Bay of Plenty showed they will be favourites to win the interprovincial teams' golf championship with a dominant victory in the 10-man Garrard Shield at Mt Maunganui yesterday.
The national event will be on the same course in December with five-man teams and the Bay, who have won
three of the past five contests, will fancy their chances of dethroning Waikato, who won last year at Timaru.
Bay of Plenty beat Northland 8-2, Waikato 7-3 and Auckland 7-3 at the weekend, with their top five players losing only one game in the three matches.
In the win over Auckland yesterday, number one Danny Lee was five under the card, beating Van Wright 4 and 3. Number two Jared Pender was six under, beating Seve Ha 7 and 6, for three wins in 12 under par.
The Bay have narrowed their choice for the national tournament down to six with Kevin Smith, who did not play at the weekend, in the mix with Lee, Pender, Mark Smith, Jason McIntosh and Andrew Stewart.
Waikato lost only to Bay of Plenty and will be strengthened at the national event by Jim Cusdin. The team in playing order is Richard Wright, Cusdin, Aaron Leech, Tane Robson and Mathew Bluett.
Northland finished third in the Garrard, beating Auckland for the first time in the event's 52 years. They were without two of their leading players, Gary-John Hill and Brad Bonnington. Their team for the national event is Hill, Dale Clarke, Bonnington, Alvin Rapana and Tony Mayo.
Auckland, who have been without several leading players for most of the season, were well beaten by the Bay but lost narrowly to Northland and Waikato.
Their team for December is Van Wright, Seve Ha, Hayden McCallum, Ben Kendall and Darren Gallot.
All but Kendall (Maungakiekie) are from the Akarana Club and the 30-year-old Wright will make his debut in the event at number one. He learned the game in Samoa, played collegiate golf in Hawaii and had a spell as a professional before resuming his amateur career this year. Bay of Plenty also won the junior contest for the Ralph Cup. Next year's events will be played in November at Pukekohe.
