Northland started the Lion Foundation Freyberg Masters tournament off with an exciting 3-2 victory over Otago.
The win was a minor coup for the Northland over-40 team as Otago were ranked two places above them at No.5.
The tournament got under way yesterday in perfect golfing conditions at the Muriwai Golf Course,
west of Auckland. Early indications are the five-day tournament will be a very tight one with no fewer than three draws in the first round of matches.
Northland No.1 Bob Shirley had a tough tussle with his Otago opposite Jim Lapsley before finally losing 2/1, with No.2 Scott Wilson also going down to Ken Shaw 3/2.
Northland won the rest of the games, however, with No.3 Bruce Donaldson beating Graeme Barbara 2/1, Murray Donaldson beating Murray Edgar in the closest match 1 up and Craig Palmer more comfortable against Les Nelson, beating him 3/2 to complete the win.
In other first-round matches Hawke's Bay halved with Poverty Bay, while Southland and Taranaki and Auckland and Wellington also halved their matches. Bay of Plenty beat Manawatu 4-1, while Aorangi was the other winner over Tasman also by a 4-1 margin.
If the victory over Otago was an upset, then the afternoon's win over Wellington went one better.
Wellington was ranked at No.4 in the tournament but Northland again took no notice of the form book to record a 3-2 win that sees them in second place in the 15-province field behind Bay of Plenty.
But again it was a close-run thing. Shirley, Murray Donaldson and Craig Palmer had one hole wins over Peter Scrimgeour, Jeff Sims and Frank Borren respectively. Wilson and Bruce Donaldson went down 5/3 and 3/2 to Wellington's Rodney Barltrop and Martin Webber.
In the afternoon's other matches, Waikato beat Southland 3-2, Taranaki beat Poverty Bay 3.5/1.5, while Bay of Plenty beat Tasman by the same margin.
Defending champions North Harbour whitewashed Hawke's Bay 5-0, Manawatu upset No.2 seed Canterbury 3-2 and the final match between Aorangi and Auckland was halved.
