ROTORUA GOLF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 204, 30 August 1933, Page 8

ROTORUA GOLF.

HORTON BEATEN. S. E. CARR TOO GOOD. FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") ROTORUA, this day. There was line weather .for the continuation of the Kotonia annual golf tourney this morning, the play comprising the first rounds of the championship and Thermal Cup (the latter off handigot a useful lead on Troutbeck in the early stage of then- game and should have increased a 2 up leaa to 3 up had lie not missed a foot putt at the fifth. Troutbeck got one back at the eighth, where Brinsden struck trouble with his tee shot, which found the bunker on the fairway. The Napier player failed to square the game at the next hole by taking three putts. Troutbeck laid Brinsden a stymie at the tenth, which was halved in lives. The twelfth was won by Brinsden, 4 to 5, the thirteenth was halved in fours, threes were taken for the fifteenth, and at the sixteenth Brinsden got a four to win the match, 3 and 2. Brinsden came homo in 35, one over scratch figures. George Tallis, the title-holder, playing against Home Douglas, of Napier, found his opponent in good form, and had to play scratch golf to the sixth. Here Home Douglas failed to recover from the bunker, and Tallis won (1 up). Two consecutive fours increased Tallis' lead to 3 up, but Home Douglas got one back at the ninth, and coming in there was no decision until the thirteenth, where Tallis commenced a run of fine p] a y_ w ith holes of 4, 3 and 2—to win j the match, 4 and 3. O. H. Williams (3), Palmereton, met the Maungakiekie player, L. H. Norton (11), and, though the latter player was better than his handicap, Williams parried too many guns for him. Horton had one exceptional hole, an "eagle" three at the long seventh, which green he reached with two splendid wood shots. E. J. Rainger and Dr. Howden had a close tussle, the game going to the eighteenth. Out m 37, two over scratch figures, Rainger was 3 up, but Howden won the eleventh and twelfth. Fortunes alternated for the remainder of the game, and Rainger maintained a lead of 1 up by halving the final hole. He was round in 77. Last year's Auckland Club champion, R. Horton, met a tough proposition in S. E. Carr, the latter enhancing his consistent play over the first four holes by holing a chip shot for a three at the fifth (bogey five), and becoming four up. He maintained this advantage to the turn. Horton played better over the final stages, and halved all the holes except the eleventh, where Carr became 5 up, the match finishing on the fourteenth green. Lusk's Young Opponent. Spedding, whom H. Lusk drew as an opponent, is a 19-year-old player, who has made rapid strides in the game. He is an .ex-King's College boy. Spedding took the first hole , 'in 4 to 5, and after a half at the second Lusk squared the game on the next green, where his opponent missed a 3ft putt for a half in, three. Lusk took the lead at the sixth hole, after retrieving the fifth. There he was out of bounds with his tee shot; but holed a 9ft putt on an undulating green to compensate for it, his opponent having just missed a four. Both played their woods, well through the fairways at the next two hole's, getting orthodox figures, 5 and 4. When Sped: ding was short at the ninth from the tee, Lusk increased his lead to 2 up. On the homeward journey Lusk made few mistakes, and at the fourteenth was 3 up. The local player lipped the cup for a two here, but Lusk retaliated by holing his putt, a 12-footer, for a two, and was dormy 4. Spedding missed a 3ft putt for a two at the next, but still won. This was hie final effort, ae his tee shot went astray at the hole across the lake, Lusk getting an orthodox four.