GOLF: End of era as Bay fail to fire in unison

They finished on a high but the Bay of Plenty men's golf team let slip a chance to win their fourth New Zealand interprovincial title at Paraparaumu Beach this week. Sports editor Kelly Exelby looks at why the team missed the playoffs by half-a-point after three shock losses in section play. How did it happen?

Fairly easy really - apart from yesterday's dual wins Bay of Plenty simply didn't get enough players firing in unison. In the day one loss to Taranaki, which set the tone for the week, only Andrew Stewart and Landyn Edwards produced anything close to a complete performance, with Brad Kendall and debutant Sam Davis well beaten and Kieran Muir fighting back to square his match before two poor shots on the last two holes halted his momentum.
In Wednesday's loss to Manawatu-Wanganui the top three - Kendall, Stewart and Edwards - didn't bring their A games and paid the price, while Muir and Davis rebounded. In the loss to Tasman, which killed off Bay's chances (which you'd have to say were remote by that stage anyway), only Stewart fired, although Muir and Davis both had chances down the 18th but couldn't get the job done.
Teams' matchplay golf isn't complicated - three points from five matches and you beat your opponent.
Last year's win in Palmerston North is a perfect example - Bay just scraped through in a couple of games against minnows but they did enough to get a W in the right column. This year they didn't.
Was preparation OK?
On the face of it, yes. Bay coach Jay Carter is a meticulous planner and there was no obvious signs of any corners being cut or complacency because of the team's dominance over the past eight years, although a two-day training camp at Kinloch that might have been beneficial never eventuated. It must be noted though of the six teams that held training camps at Paraparaumu prior to this week, three are in the semifinals.
Bay were one of the first teams to arrive, four days before the interprovincial started, and looked at every hole on the course from every angle. Of course, the links nature of Paraparaumu and the weather (which wasn't particularly testing until yesterday) means the course is constantly changing, but the Bay players didn't lack much in preparation.
Was it the right team?Again you'd have to argue yes. On form, past and current, the right players were here. Peter Lee was the unlucky player left behind but it's purely speculative as to whether he would have made a difference. Four of the team - Muir, Edwards, Kendall and Stewart - got the job done 12 months ago and Davis put forward a fairly compelling case for selection during lead-in tournaments.
Did they gel?
On the whole, yes. Again, golf's very individual where players 95 per cent of the year rely solely on themselves to golf the ball around the course and get it in the hole. Only at tournaments like this does the sum of the collective become a factor.
But a feature of this team has, and continues to be, the camaraderie in the group, with plenty of banter and little sign of any finger pointing or blame being apportioned - at least among the ones out on the course.
What's the cost?

They're easily the most successful representative team in any sporting code in Bay of Plenty ... perhaps were might be a better way of phrasing it. But the era has ended. Six titles in eight years is a record every other province here this week can only dream about. From champions to missing out on the semis is still a decent fall.
Dented pride and reputations won't heal overnight but the measure of the province will be how it gets back up and fights to become a force again next year.
Where to from here?
Probably the biggest revelation this week is how poorly Bay handled the links characteristics of Paraparaumu, although it blew hardest yesterday, the only day they managed two wins against the eventual semifinalists from their group. At Paraparaumu, miss the green and nine times out of 10 you're either in a deep swale, a pot bunker or knee-high in the hay. From there you need sublime skill and luck to get the ball up and down, especially with the greens so hard and fast. In contrast, the courses these guys play at home aren't anywhere near as penal on poorly-struck shots.
Hits and misses?

Going into yesterday's final day of round-robin there were only five players from the 80-odd involved who had lost every match. Four of them were from Poverty Bay-East Coast. The other was Bay No 1 Brad Kendall. Kendall has game (a pair of 69s won him the Paraparaumu Open last weekend) but the national strokeplay champion failed to bring it this week.
Five-over par in Thursday's loss to Tasman No 1 Sean Riordan, without a solitary birdie, isn't good enough.
Kendall sat out yesterday's clash with Otago but returned in the afternoon, losing to Auckland No 1 Ryan Fox for a five match/five loss record.
No 3 Landyn Edwards (three wins/three losses) was sublime 12 months ago and putted the lights out on the opening day this year, but by the midway point was missing three footers.
No 2 Andrew Stewart (five wins/one loss) was a standout, as was debutant Sam Davis, who looked the part in his four wins/one loss/one half record.
Captain Kieran Muir's week was blighted slightly by twice failing to get the job done down the stretch, although with three wins/two halves and a loss he can be well satisfied with his week.
Craig Hamilton debuted yesterday, fighting back from 2 down for a win against Otago, and looks one for the future.