By TERRY MADDAFORD
Matchplay golf can be cruel.
Just ask Margaret Aston, who is playing at No 3 for Northland in the New Zealand interprovincial championship which started at the North Shore club yesterday.
Aston, one down after eight holes, must have watched in anticipation as North Harbour's 17-year-old Titleist squad member,
Natalie Storck, duffed her tee shot.
Storck recovered reasonably with her second but her third landed less than a metre short of the green and rolled 20m back down the bank.
She then crashed her approach to the back of the green and was left with a difficult eight-metre downhill putt for par. Aston took a more conventional route even if she, too, rolled back from the front of the green.
Against the odds, on greens which were faster than expected after a midday cut and made tricky by the strong winds, Storck sunk her putt to put the pressure on Aston, who watched her par putt lip out.
Gratefully accepting her good fortune, Storck, then 2 up, went on to win 3 and 2 and help the host association to a 3-2 win in their opening match after having the bye in the first round.
Auckland set out with a 3 1/21/-1 1/2 victory over Tasman, including a 9 and 7 win by their No 5, Yu Jin Bang, over Sharleen Marfell.
However, they came unstuck in the afternoon when beaten 4-1 by Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley.
Tina Howard, playing at No. 1 for the combined team, was always in control against her Auckland counterpart, Cheryl Nahi, winning 4 and 3.
Brenda Ormsby, at two for BoP-Thames Valley, had a tougher battle against Brigit Holford.
After being 3 up at one stage, Ormsby was back to all square with three to play before winning the 16th and 18th to win 2-up.
Penny Newbrook came back from 1 down late in her round to beat Auckland No. 3 Enu Chung 2 and 1, and Heather Lavery won a see-saw battle against Bang 2-up after chipping in at the 16th when the match was all square.
Keun Ji Lim, at four, gave Auckland their only win.
After their bye in the morning, defending champions Waikato-King Country had a solid 4-1 win over South Canterbury, with their No. 1 Jan Storey their only casualty.
Kyla Welsh, playing at the top of the order for South Canterbury, continued her winning start to the Lion Foundation-sponsored tournament when she came back from 3 down to beat Storey 1 up.
Welsh had earlier beaten Wellington No. 1 Hee-Jeong Chun by the same margin.
