KEY POINTS:
Rotorua teenager Danny Lee gave his supporters a roller-coaster ride as he played his way into the quarter-finals of the national matchplay championship at Hamilton Golf Club yesterday.
After being five up with five to play in the second round against Victorian Tom Prowse, he finally won one
up on the last green to make it five Kiwis and three Aussies battling for the semifinals this morning.
Lee, who is only 16 but seems to have been among the leading amateurs for years, won the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th holes with birdies.
When he came to the 14th tee he was five up and ready to close out the match.
But Prowse, winner of the Shirley Open in Christchurch last year, suddenly found magic in his putter. He birdied the 14th from 3m, won the next with a par when Lee had tree trouble off the tee, then sank long putts to win the 16th and 17th with birdies.
Lee extinguished the Aussie's hopes by putting his tee-shot on the short 18th close to the pin and Prowse's putter couldn't work another miracle escape. Lee will play fellow Bay of Plenty representative Jared Pender in the next round.
Strokeplay champion and local hero James Gill eliminated West Australian Michael Foster 2 and 1 with another controlled display and now faces another Australian, Brent Watson, who squeezed home against the ultra-consistent Steven Han from North Shore.
Australian strokeplay champion Andrew Dodt, who was runner-up in the New Zealand strokeplay on Thursday, didn't survive the first round of the matchplay, losing to Wellington representative Richard Pegg.
Troy Ropiha from New Plymouth, who had shared second place in the strokeplay with Dodt, survived until the second round where he was well beaten by Australian Grant Scott.
One Australian will be eliminated this morning when Scott plays Australian matchplay champion Rohan Blizard, from Sydney.
Blizard played the shot of the day yesterday, holing a four-iron from 193m for an albatross two on the 450m par-five fourth. He beat fellow Aussie Jamie Arnold 5 and 4.
Biggest winner in the second round was Auckland number one Leighton James, who beat Kevin Smith (Tauranga) 7 and 5. James won the last five holes on the front nine and was six under the card when the match finished. A shell-shocked Smith was only one over and on the end of a hiding.
This morning, James will play Nick Gillespie from Hastings, who was taken to the 22nd by Pegg before winning with a birdie.
The semifinals will be played this afternoon, and the 36-hole final from 8am tomorrow.
Quarter-Finals
* James Gill v Brent Watson
* Jared Pender v Danny Lee
* Grant Scott v Rohan Blizard
* Leighton James v Nick Gillespie
