Golf: Rotorua gain a morale boosting victory

They languish a long way down, with time running out, but Rotorua haven't given up on making Bay of Plenty Golf's championship pennant playoffs after breaking their losing streak yesterday at Omokoroa.
Rotorua have jumped up the standings, from second-last to mid-pack, after a morale-boosting win over lowly Whakatane after building on a solid 4-0 lead after the morning foursomes.
They backed up the alternate shots format by winning five of their eight singles, although No1 Landyn Edwards was surprisingly beaten 3 and 2 by Whakatane's Ryan Maxwell.
No3 Victor Janin, who scraped a 1 up win after hitting his second on the par-five 18th almost into the carpark, warned not to write off the defending champions just yet.
"I don't know where that puts us [fifth, 14 points behind new leaders Tauranga] but it feels after today we're right back in the mix," Janin said.
"It's been a rough start, and I know all the other teams have been scratching their heads because on paper we shouldn't be where we are, but we haven't been able to put our best lineup out in any week before today.
"Last round [losing to Springfield in Taupo] we had six of our top lineup out, but today I think we showed we're capable of winning. A few more of those (in the next four rounds) and we might just do it."
Despite another disastrous foursomes outing Tauranga sliced Mt Maunganui's lead to a solitary point at the top of the standings after a stunning singles fightback.
Tauranga trailed Springfield 3-1 at the break, with only Blair Murdock and Sam Davis winning the foursomes at the top, but hardly made a wrong move in the afternoon, winning seven matches and halving the eighth.
They moved to 42 in the overall standings, a point behind Mount who were surprisingly tipped over by Omanu.
The neighbours split the foursomes but Omanu were the ones reading from the right script in the afternoon, carving out 6 wins put themselves squarely in the playoffs hunt.
Bottom-placed Taupo and Otumoetai fought out the day's tightest battle, with Taupo grabbing the initiative 3-1 in foursomes before handing back the momentum in the singles, losing five.
Otumoetai No2 Brad Geary was his side's savour, clawing a half out of his match with Taupo's Tom Slaven with a tidy up-and-down on the 18th to get his team the win points and keep them in the mix for a top-three spot.
The next round of championship pennants is at Rotorua on March 20.
Yesterday's round 5 results: Rotorua 9 Whakatane 3, Otumoetai 6 Taupo 5, Tauranga 10 Springfield 3, Omanu 8 Mt Maunganui 3.
Points after 5 rounds: Mount Maunganui 43, Tauranga 42, Omanu 37, Otumoetai 31, Rotorua 30, Omokoroa 29, Springfield 28, Whakatane 25, Taupo 12.