Mixed emotions at women's golf

There will be a hint of the bittersweet for Northland's women when they line up for the last ever interprovincials run by the women's national golf association at Ngaruawahia on Tuesday.
Northland Women's Golf president Bev Coles will accompany the team to the tournament and said she will have mixed emotions when the Women's Golf New Zealand flag is lowered for the final time at the tournament.
"There will be a touch of sadness because it is the last function that will ever be held by Women's Golf New Zealand ... the move (to amalgamate) is a very positive one but it will still be sad at that last lowering of the flag," she said.
The much-debated amalgamation of the men's and women's associations was agreed to in Wellington on September 12, with the new single entity to be known as New Zealand Golf.
The amalgamation trend continues on a provincial level with Waikato, King Country and North Harbour associations already joined but Coles said in Northland and in the majority of the provinces, moves to amalgamate the men's and women's associations were still being discussed.
While the changing face of New Zealand golf may have an effect on some of the golfers at Ngaruawahia, for others it will be business as usual.
This year's interprovincials are a chance for Northland to build on their sixth place last year.
Team selector Angela Houry said last year's result was the best the Northland women's team had ever achieved and the Ngaruawahia tournament was a great chance to consolidate on that success.
It won't be easy though, with major line-up changes forced by the unavailability of Northland's three Korean players from last year.
Last year's number-one, Miri Joo, has turned professional and is now playing on the Asian circuit, number-two Haji Kang is now playing in Queensland and the number-five last year, Younsun Kim, is now the Auckland number two.
A veteran of eight interprovincials, Mangonui's Samantha Dangen once again fills the number one spot, with Tapora's Aroha Tito at two and Whangarei's Caroline Bon at three.
Wellsford's Sjanna Bonnington and Whangarei's Sunny Nam-Koong are at four and five respectively and taking part in their first interprovincials.
Merle Mounsey is the travelling reserve while Pauline Griffin and Karyn Ferguson are the other reserves.
The team's greatest challenge will be on Thursday, when they play last year's runners-up Waikato-King Country in the morning and then play third-seeded North Harbour in the afternoon.
The team will need to beat at least one of those teams if it is to make it into Saturday's semifinals but in the highly competitive tournament unexpected challenges from unfancied teams can often seal a team's fate.
Northland start their campaign on Tuesday, with matches against Tasman and Wellington. On Wednesday they have a bye in the morning and play Manawatu-Wanganui in the afternoon. Their last pool match is on Friday morning against Canterbury.
Reigning champions Bay of Plenty will be hard to beat in the competition although they have undergone a couple of personnel changes as well.
The Northland women's interprovincial golf team includes, from left, Angela Houry, Bev Coles, Merle Mounsey, Caroline Bon, Karyn Ferguson, Sjanna Bonnington (seated) and Pauline Griffin. Absent are Samantha Dangen, Aroha Tito and Sunny Nam-Koong.