Auckland’s men won their second consecutive title in their third straight final against Bay of Plenty, while an inspired young North Harbour side upset the most successful women’s province in the competition’s history, beating Auckland to lift the women’s trophy.
Bay of Plenty got off to a flying start against the defending champions in the men’s final at the Russley club with Francis Lockwood (No 4) and Kevin Bang (No 3) posting 5&4 and 4&3 victories respectively.
Steven Van Heerden pulled a point back for Auckland at the tail, and New Zealand strokeplay champion Robby Turnbull squared the ledger with an impressive 5&4 win, leaving it down to the No 1s to decide the title.
After losing to Mitchell Kale at Omanu in the 2022 final, Auckland star Joshua Bai got his revenge, beating Kale 3&1 to seal another victory for Auckland and player of the tournament honours for winning six matches and halving two.
Auckland had beaten Wellington 3.5-1.5 in one semifinal, while Bay of Plenty outclassed hosts Canterbury 4-1 in the other.
On the women’s side, North Harbour went one better than last year’s effort, lifting the trophy after a tense final day that went down to the wire.
The final was close all afternoon.
Auckland No 5 Cherry Lee beat Olivia Yoon by a narrow 1-up margin, while Gabriela He (Auckland) and Sarah Li (North Harbour) halved their clash at No 4, leaving it to the top order to decide who would take home the spoils.
North Harbour’s top three proved too strong, Sophie Yu winning 6&4, Teresa Wang winning 4&3 and Juwon Kim getting over the line 1-up.
Harbour needed extra holes to beat Wellington in the semifinal.
With scores level, 2.5-2.5, the two No 5s who halved went out for a sudden-death playoff to decide who would progress, and Yoon prevailed on the 20th.
Auckland beat Canterbury 3-2 in the other semifinal.
Rising Harbour star Kim was named women’s player of the tournament for seven wins and one loss at No 1.
— APL
