Sloan team grinds out a win

Our Sloan Trophy team ground out a gritty win over Greenacres at Tasman on Sunday (March 24) for our first victory of the season.

But our lads had to dig deep for the 7-2 result, with three matches decided on the last hole which earned us a win and two vital halves.

Garth Jameson – playing his first match as an intermediate at No 3 – mounted the biggest comeback. Four down after six holes and playing poorly, he started to come right to cut the deficit to two before his opponent won another couple to push the lead back out to four with five holes to go. However, Garth showed plenty of ticker down the home stretch to be just one down playing the last which he won to snatch an improbable half.

His fellow intermediate, Geoff Halkett, had a much easier time of it, playing solidly against an out-of-sorts rival, to notch up a comfortable 4/2 win.

Earlier, Lewis Wilson recovered from one down at the turn to ease to a 2/1 victory, while our other junior Mark Clucas fought hard on his debut before succumbing 2/1.

Peter Green had a see-sawing battle at No 2. He looked in trouble after putting two out of bounds on No 1 to fall behind with three to go, but he immediately bounced back by winning the par three No 2 and then edged ahead on No 3 by hitting an excellent iron over trees onto the green. A par on No 4 was good enough for a gutsy 1-up victory.

Our No 1 James Campion had a good tussle with Greenacres’ Mark Topia in a match sprinkled with birdies. Mark looked odds on to win after going two up with two to play. However, James refused to buckle, winning the last two to grab a half.

Our victory means we climb the table to a more respectable sixth after three rounds, which includes a bye.

In other matches, Totaradale whitewashed Nelson 9-0 to take over top spot. Motueka got the better of Takaka 7.5-1.5 to be a close second, while Golden Downs were too strong for Murchison in winning 8-1 to sit in third. Hosts Tasman outclassed the Juniors 5-2.

So after three rounds, Totaradale lead on 23 points, just ahead of Motueka (22) and Golden Downs (21).  There is a big gap back to Takaka (12.5), Greenacres (9.5) and Waahi Taakaro (8.5). Next are Nelson (4) and Tasman and Murchison on 3.5 each, with both having had their bye.

The next round is at Takaka on April 14 when we play Totaradale.