GOLF - Northlanders fall to giant-slaying Manawatu

A confident Northland women's golf team were tripped up yesterday just when it looked like they might be on track to steal a march on some highly rated opponents at the Lion Foundation New Zealand women's inter-provincial team tournament at the Napier Golf Club.
But the team are still ideally poised for a big day today, with matches against title favourites Bay of Plenty and Auckland scheduled.
But yesterday, after opening their campaign with back-to-back victories on Tuesday, Northland were beaten by an unheralded Manawatu-Wanganui unit.
Manawatu had a day to savour, toppling Auckland, 3-2, in the morning then backing up with the same result against hitherto unbeaten Northland.
The bottom three - Helen Handcock, Maraea Durie, and Amy Gooding - were responsible for the upset win against Auckland and Gooding, as she had in the morning, won at the 18th against Northland. This time the top order supported her with Amy Smith and Stephanie McKillop both winning convincingly.
After finishing second-last in 13th place last year, Manawatu-Wanganui has downed two of the top five sides from 2006 and has lost only to title-holder Bay of Plenty.
For the second successive day, a raging north-westerly wind lashed the course, felling a tree which glanced a team official on the 18th and forcing players constantly to back off their putts.
Northland's only wins yesterday came from Sunny Namkoong (4 and 3) and Sjanna Bonnington (2 and 1).
Now Bay of Plenty, in section one, and Southland, in section two, are the only unbeaten teams after four rounds. Title-holders Bay of Plenty have been most impressive as they seek their third championship in four years, and Southland, seventh last year, have coped admirably with the rugged conditions over the last two days.
While Bay of Plenty have lived up to expectations in section one, Auckland, semifinalists for the last four years, are in jeopardy of missing the top four after losing to both Tasman and Manawatu-Wanganui, although they notched up points by beating Wellington.
The cut-throat nature of the two sections means that unlike previous years the semifinalists are far from being found after four rounds. Manawatu-Wanganui share the front-running in section one with Bay of Plenty, but have yet to have the bye, while Northland have had just one loss.
In section two, Southland came from behind to topple Waikato, champions in 2001 and 2002, in the morning. Waikato dealt to previously unbeaten Canterbury, 4-1, to leave that pool wide open.
Key matches today are Northland vs Auckland, Southland vs Canterbury (morning), Northland vs Bay of Plenty and North Harbour vs Southland (afternoon).