Golf: Bay golfers hold slender advantage

Steady rounds by in-form Eddie Burgess and Andrew McNair helped the homeside Bay of Plenty to a slender one shot lead over Queensland at the halfway stage of the New Zealand under-23 teams golf championship at the testing Taupo club.

Burgess, a New Zealand representative, and McNair finished in the top seven golfers on the first day by firing rounds of 71 73 (even par) and 71 74 (one over) respectively.

The Bay's other scoring rounds were Kent Skellern 76 and Matthew Jupp 77 in the morning and Jupp and Matthew Bluett both 71s in the afternoon.

Bay of Plenty complied a total of 584 shots from their four counting rounds, with Queensland - who have been runners-up in the last two years - close behind after improving on their first round by 17 shots.

A 3-under 69 by Matthew Ballard, two 1-under 71s by Simon Brown and Travis Johns and a 73 by Chris Downes spurred the Queenslanders to a second round total of 284, four under par, and combined score of 585.

The top individual performer was New South Welshman Scott Gardiner who had two 70s to be four under but Canterbury's Nigel Davis, a late replacement, equalled the course record in the afternoon with a brillant 6-under 66 that began with three successive birdies and ended with no bogeys.

Davis improved his scoring by 14 shots after shooting 80 in the morning. A pre-tournament favourite Wellington lost one of their talented players in the afternoon when Gareth Paddison sprained an ankle while jogging back to his ball on the first fairway after pacing out the distance to the green

It meant the other four scores of 70 by Reon Sayer, 78 Shaun Richards, 77 Jonathan Cane and 76 Paul Moles had to count and Wellington were sixth with 594. Waikato had 592 and defending champions New South Wales and Canterbury were one shot further back.

The left-handed Guy Penrose was the best of the Waikato players with rounds of 74 72 with fellow Titleist Academy squad member Brad Shilton two shots back with 75 73.

Their No 1 Les Miller struggled in the morning with a non-counting 6-over 79 but he was back in the action with a 73 in the afternoon.