"If you make a mistake then you lose a hole, simple as that," Howie said.
In defence of the Bay, he emphasised Manawatu/Wanganui were the defending champions with a crop of current and past national representatives while North Harbour had beaten Auckland on day one of the division-one pool.
"Russell [Mitchell] and Ben [Swinburne] lost on the last holes so the boys got pretty close to them and hung on.
"Steven [Harris] lost in the second last hole," he said of the Ongaonga club player who is making his debut with the Hawke's Bay Golf Club pair of Joshua Dasent and Dallas Williams, a reserve who didn't play yesterday.
Howie said the competition was more difficult than anything they would have played at an amateur level.
The Bay play Tasman, four places above them on the leaderboard, today with a compulsory bye in the afternoon. Tomorrow they play East Coast/Poverty Bay who also have no team points.
