Golf: Manawatu-Wanganui close but not quite at Toro Interprovincial

The Manawatu-Wanganui team just missed out on the semifinals of the 2018 Men's Toro Interprovincial at Christchurch's Clearwater Golf Club on Thursday.

Manawatu-Wanganui finished with 4 (17.5) points in the larger Division 1, which was the highest score of the 11 provincial squads who didn't make the semifinals from the two divisions, including the defending champions North Harbour.

Home team Canterbury and 2016 champions Wellington were the qualifiers from Pool A, both with 5.5 points, while Canterbury finished on top with a 22.5 total aggregate compared to Wellington's 20.5.

They were playing the semifinals against Division 2 qualifiers Auckland and Northland respectively.

Later this afternoon, Northland were able to pull the upset as they beat Canterbury in the semifinal and then Auckland in the final to win the Toro for the first time in 68 years of trying.

Manawatu-Wanganui started well on Monday with a 5-0 clean sweep over Aorangi in the morning and then beat North Harbour 3-2 in the afternoon.

The team had a costly setback with a 3.5-1.5 loss to Wellington on Tuesday morning, but recovered with a 3-2 win over Waikato that afternoon.

Wednesday morning saw a 2.5-2.5 draw with Bay of Plenty, then taking a bye in the next round.

Manawatu-Wanganui needed a win in their Thursday morning matchup while hoping other results went their way, but another 2.5-2.5 draw with Poverty Bay-East Coast, who finished bottom of Division 1, put pay to their hopes.

This year's team were all Manawatu golfers in Tyler Wood, Sam Nichols, Liam Finlayson, Greg Shaw, Regan McConaghty and Reid Perry.