FIRST DAY'S PLAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 237, 7 October 1933, Page 10

FIRST DAY'S PLAY.

Aucklander Leads. —Menzie's

Round of 71.

To lead the field by three strokes and lay the foundation for a winning aggregate, and also to set a standard which would probably win the Jellicoe Cup, the trophy for the best single round of the four in the open championship play, and then not to be eligible for either event was tho mortifying experience of B. H. Menzies, in the first round of the Dominion open golf championship at Titirangi yesterday. Menzies did not enter for the open; he is a competitor in the amateur only.

The Auckland club player finished at the tail-end of the field, and hits tine performance in wresting the lead from Ralph, Hornabrook and Shaw, who were equal with 74, gave spice to the day's play. When Sli/iw had lipped the cup for* a four on the eighteenth, and joined the other two players in the lead, there were few of those who had still to complete their rounds who were considered likely to do better than 74. A. D. S. Duncan and T. H. Horton were the two whose ohances were favoured most, but Duncan was reported not to be faring well, and he eventually finished wiih a disappointing S2. Horton followed with 78, and soon after Menzies and the professional, X. Fuller, were seen approaching to the terraced green, which is the last test on the course, Menkes played his eecond ehot firmly over the top of the green, chipped back accurately on the down hill slope and holed his four. When it was announced that the putt gare him a 71, surprise, mingled with appreciation, and he was given a deserved ovation, Menzies' Chip Shots. A left-handed player, Menzies is recognised as a. stylist with a thorough knowledge of the finer points of the game, and he has previously shown hj s partiality for fast conditions. Titirangi yesterday puited him admirably, but it was his accurate chipping which enhanced his round. On the outward journey he misled threes at the two short holes, but retrieved these two strokes by chipping within easy putting distance at the long fifth and the eight for "birdie" 4 and 3 respectively. Similarly, at the eleventh —Redan —the accuracy of his chip saved a stroke. This green is situated on a plateau, at the foot of which are sand bunkers. Menzies was just short of the bunker, and pitched the shot up within a few feet of the pin and holed the next. Fortune favoured his putting on only one occasion—at the twelfth, where he holed a. down-hill one of 25 feet. Menzies' card is as follows:— Oirt: 44444543 4—30 In: 43453444 -1) —35 Fuller, too, played fine golf, and was equal with Menzies at the turn, but the Wrecker cost him six, and he finished in 75.

T. H. Hovton was unlucky with the lies for his second idiots on several occasions, Harold Black showed his characteristic lighting trait by a fine run over the last five holes. A two at the fourteenth put him in the right humour, and finished with a string of fours, to be home in 35, making his round 70-