Sloan slump continues

The fast greens and the wet and wild conditions at Nelson on Sunday proved too tough for our Sloan Trophy team who slumped to a 7-2 loss to Murchison.

It means we drop to second last on the points table after six of nine rounds.

It didn’t start well with the normally reliable Lewis Wilson having an off day at No 6, going down 4/3. His fellow junior Andrew Craig had a shocker, getting hammered 9/7.  

The big hitting Craig Baron had a disappointing Sloan debut, losing 5/3. He made a poor start with four double bogeys in the first four  holes before briefing recovering with a couple of pars, but a further five doubles proved fatal.

No 3 Bryce Vincent provided something to cheer about with a solid 5/4 victory. Starting his first Sloan match of the season after getting a rare weekend off work, our current intermediate club champ made an ideal start, being two up after three holes. A birdie at his 9th pushed his lead out to three. Another birdie and a fortunate chip took him to the brink before he finished off the match by winning his 14th hole. Staying out of trouble and keeping the pressure on his partner around the greens were key to his win.

Keri Kotua fought hard to get back to all square by the 10th after being two down early to a birdie and par. But too many bogeys and double bogeys playing the back nine against a steady opponent saw him slip to a 5/4 defeat.

Our No 1 James Campion was forced to play catch-up golf before prevailing at the 18th for a gritty 1-up win in the atrocious conditions. Two down after six holes, he went birdie, par, birdie on the next three holes to square the match going into their back nine. One behind playing their final three holes, He again regrouped, parring his 16th to get it back to even and then parring the last two to win at the death. After struggling with the putter early, he sunk some good 4-5 footers coming home to get the job done.

In other matches, Golden Downs beat fellow frontrunner Totaradale 7-2 to take over the competition lead, while Motueka bested Tasman by the same score to climb to second.
Takaka consolidated fourth place with a 7-2 victory over Greenacres.

So with three rounds to go, Golden Downs leads on 42 points, with Motueka (38) and Totaradale (32) still well in the hunt. They are followed by Takaka (29), Murchison (20.5), Greenacres (19), Nelson and Waahi Taakaro (14.5 each). Tasman remains in last place on 6.5.

The next round is at Greenacres on July 7.