Sloan team blown away

Any hope that we could mount a serious challenge for the Sloan Trophy this year was blown away by a gutsy Golden Downs team on a wind-swept Nelson course on Sunday.

Only our No 1 James Campion won, while his five team-mates all lost in a disappointing display which ended our unbeaten record after a win and three previous draws.

Our 8-1 loss  leaves us marooned in seventh place after six rounds.

The tie started poorly with No 6 Garth Jameson thumped 7/6. After halving the first, he then lost five holes on the trot with his short putting on the fast greens letting him down. Two more losses saw him shake hands early.

His fellow junior Lewis Wilson put up more resistance after going two down early. He fought back to all square by the turn and was only one down with four to go before conceding No 15 and 16 to go down 3/2.

Aaron Kotua started brightly by winning his first two holes but faltered early on the back nine to lose three in a row. He got it back to one down on the 14th only to lose the next and miss a short putt to win No 16. Dormie, he could only halve No 17 to fall to a 2/1 defeat.

No 3 Jonathan Tuheke struggled with his game and was never really in the hunt against a very steady opponent with the match ending on the 14th in a 5/4 loss.

Peter Green also found it tough judging club selection and the greens in the icy wind and was no match for a rival who played well. Two down early and three down at the turn, Peter succumbed 6/4.

James got out of the gates quickly by winning the first and had powered to a four-up lead after nine. Striking the ball well in the challenging conditions, he coasted to a comfortable 5/4 victory to prevent a whitewash.

In other results, Totaradale took over the lead with a comfortable 7-2 win over Greenacres, while Takaka upset former champs Motueka 7.5 to 1.5. Tasman and Murchison battled to a 4-all draw.

So after six rounds, Totaradale (31.5 points) holds top spot from Golden Downs (30.5) with Nelson and Takaka sharing third on 25 points. They are followed by Motueka and Murchison on 21, Waahi Taakaro (20.5) and Tasman (17.5), with Greenacres slipping to the bottom on 17 points.

The next round is at Greenacres on July 23 when we play Tasman.