Bay of Plenty's quest for a hat-trick of New Zealand women's inter-provincial team titles started soundly at the Nelson Golf Club yesterday with the title-holder overcoming a bold challenge from Aorangi-South Canterbury.
Aorangi-South Canterbury, 12th of the 14 teams last year, started with a morning win against Northland
and led Bay of Plenty, who had the morning bye, 3-2 after five holes.
But the Bay typically dug deep and had the lead at the turn. While all five matches went to the 17th or last greens, Bay maintained a slight edge down the stretch and won, 3-2.
No 3 Susan Lines, unbeaten last year, and Heather Lavery, at No 5, won 2 and 1 for Bay, while No 1 Zoe Brake halved a tense and quality match with former double national stroke-play champion Catherine Knight and No 4 Krystle Kearns settled for a half with Janelle Amalfitano.
Kyla Welsh was South Canterbury's lone winner, overcoming seasoned New Zealand representative Penny Smith at the last.
The other unbeaten team in section one was Auckland who backed up a good first-round win over North Harbour with an even stronger 4-1 victory against Northland in round two.
The teams were level at the turn, but Hayley Clining came from behind for the second time in two rounds to post a vital win and 13-year-old No 1 Cecilia Cho downed international Caroline Bon at the last. Phoebe Perrin was Northland's winner, winning at the 16th after being 4 up at the turn.
Waikato enjoyed a prosperous first day in section two, beating home team Tasman 3 1/2-1 1/2 in the morning and achieving the same result against first-round winner Southland in the afternoon.
Last year's runner-up, Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay, won their only game against Otago and remained unbeaten in section two with Manawatu-Wanganui, who accounted for Taranaki in the morning before having the afternoon bye.
Tasman got on the board in the second round, beating Taranaki, but the result was not theirs until No 2 Sarah Rutledge won the last hole against Debbie McCallum to go 1 up.
