Sloan team stays top with a draw

Our Sloan Trophy team remains unbeaten and on top of the leaderboard after drawing its third-round match against Totaradale at Tasman on Sunday (March 22).

In glorious autumn weather, we shared the points with Totaradale with 4.5 each after winning three games each.

At the bottom of the draw, our new No 6 Graham Eggers - who drove well but found himself in some tough spots - was three down after nine and couldn't claw it back to lose 4/3 against a steady opponent.

His fellow junior, Craig Barron, got us back on track by grinding out a 2-up victory after being one ahead at the turn. Using a five wood off the tee and fairway, Craig played consistent golf in playing under his handicap in shooting a 75 off the stick.

No 4 Matt Tomczyk  went down 4/3 to a rival who was more consistent. Two down at the midway stage, Matt's long game was okay but he struggled on the sloping greens.

Our other intermediate, Keri Kotua, also tasted defeat. All square after nine, he succumbed 4/2 with putting again the key difference.

No 2 James Campion had to use all his match play experience over the final holes to eke out a 3/1 win to earn us a draw. All square at the halfway mark and then with four holes to play after scrambling well for much of the round, James - who shot a 75 - won three on the bounce to clinch victory.

Earlier our No 1 Pete Green had kept us in the tie with a 4/3 win after being one up after nine. His round of 75 was marked by some good driving and excellent chipping, including one hole-out.

In other results, bottom-placed Murchison caused a boilover by holding reigning champ Golden Downs to a 4.5-4.5 draw, while Motueka climbed the ladder with a comfortable 7.5-1.5 win over Greenacres. Takaka got back on track with a 7-2 victory over Nelson.

So after three rounds, Waahi Taakaro leads on 18, with Motueka (16.5) and Takaka (16) close behind. They are followed by Golden Downs (12.5), Nelson (11.5), Greenacres (9.5) and Totaradale (9). Murchison (6) has jumped ahead of Tasman (4.5) who had the bye.

The next round is at Takaka on April 19 when we play Greenacres.