Golf: Northland men fall short of Toro Interprovincials semifinal

Northland captain Scott Wightman had a halved match in their draw with Aorangi at Mangawhai Golf Club. Photo / Tania Whyte

Northland fell short of a semifinal berth at the Toro Interprovincials at Mangawhai Golf Club.

The squad of captain Scott Wightman, Luke Brown, Christian Nitsche, Alex Neely, Kadin Neho and Ben Kennedy put in a valiant effort throughout the week but couldn't muster enough wins to put themselves in title contention.

Northland needed a victory over Aorangi and for other results to go their way but a 2.5-all draw ended their hopes.

Neely was impressive in his match, picking up a 7&6 win over Jeff Hewitt, while Neho also had a strong showing with a 6&5 result against Jeremy Duckmanton.

Wightman picked up a halved match against Regan Stills but it wasn't enough as Brown and Nitsche went down in tight battles with Jordan Green and Daniel Perham respectively.

Auckland headed to the semifinals without a loss to their name. With a halve to Waikato in round six following an earlier halve to Aorangi in round one, a final tie loss to Manawatu-Wanganui would have given defending champs Wellington and local hopes Northland a slim chance of making the semis.

Through nine holes the boys from the City of Sails were down, but - 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.

This was a result they surely now regret as they had to take on the top qualifiers from division two, North Harbour.

North Harbour went on to beat Waikato before causing an upset with a 3-2 win over Auckland in the final to become the 2017 Toro Interprovincial champions.