Waikato ended a 19-year wait for national men's interprovincial teams golf championship glory by winning the final 3-2 over Bay of Plenty in Timaru yesterday. Waikato had made the semifinals 11 times and finished runners-up on six occasions since 1987, including the last three years.
So the jubilation
shown by players and management was understandable when the team's only newcomer, Dong Woo Kang, 18, halved the final hole with Bay of Plenty No 4 Jared Pender to remain 1 up and clinch the championship for Waikato.
At about the same time, Waikato No 1 James Gill had completed a 2 and 1 victory over Danny Lee, 16, to go with the win at the 18th by No 5 Mark Boe much earlier.
Gill, who had his first hole-in-one on the first day of the championship, proved why he represented New Zealand at this year's world teams' championship. He won seven of his matches and lost the other at the last hole.
The anchor for the victory, however, was Boe, 21, who won all eight of his contests.
His semifinal effort was especially important when he won the last three holes against North Harbour's Steven Han to prevail 1 up, at a time when Waikato were battling to gain the upper hand.
Eventually Waikato won 4-1, while Bay of Plenty edged past Auckland 3-2 through strong comebacks by Lee and Kevin Smith over the last three holes.
"The team is stoked. After being runners-up three times in a row it is nice to get the monkey off the back," Gill said."In other years we haven't brought our A game to the final but this time three did and you need three to play well."
