ON THE LINKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 247, 19 October 1933, Page 22

ON THE LINKS.

CHAMPIONSHIP SURVEY. FAILURE OF HOME FJaAYERS. FOOD FOR REFLECTION. (By RUBBERCORE.) Well, the New Zealand golf championships are over, and Aucklanders have had their long-awaited chance. But with what result? Out of it all there emerged but one solitary figure, that being J. H. Young, the youthful Titirangi aspirant. Our professionals, of course, did better, E. J. Moss, by virtue of his great finishing effort and final crushing defeat of E. S. Douglas, having stepped into Shaw's shoes to claim the open title, while Shaw safely retaiued his position as professional champion. The local amateur representation was strong, but after the thud round all but Young were eliminated. ' As a result of the Inst round nine local players were left in, but in the second round eight went by the board. It is, of course, true that the top half of the draw contained many Aucklanders, so that it became a | case of dog eating dog.-. Still, this does not condone the local failure. The cause li*s deeper. It is not that Aucklanders are inferior in courage or less versed in match .play. Inconsistent Iron Play. The position as I saw it was that our Southern rivals were, on the whole, better golfers, the. main difference being in their greater consistency in iron play. This, in a broad sense, is what separates the professional from the amateur. I would go so far as to say that the leading amateurs are, on the whole, better putters than the professionals—they have not developed the fear, nor do they recognise the great value of their abandon on the greens. On the other hand, finished iron play is a sealed book to all but a very small minority of amateurs. At every point the three or four leading visiting amateurs showed a greater knowledge of professional play, with their irons than did our own men, and, if my observation goes for anything, it was definitely in iron play that our men were outclassed. The leading visitors did not pluck the ball —they hit it, and what is more, had it full well under control. One often heard the remark, "these men are golfers," and for what reason. Purely because of the fact that their shots to the green were nearly always, sailing for the pin. Case of Harold Black. Take the case of Harold Black, who, at no .stage was confident, knowing full well that his game was all to pieces. Just analyse the number of times in his matches that he crawled out, as the expression is, on the value of his shots to the pin. Take his second- shots at the opening holes against Young, his recovery for a putt for 4 at the sixth, following an impossible lie from the tee. Or again, his stop shot to the eighth green, a gem if ever there was one, and his cut mashie stop shot round the corner of the bunkers at the ninth. Then, when overtaken by Young, what did he win on —a masterly running Xo. 3 iron shot to the treacherous sixteenth green after he had already turned the fifteenth from a probable loss into a win. Then we' had the spectacle of John Hornabrook hitting straight under and j through a No. 3 iron against the wind to reach the eleventh green. No, it was not a case of great range, but range plus accuracy of direction. Ho hit too many of such shots for one to conclude otherwise.

The Local Exceptions. A frank observation is that by comparison with tho ' best of the visiting talent, we had but two players whose performances suggested they might aspire to better things. I refer to Basil Smith and Young. The former—even though inconsistent—by reason of his great range and moments of inspiration, and Young by the fact that his iron play was far and away superior to any other local. Frankly, I had little idea that he had 60 developed his irons. He was sound to the pin practically throughout the tournament, and what is more handled his irons splendidly during the acid test against Black. It has to be remembered that this lad, in order to keep v-p, had to hit all out with his irons, and that in such a test he continued to hit them straight. And here Young may-be paid the compliment that were, things going either good or ill in his matches he did not convey cither by word or sign, disappointment or otherwise. It must not be imagined that he is not highly strung—he is; no youngster could have performed so were he not, and it -is highly satisfactory that, despite his success, he is above mannerisms.

Where Games Were Lost. Of the other Aucklanders, W. S. Ralph and B. H. Menzies stood out most prominently, though J. M. Coltman's effort in splendidly carrying on successfully in the match play, must not be overlooked. Ralph scored excellently in the open, and was a little unfortunate to mies obtaining a clear-cut lead as first amateur in the open. Then, strangely enough, he fell before a brilliant round by Smith, marking, I think, if not the only, then one of the very few occasions, on which Ralph has lost to this opponent. On the day, even though Ralph played well, he lacked the attacking force which was apparent on the part of Smith. And in big golf it is attacking force which wins finals. It is here, I think, that Menzies has not developed his game. When he does attack, such as he did against Smith last Easter, his golf, even despite his lack of real length, can become quite invincible. He was, I fear, guilty of failing to gauge properly the strength of Hawley's game. Hawley is very sound, and once he gets his teeth into a game it takes much to shako him off. Considering his disability his record in the championship was a splendid one. The quality of Menzies' early rounds was, however, reflected in the fact that on the final day two scores of 75—and they were by no means beyond him—would have allowed him to lead the open field. Those Who Qualified. Gus 'Brinsden was scarcely playing well —he made too many mistakes— nevertheless he extricated himself well. [ He had no chance in the match play, H. P. Dale having put up paralysing figures against him. Lan MacEwan's form was most encouraging, and following his good score in the open he overwhelmed R. G. Rainger, who, by the way, put in a nice card of 77 in the third round to ensure inclusion in the list of qualified. Rainger is something of an evergreen, having been one of the few able to boast a grown-up family to witness his feat. MacEwan's defection came at the hands of Young, who held a big lead so early as the seventh green. A. E. Browne, of North Shore, was a welcome addition to the select 32, and his subsequent play stamps him as a player of promise. He is, one understands, yet another of the King's College lads, haying learned his game at Middlemore, and this training ground promises to provide many future golfers. Two of whom we expected more were Peter Savage, of Middlemore, and R. R. McCrystal, of Titiraugi. Savage had satisfactory scores on the first two days, but on the Monday could do no better than two rounds of 86. He did not appear to have been putting with much confidence, and were this actually so it is easy to appreciate how his score mounted in a medal test. McCrystal's bast round was an 81 on the third day, and one finds it difficult to account for such a lapse from form. He had been playing consistently well for months prior to the tournament, but it is just possible that the change in the course to fast conditions upset his game. And so for the perform-, ances of local amateurs at the 19331 championships. I