KEY POINTS:
Nick Gillespie finally put his national championship jinx to rest at Mt Maunganui yesterday.
The young Hawkes Bay golfer was runner-up to Bay of Plenty's Danny Lee at the New Zealand amateur championship in April and last weekend was pipped by Lee for the Bledisloe Cup as leading amateur in the New Zealand Open.
But playing No 1 for Hawkes Bay in the interprovincial championship, Gillespie beat Lee 2 and 1 to lead his team to a 3 1/2-1 1/2 triumph over the tournament favourites.
And he did it in style. When the match finished he was five under par, despite recording a double-bogey.
After a day of upsets, near misses and tense finishes, defending champions Waikato were the only team left with a perfect record, three victories and a bye. But they were pushed to the limit by Taranaki with Tane Robson coming from behind to beat veteran Murray Martin for the 3-2 win.
The only other team with three wins are Southland, who finished last in 2006, but have lost only to Bay of Plenty and added Auckland to their scalps yesterday. They have yet to have the bye.
Bay of Plenty could have no excuses for their morning loss. Jared Pender was the only winner while Kevin Smith managed a half with Darryn Turley. They rallied in the afternoon to beat Otago 4-1. Second to Southland in that section are Wellington who have had two wins and a half and had their bye yesterday morning.
North Harbour trail Waikato by a half in the other section following a day of remarkable comebacks.
In the morning Harbour earned a half with Tasman after being down in three games and up in only one with five holes to play. Scott Johnson and Steven Han at the top and bottom of the order had wins while James Davis at three won the last two holes to snatch a half with Hamish Campbell.
It was more of the same in the afternoon. Harbour were 4-1 down at halfway against Northland but won 3 1/2-1 1/2 with wins to Han, Scott Wightman and Jacques Nortje and a half from Davis with a birdie on the last.
Auckland cruised past Aorangi in the morning but were always behind Southland in the afternoon. Van Wright continued his perfect record at No 1 and Hayden McCallum had his first win. But Darren Gallot's birdie on the last was matched by Southland's Matthew Tautari for a 1 up win and the match 3-2.
The teams play one round today, two tomorrow with the semifinals and final on Saturday.
