Sloan team reigns in the rain

Our Sloan team got the better of our cross-town rivals Nelson on a rain-soaked Totaradale course on Sunday.

It was our second win of the season which helped us climb to fifth on the points table after five of nine rounds.

Any win over big brother is always sweet but we owed our 7-2 victory to our junior and and intermediate golfers who went unbeaten in testing conditions.

Our No 6 Dave Huntley got the ball rolling with a 4/3 win, despite having problems gripping his club in the rain. Starting with a three-shot advantage, his chipping ad putting proved the difference.

His fellow junior Neil McLaren had the proverbial walk in the park in pasting his out-of-sorts rival 9/7. Four up early, Neil's win was built on some excellent work off the tee.

Garth Jameson won his last hole after a see-sawing match to snatch a vital 1up win. One down after nine, our No 4 hung tough and stayed focused when it counted. 

Bryce Vincent clinched the team victory with a dominant 6/5 win. Playing steady golf with a two-shot advantage, he won five holes on the trot mid-round to finish it early.

Our seniors couldn't quite emulate their teammates, although it wasn't for lack of effort. No 2 James Campion fought all the way before succumbing 2 down against a rival who shot a net 71. All square at the midway point, James drove well and holed some good putts but his chipping let him down on occasions.

Playing off a one handicap, Pete Green had to give his experienced opponent four shots but took the match to the 17th before losing 2/1. Despite the driver not always cooperating and missing a few getable putts at crucial times, Pete kept it close with some excellent iron play.

In other matches, Greenacres stunned second-placed Motueka 7.5-1.5, defending champions Golden Downs whitewashed Takaka 9-0 and Murchison and Tasman battled to 4.5-4.5 draw.

So after five rounds, Totaradale - despite having the bye - still lead on 28.5 points. They are followed by Motueka (28) and Golden Downs (27). Next are Takaka (22), Waahi Taakaro (18), Tasman (16), Greenacres (15) and Nelson (14.5) with Murchison (11) trailing the field. 

The next round is at Nelson on June 8  where we play Tasman. This is followed by rounds at Greenacres (July 6), Motueka (July 20) and Waahi Taakaro (August 3).