Golf: Bay miss semifinals but note improvements

Bay No 2 Dallas Williams is a man of few words but isn't shy with his drivers and irons. PHOTO/BWmedia for NZ

It didn't end the way Hawke's Bay had envisaged but that is not to say the senior men's amateur golf representative team aren't returning home tomorrow with nothing to show.

"It's the first in some time for us to go to the last round with a chance to making the semifinals so it's been a big jump for us," Bay manager David Howie said last night after they lost their final division two match 4-1 to Auckland.

Only top seed Russell Mitchell and No2 Dallas Williams managed halves against Tae Koh and Johnny Tynan respectively.

No3 and captain Steve Harris lost to Josh Leitch, No4 Ben Swinburne went down to Matty Tiplady 2-up while No5 Tyson Tawera got run over 6 and 5, under the Shiv Sabherwal juggernaut.

The semifinalists today are Waikato v Northland and Otago v Bay of Plenty, despite the Southerners crashing to a 5-0 loss to the boys from the capital yesterday.

In division two, Hawke's Bay finished fourth behind Wellington with 2.5 team points and a dozen individual wins.

"My guess is we'll finish ninth after finishing 12th last year," said Howie, who has finished his tenure as Bay team manager after three years and will savour watching Mitchell and Williams having a good tourney.

"Ben's experience doubled, even though he lost a few games, a couple of them he lost on the last hole," he said, mindful the Ongaonga Golf Club member will only grow from here mentally to push over the line and make a difference.

The tournament had a rash of fairy-tale endings, from back-to-back champions to first-time winners or great amateurs retiring at the peak of their careers.

Northland made the cut after missing on the final hole last year.