Sloan team still in the hunt

Our Sloan Trophy team was just a short putt away from defeating Motueka at Totaradale on Sunday but was forced to settle for a frustrating draw, our third in a row.

As a result, we remain undefeated but stuck in fourth place after five rounds but only five and half points from first on a bunched leaderboard.

It was an extremely tight tie against former powerhouse Motueka where five of the six matches weren’t decided until the 18th hole.

We started well enough, with our No 6 Garth Jameson downing former club member Grant Thorn two-up for his first Sloan win in just his second outing. Garth was three-up after nine and managed to hang on against his much more experienced rival.

His fellow junior Lewis Wilson was one-down at the turn but recovered to be one-up playing the last only to miss a three-foot putt for the win and instead have to settle for a half.

Jonathan Tuheke – playing at No 4 – also lost his final hole for a half after turning for home all square and leading into the 18th.

Aaron Kotua was one-down at the midway mark but battled back to be all square going down the last. However, he lost the hole and the match one-down.

Our No 2 Andy Isle was one-up after nine but some costly misses with driver and the putter saw him lose two-down.

The tie hinged on our No 1 James Campion who looked comfortable at three-up at the turn. However, his lead quickly disappeared and he was back to even with two holes to play. A much-needed birdie at his 17th saw him edge ahead and a half at the last secured him a crucial one-up win and the team a share of the points.

In other results, Murchison dented Golden Downs's progress by holding them to a 4-draw thanks to wins by their top three. Nelson temporarily grabbed top spot after overcoming Takaka 7-2, while Greenacres ground out a 6.5-2.5 win over Tasman.

So after five rounds, Nelson leads on 25 points but has the bye in the next round. Totaradale remains well placed in second on 24.5 points as do Golden Downs in third on 22.5 points, with both having already had their byes. Waahi Taakaro share fourth with Motueka on 19.5, but we remain well in the hunt after having had our bye. Next are Takaka (17.5), Murchison (17) and Greenacres (15), with Tasman trailing the field on 13.5.

The next round is at Nelson on July 2 where we play Golden Downs in a vital clash.