Golf: Bay men chug ahead but women miss cut

Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay women have missed the cut for the semifinals but the Bay men have continued their giant-killing ways at the interprovincial golf tournament in Whangarei.

The Janie Field-captained HBPB side finished fifth out of seven teams in division two after their third loss on the trot in the final round yesterday.

HBPB went down 3-2 to Southland with No 4 Field and No 5 Sara Deam registering 3&1 and 8&7 wins, respectively.

It's Auckland v BOP and Canterbury v North Harbour in the final day of playoffs at the Sherwood Park GC today.

But the Bay men's team have retained their perch on the second rung of the ladder after thrashing Canterbury 4-1 yesterday.

No 2 seed Mako Thompson beat Matt McLean 3&2, No 3 Adam Winter pipped Hiroki Miya 1up and so did No 4 Tyson Tawera over Reid Hilton. No 5 Russell Mitchell eclipsed Dominic Brettkelly 2up.

Top seed Ben Swinburne registered the only loss, going down 3&1 to Tom Parker.

The Bay are sitting on 15 match wins, half a game below division two leaders North Harbour and 3.5 games above third-placed Otago.

Undefeated Auckland, flying under the radar most of the week, humbled hosts Northland for a captivating 3-2 victory.

Waikato also boast an unblemished record. However, today they lock horns with Auckland and Wellington to determine who will shape up as the semifinalists.

Wellington and Otago had a slight hiccup, recording halves against Manawatu/Wanganui and Poverty Bay/East Coast, respectively.