POVERTY Bay-East Coast opened the Freyberg Masters interprovincial golf tournament with a loss at Auckland's Whitford Park course this morning.
PBEC were beaten 3½-1½ by Northland in the first round of the over-40s matchplay competition.
PBEC No.4 Simon Jeune had the team's only win - a 4 and 3 victoryover Scott Wilson.
No.1 Anaru Reedy halved with Saali Herewini.
No.2 Tony Akroyd, making his masters debut, lost 3 and 2 to Brett Dormer, No.3 Pete Anderson lost 4 and 3 to Peter Bone and No.5 Stefan Andreassen, also debuting, lost 5 and 4 to Bob Shirley.
