WOMEN PREVAIL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 194, 18 August 1933, Page 11

WOMEN PREVAIL.

CONTEST WITH MEN. i GOOD GOLF AT TITIRANGI. DOMINION" TEAM'S TRIAL. The breaking of the women's record for tiie course by Miss Oliver Kay, and a brilliant first nine holes by R. R. McCrystal, which paved the way for the only victory of the men's side, were the features of the contest at Titirangi yesterday afternoon between the New Zealand women's golf team and four of. the best men players in Auckland. The New Zealand team sailed by the Wanganella this afternoon to play the first representative contest with the pick of the Australian women players at Melbourne on September 1, and they will also compete at the Australian championship tourney which commences on August 28. Yesterday's matches provided an interesting illustration of the merits of the play of the two sexes. In addition to the advantage they iliad in the fact that all but four of their tees were played ahead of those from which their opponents play, the women received six strokes. With the exception of McCrystal the men found the handicap too much. The results were:— Miss 0. Kay beat B. J. Smith, 4 and 3. Miss B. Gaisford and W. S. Ralph, all square. Mrs. J. C. Templer lost to R. R. McC'rvstal, 2 and 1. Mrs. Dodgshun beat R. M. George, 3 ■and 1. As she completed the course in 76, one stroke over the scratch score, 75, and one less than the record of the Titirangi player, Mrs. R. Deighton, Miss Kay set Smith an impossible hurdle in asking him to concede six strokes. A prodigious hitter from the tees and through the fairways—she would outdrive the average man player—Miss Kay was at no great disadvantage when she played from the same tee as her opponent in a few of the longer holes. At others the forward placing of the women's tees, notably the Redan (13th), and Temptation (15th), and Assouar (10th) lessened the carry, which is the main difficulty at these holes, and the women generally still had an advantage in length after playing their tee shots. This put them equally in range with the greens for their second, and when the men were conceding strokes they were as often as not playing for a half. A good illustration of the advantage that the difference the forward placing of the tees gave was provided at the fifteenth, where from quite 60 yards nearer the hazard provided by the gully, Miss Kay actually topped her drive, but bounced up on the fairway, to which her opponent had played a fine long shot. To piny to her handicap of plus 2 Miss Kay would have had to complete the 'course in 73. That this was quite within her possibilities is instanced by the fact that she took 5 at the seventh hole, a bogey three, through taking two shots to recover from the bunker, and missing putts of about three feet on the last two greens. McCrystal's Play. Though Miss Kay's performance overshadowed those of the other three, Miss Gaisford and Mrs. Templer showed themselves graceful stylists with good range from the tees, and length and accuracy with either woods or irons through the fairways. Mrs. Dodgshun, for many years one of the leading players in the Dominion, is consistent in all departments of the game, rather than brilliant. Miss Gaisford is a particularly graceful player, and with a little luck would have beaten Ralph, who played the best round of the men—77. McCrystal, when in the mood, is as brilliant a player as there is in Auckland, and he made only one mistake in the outward journey of his match with Mrs. Templer, the present New Zealand champion—a 6at the sixth hole. He' more than retrieved this lapse with a 2 at the fourth, and a 3 at the ninth holes, both birdies. He was out in 36, one under bogey figures, to be 2 up. Over the final part of the course Mrs. Templer held her opponent, but was not able to overtake McCrystal's advantage. Two Birdies. At least two birdies (a stroke less than that set for the hole) were registered during the contests under spectacular circumstances. At the first hole in Mrs. Templer's match, her mashie shot to the green, bounced on to the pin and lay about two feet from it; McCrystal played a beautiful pitch shot in retaliation, the ball landing near the pin and running five feet beyond it. However, he missed his putt, and Mrs. Templer got hers. In the <-ame between Miss Kay and Smith a similar position arose. Smith, from an awkward downhill lie, pitched his second shot at the eighth a few feet from the pin, but Miss Kay, undismayed, replied with a run-in shot that stopped two feet closer. Again it was the woman who holed the putt. The contests were a good trial for the touring team. The first contest with Australia, which it is expected will be followed at least by biennial visits, alternately, will be followed with interest. Miss. Kay has twice played in the Australian championship, and in 1930 at Melbourne reached the semi-final.