Another draw for Sloan team

A chip in birdie by Keri Kotua on his final hole rescued a draw for our Sloan Trophy team against Tasman at Greenacres on Sunday (July 23).

Until his wonder shot over a bunker and into the cup to halve his match at the death, it looked as though we were going to slump to a second consecutive defeat.

In the end we escaped with a 4-all draw to remain sixth on the points table with two rounds remaining.

Earlier our juniors gave us a steady start, with Warren Carey earning maximum points with a 2/1 victory in his first Sloan match of the season, while Lewis Wilson had to settle for a half.

Wazza showed no sign of nerves to go three up after three but saw his lead vanish going into the back nine. He went ahead again but was it was all square with three holes to go before an up and down par at No 4 and bogey at No 5 saw him eke out the win with a solid net 74.

Lewis was also three up early but lost three on the trot to pars before turning for home one-up. One down with just a few holes to play he won two to carry a one-up lead into his last hole, No 6, but hooked two drives out of bounds to share the points.

Jonathan Tuheke - playing at No 4 - pulled his opening drive into the penalty area and failed to get out to concede the hole, but from there on played some excellent golf against an opponent also playing well. All square at the turn, Jono took a two-up lead playing par golf. It was cut to one with three to go but two halves saw him go down the last with a narrow lead. His opponent then put his second on the green, while Jono found the bunker below the green but played a superb shot to within concession range for a par to ice an impressive 81. His one-up win was confirmed when the birdie attempt was wide.

Peter Watson was drafted in to play at No 3 but found the going tough against a rival he had to give four shots to and who played to his handicap. He didn't help matters early with some pulled drives, but a succession of pars mid round saw him edge ahead at their 10th hole. However, he then lost four holes on a row through a combination of bad irons and bad lies. He won No 3 with a par but botched the next for a half and No 5 with another pulled iron to succumb 3/1.

Apart from some good driving, Andy Isle struggled with the rest of his game to go down 4/3. Our No 2 was two down after nine and couldn't mount a challenge against an opponent who started two shots to the good. 

Keri found himself two down at the turn against a steady rival but hung tough to claw his way back into the match. He won his 15th and 16th holes with pars to get it back to all square only to fall behind at the next. One-down playing the last, he then delivered his killer chip to halve his match for a tidy 79 off the stick.

In other matches, pace-setters Totaradale thumped Murchison 8-1, while Golden Downs stayed in touch but were made to work by Takaka for their 6.5-2.5 win.

Motueka saw off Nelson 7-2 to climb to third.

So after seven rounds Totaradale lead with 39.5 points with Golden Downs breathing down their necks on 37. They are followed by Motueka (28), Takaka (27.5), Nelson (27), Waahi Taakaro (24.5), Murchison (22), Tasman (21.5) and Greenacres (17).

The next round is at Takaka on August  6 when we play Nelson.