The Otago masters (over-40) men's golf team has plummeted out of contention, losing both games on the penultimate day of competition at the Freyberg Masters tournament on the Ngamotu course in New Plymouth yesterday.
Otago lost to North Harbour in the morning by a 1-4 margin and went down to Auckland by 2 games to 3 in the afternoon.
In the morning, Otago No4 Greg Johnson was the only player to win despite losing the first three holes.
He won 6 and 9 to turn one behind, and play on the back nine seesawed until he holed a 6m birdie on the final hole to win by one.
Andrew Hobbs went down at the 15th hole to Harbour's Mike Leeper, while Otago No2 Stephen Hitchcox lost on the 17th green after trailing Rob Simmonds early.
Simon Boland was outplayed on the front nine by Harbour's Rob Noffe and was never in the game after trailing by five at the turn.
At No5, Gary Creedy was behind all the way, losing to Wayne Flintham on the 13th green.
In the afternoon, Hobbs, Boland and Johnson all lost their matches, with Hobbs bowing to Auckland's James Gardiner on the final green.
Boland lost to Tony Simpson by 4 and 3, while Johnson came up against former New Zealand No1 Michael Barltrop, losing on the 16th green.
Kyle Geary replaced Greedy at No5 and posted his first win, beating Auckland's Gareth Chitty on the final green after turning one light.
Otago's other win against Auckland came from Otago No2 Stephen Hitchcox, who, despite a bad start, came from behind to beat Mark Andrews with one hole to spare.
