Golf: Southland celebrate maiden win

Southland number five Matt Tautari set the tone when he made crucial birdies on the 14th and 15th on his way. Photo / Getty Images

Southland is the champion of the Toro Men's Interprovincial title for the first time in 61 years, after beating six-time champions Bay of Plenty 3-2 at the Poverty Bay Golf Club in Gisborne yesterday.

Southland number five Matt Tautari set the tone when he made crucial birdies on the 14th and 15th on his way to defeating Craig Hamilton 3 and 1.

Bay of Plenty evened the score when number four Sam Davis defeated Scott Hellier 1up, and when James Hamilton beat Liam Balneaves by the same margin it looked like the Bay were heading for the fourth title in five years.

But Southland was in control of the last two matches. Cody Harper made a birdie on the 16th to defeat Landyn Edwards 2 and 1 and Southland number one Vaughan McCall finished it off in style with a win of the same margin over Brad Kendall.

Southland had never before played in a final. Their previous best result was third in 2008 and 2000 but it never showed as they were composed throughout the final's day play.

"It is unreal," said Southland manager Corey Finn.

"Southland has never won this so it's really special for Southland golf and really special for all these boys. I am really proud of them.

"We've got some key players - Matt Tautari - we call him the rock at the top - and he was phenomenal all week for us getting the momentum going.

"But I am really proud of all the boys - they stood up in the big moments.

Bay of Plenty manager Aaron Walsh took little consolation in the fact the Bay were the most dominant throughout the week on the East Coast.

"We're gutted," he said. "We really wanted to win this one but I couldn't be more proud of the boys' effort. We were just beaten by the better team on the day. Southland played some fantastic golf this afternoon and fully deserved their win."

McCall had a stellar past two days where he came back from two down against Tasman's Blair Riordan to halve and help Southland progress, beat Auckland number one Ryan Fox in the semifinal and Kendall in the final.

"I had pretty tough match-ups throughout the week and in all of my matches I didn't start too well but I got the putter going late in my rounds and managed the wins," said the 20-year-old from the Gore Golf Club.

"The whole team is stoked. It was what we came here to do and we are so pleased that the result came our way."

McCall changed his putter with four rounds remaining and it made all the difference.

Southland joins North Harbour and Tasman as one-time winners of the event while Bay of Plenty remain in fifth position on the all-time wins list with six behind Waikato (7), Canterbury (9), Auckland (12) and Wellington (13).

Toro Men's interprovincial final score:

Southland 3 Bay of Plenty 2

Vaughan McCall bt Brad Kendall 2/1, Cody Harper bt Landyn Edwards 2/1, Liam Balneaves lost to James Hamilton 2/1, Scott Hellier lost to Sam Davis 1 down, Matt Tautari bt Craig Hamilton 3/1

Toro Men's Interprovincial - semifinal scores

Bay of Plenty 3 1/2 Canterbury 1 1/2

Brad Kendall bt Keelan Kilpatrick 5/4, Landyn Edwards halved with Jordan Bakermans, James Hamilton bt Tom Turner 4/3, Sam Davis bt Mark O'Malley 4/3, Craig Hamilton lost to Harry Bateman 3/2

Southland 3 1/2 Auckland 1 1/2

Vaughan McCall bt Ryan Fox 4/3, Cody Harper lost to Fraser Wilkin 2/1, Liam Balneaves halved with Sam An, Scott Hellier bt Jonathan Ratcliffe 1up, Matt Tautari bt Tae Koh 1up