The Northland Men's Masters teams are making a strong showing at the Freyberg Masters tournament at the Maraenui Golf Club in Napier, but the rub of the green isn't really going their way.
Yesterday they were in good shape after nine holes against frontrunners Auckland, leading in two of thefive matches and with another match in the balance. But the back nine once again was unkind to them and they slumped to a 1.5-3.5 loss with Kerikeri's Simon Wilson posting the only win with Iain Power halving his match.
Paul Young said that with only three matches to play the title was beyond them but he said the team was keen to finish strongly in the cold conditions at the Mareanui tournament.
The Northland team of Bob Shirley, Tony Mayo, Young, Wilson and Power started with a solid 4-1 win over Southland before going down in a close encounter 2-3 to Wellington on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, they regained their momentum with a 3.5-1.5 win over Tasman in the morning with Shirley, Mayo and Power scoring wins, and Young gaining a good half.
The afternoon's match was a big test for the Northland team against a top Manawatu-Wanganui side. Power went down 2 and 1 after being two up with six holes to play while Shirley and Wilson lost narrowly 3-2. Manawatu remain in contention as do Auckland, Wellington and Waikato.
