Peter Anderson
A WEEK of frustration for Pete Anderson turned a corner yesterday, while the David Solomann express roared on at the Freyberg Masters interprovincial golf tournament.
The Poverty Bay-East Coast pair were unbeaten on the day — Anderson recording two halves and Solomann, two wins, as the over-40s matchplay tournament moved into the business end on Auckland’s Whitford Park course.
PBEC lost 3-2 to Manawatu-Wanganui in the morning, then fought out a 2½-all battle royal with Otago in the afternoon.
They headed into today’s final two rounds — one round for PBEC, as they have a bye this morning — 13th out of the 15 provinces.
PBEC ended Day 4 on half a team point and 12 individual points, Taranaki were on half a team point and 10½ individual points, and Otago were sitting at the foot of the table on half a team point and 6½ individual points.
Otago were to play Northland in their final round this morning. A Northland win would see PBEC hand over the wooden spoon to the southerners.
PBEC were to face Taranaki in their final round.
Anderson, at No.3 in the five-man team, ended a streak of five consecutive defeats yesterday morning when he slid in a 3-foot putt on the 18th to halve with Manawatu-Wanganui’s Phil Hooper.
He shared the honours again in the afternoon, a hot putter and advice from caddie and teamate Simon Jeune proving vital.
Jeune, after getting trounced 7 and 6 against Manawatu-Wanganui, decided to sit out the Otago clash and pulled Anderson’s bag.
“He told me where to put it and I putted it there,” said Anderson, who sank a swag of putts between eight and 12 feet against Ken Shaw.
Auckland-based former Gisborne golfer Solomann returned to the competitive fray at No.5 after having to work on Wednesday, and continued from where he left off on Tuesday.
Solomann, who learned his golf on the fairways of the Poverty Bay course, won both his Tuesday matches and made it three in a row with a 4 and 3 defeat of Manawatu-Wanganui’s Rick Harding.
The roll continued in the afternoon with a 1-up win against Otago’s Kevin Clark.
It gave masters debutant Solomann a perfect record of four wins.
PBEC No.2 Tony Akroyd, who has had his share of struggles on the greens, had a half with Tony Chettleburgh in the Manawatu-Wanganui tie, then lost 2 and 1 to Simon Hollyer.
No.1 Anaru Reedy lost 2 and 1 to Manawatu-Wanganui’s Junior Tatana but bounced back in the afternoon with a 1-up victory over Stephen Hitchcox — Reedy up-and-downing on the 18th to win the hole and the match.
Stefan Andreassen, who did not play in the morning, slotted into the No.4 position against Otago and lost 2 and 1 to Gary Creedy.
A physically and mentally drained Reedy last night praised his team, who have been competitive in every round but not quite able to get over the line.
“There’s a lot of backbone in this team.”