Finishing as the second-placed team below North Harbour yesterday at the Mangawhai GC, the Steffan Hepburn-managed Bay brigade booked a semifinal berth against division one top qualifiers Auckland in a 7.30am tee off from the No 1 hole while North Harbour face Waikato off the No 10 mound.
But it was a nail-biting time for the Cinderella side yesterday as they halved 2.5 games with Taranaki.
The Bay's fate was out of their hands because it rested on the outcomes of the Canterbury and Otago.
Forrest said they needed Otago to succumb to North Harbour - which they did - and Canterbury failed to muster the required five points they needed against Southland.
Canterbury came close with three wins and two halves but were eventually left crying in their beers at the 19th hole.
"It was tricky because the two games we'd lost to North Harbour and Otago were games that had come down to the wire."
Forrest lauded the predominantly youthful Bay outfit whose "old men" are top seed Ben Swinburne, 28, and No 5 Russell Mitchell, 29.
No 3 Adam Winter is 17, No 2 Mako Thompson, the New Zealand Under-19 champion this year, recently turned 19, No 4 Tyson Tawera is around that mark and reserve Dylan Bagley is a 15-year-old Karamu High School pupil.
"We've got a fairly young team so it's gone all really well for us."
Forrest liked to think that the Bay blazers, who finished 14th last year, were going to give the city slickers a run for their money this morning in trying to book a final and win their first crown since 1969.
"The boys are playing well enough to give most teams a fright because they [oppositions] will be a little scared of what the Bay can produce."
It was a difficult men's tourney to forecast semifinalists at the start of the week. North Harbour registered a perfect record under the leadership of New Zealand strokeplay champion Mark Hutson so anyone else winning will have a fairytale plot to it.
Auckland haven't lost a game. With a halve to Waikato yesterday morning they backed it up with following an earlier halve to Aorangi in round one, a loss in the afternoon to Manawatu-Wanganui would have given defending champs Wellington and hosts Northland a sliver of a chance of make the cut.
Through nine holes the boys from the city of sails were down, however as they have all week they rallied over the closing stretch to punch their ticket to the finals.
Although Waikato halved with Auckland in the morning round it was enough to give them a stress free afternoon as the half point guaranteed their top-four place.
With the semifinal spot in the bag they let their guard down in the afternoon losing to Wellington which is a result they may regret as they now face top qualifiers North Harbour.
■ Auckland yesterday won their seventh women's interprovincial crown in nine years to stamp their supremacy, according to an NZ Golf report.
Winning by a 4-1 margin in both the semifinal and final at Sherwood Park Golf Club, they were simply unstoppable this week with clinical performances in almost every match, dropping a mere 2.5 points in pool play.
They were anchored by player of the tournament Caryn Khoo, who went undefeated at number two in her final appearance at the event. Carmen Lim and Siyi Keh also went undefeated at number four and five respectively.
Auckland 4 defeat Canterbury 1 Rose Zheng lost to Juliana Hung 4&3, Caryn Khoo beat Olive Tapu 2&1, Brittney Dryland eclipsed Catherine Bell 3&2, Carmen Lim thumped Jessica Crosbie 5&4 and Siyi Keh walloped Maddie May 6&4.
After a long stint playing College Golf in America, this was her first time playing this event in six years and it was clear how happy she was to be back before she takes the leap into the professional ranks in 2018.
"It feels awesome, it's been a very long time since I was here and it's nice to do it in my last appearance so it's a pretty good feeling," said Khoo.
Brittney Dryland finished things in style with a 20-foot putt from the fringe rocketing into the back of the cup to win what is her fifth Interprovincial title which is an amazing feat on its own.
"Every year we have a great team that gets along on and off the course, so I'm just really happy for all of them," beamed Dryland.
"This is my fifth win and it feels as good as the first. It's been an awesome journey with all the Auckland girls and I love this event."
While Auckland had a stress-free final day, it was a different story in the second semifinal this morning between Canterbury and North Harbour with all hopes falling on the shoulders of number three's Catherine Bell and Vaha Fapiano.
Fapiano sent the crowd into rousing applause after a rallying comeback which was completed on the 18th hole to extend the match. However, from there Catherine Bell was able to compose herself and made a clinical up and down on the first hole to secure Canterbury their second final in three years.
This meant that Bay of Plenty took home the bronze medal after a very impressive week in the far north with their most memorable win coming against Canterbury in the final round of pool play (4-1).
