Golf: Bay women make semis for fourth time in a row

PLAY-OFFS: Tyla Kingi (above) and the rest of the Bay of Plenty women's team will take on North Harbour this morning in the semifinals of the Toro New Zealand Women's Interprovincial. PHOTO/BW MEDIA

The Bay of Plenty women's golf team have surged into the semifinals of the Toro New Zealand Women's Interprovincial in Hamilton.

Bay of Plenty defeated Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay in a cliffhanger yesterday (3-2) in their final pool play match. It means they finished top qualifier from division two.

The Bay women's team will go up against North Harbour this morning in their semifinal with the final played later in the day, at the Riverside Golf Club in Hamilton.

The other semifinal will be played between Auckland and Waikato.

The Bay women's team have already progressed further than the Bay men's team, who just missed out on the semifinals at the men's interprovincial last week.

Bay of Plenty are 17-time champions at this event but will look to win the title for the first time since 2007.

Their number two Alanna Campbell said she was happy the team could defeat Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay and make their fourth semifinal in succession.

"That was pretty intense but Susan [Lines] chipped in for a birdie on her 18th hole to halve her match giving us a chance and we needed to then get Brooke in," she said.

"We are really excited and will relax this afternoon and then get into it tomorrow."

Campbell, who made her debut for New Zealand earlier this year, is looking forward to the challenge of taking on an in-form North Harbour side.

"They will be tough and on a high after beating Auckland but as we have seen all week every team can be beaten."

Toro New Zealand Women's Interprovincial final leaderboard:

Division One: Auckland 5 (team points) 25.5 (individual points), North Harbour 5 23.5, Wellington 4 18.5, Southland 3 12.5, Northland 2.5 12, Tasman 1 8, Otago 0.5 5.

Division Two:

Bay of Plenty 5 21.5, Waikato 5 18.5, Canterbury 4 19, Manawatu - Wanganui 2.5 14.5, Hawkes Bay 2.5 13.5, Taranaki 2 10, Aorangi South Canterbury 0 8.