The 2022 Women’s South Island Interprovincial was played over the weekend in Dunedin at the Taieri Lakes Golf Club. The course was in great condition with the hilly layout providing some varied and enjoyable playing conditions.
Canterbury’s 8-woman team contained some experienced players and some young players debuting at this event. Captain Catherine Bell lead the team at number 1 with Olive Tapu and Rachel Eder at number 2 and 4 respectively also providing some event experience. Nicky Webb a player who made her debut for the senior team earlier this year during the Aorangi fixture also added some experience playing in the number 6 position. The rest of the team was relatively youthful with Alisia Ren (16) playing in the number 3 position, Deanna Matthews (16) in the number 5 position, Estelle Lin (15) at number 7 and finally Vanessa Lim (12) playing in the number 8 spot.
Day 1 started positively with the team coming away with a convincing victory over Aorangi 6.5-1.5. The big wins coming in the middle of the order with Rachel Eder and Nicky Webb recording 7/6 victories and Deanna Matthews winning 10/8. The afternoon match was a far tougher task coming up against a stronger Tasman outfit. Unfortunately, the Canterbury ladies were on the wrong side of tight contest going down 5-3. Alisia Ren coming away with a strong 4/3 victory in that one alongside a first event victory for Vanessa Lim 3/1. A match-up of particular note in this match was the battle of the number 1’s with Catherine Bell playing against promising up and coming payer Aroha Minhinnick. Eventually Bell lost 2 down but played some impressive golf with 5 birdies and going round 3 under, but it was Tasman’s Minhinnick’s day with an even better showing.
So, onto day 2 we went with a 1 win 1 loss record and relying on some results going our way to defend the title won last year in Timaru. Canterbury responded well to put away hosts Otago in a convincing fashion 6-2. The big wins went to Nicky Webb who prevailed 7/6 and also Olive Tapu and Vanessa Lim who both got up 6/5. Despite the strong final round, it wasn’t to be for the Cantabs with Tasman going onto beat Aorangi comfortably and take out the tournament victory leaving Canterbury as the event runners-up. The full results can be viewed - HERE.
Some good learnings for a young team with the attention now turning to the final preparations for the 2022 NZ Women’s Interprovincial to be played in Tauranga in December.
