that putt for a half. I was more nervous on the 17th because I was one-down and I had to make the birdie. It was a really tough game,” Cho said.
“I thought I lost after my second hit the tree and then I was in the bunker. I had duffed my bunker shots this week so I was out of my mind with worry. But I made a good shot and a good putt.
“I think we draw the best out of each other and we both played really well today. This makes up for my loss last year. A win is definitely a better feeling than a loss.” Cho said.
A 2nd place to Harbour was a very hard pill to swallow for the girls, with the team having such high team spirit all week and to be passed at the last corner, seems just so unfair.
The whole team, caddies, managers and helpers did so well all week and deserved the runners up medals, if not the champions trophy. The young team played outside their years all week and made the province proud.
Till next year.
