ON THE LINKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 139, 14 June 1934, Page 21

ON THE LINKS.

THE WEEK-END EVENTS. CLUB AND PENNANT MATCHES SOMK INTERESTING INCIDENTS. Saturday provided yet another ideal day for golfers, aud competitions were lent an unusual side! for was it not the day of Clcin Da\ve : s tropliies. Which reminds one that the evergreen Johnnie Farvell is back in our midst. Playing at Maungakiekie recently our subject was confronted with the short fourth hole This ought to l>e a niblick shot, "but I can't play a niblick shot," remarked he. "Try a high inashie," said an encouraging and 1 well-meaning host. "Son, is there a high! mashio in that kit?" drily inquired Johnny of his caddie. One hundred and twenty-eight good men and true sallied forth in quest of Ballin Cup honours at Titirangi, and, as was to bo expected, it called for sound golf to qualify. A. B. Joplin did best, his 78— 9—GO representing much better golf than he has for some time been responsible for. Wβ results are a triumph for eye over matter, for his swing • must always limit his progress. J. C. Wilson is amongst those who qualified well, and his return to active participation makes pleasant reading. The youthful R. B.'Carr played quite well for his SO, as did also A. M. Uoulding, whom one had heard making dire threats of giving the game best. It is just such reversals of form and the occasional smile of fortune that keeps us all pursuing that which, by its very infrequency, is almost visionary. * North Shore in Pennant Play. Though in the main overwhelmed by tho strength of Titirangi, North Shore's leaders in both A and B grades won honour for their side. A satisfactory aspect also was that in the A grade North Shore lost no fewer than six matches only at the last green. A shade , of luck the other way might have caused a most interesting position. A. E. Browne, who won from Barns-Graham, is, of course, now a well-known exponent of the game, having leapt into prominence at the New Zealand championships in October. With, his added experience he is a thorn in the side of any visiting player to North Shore. Horrocks, who led the B team, is also a sound stylist, and may be viewed as a player of distinct promise. J. Young's 5 and 4 win over Stevens, combined with his gross card of 76 on Saturday is evidence that he is likely to again find his game. He has experienced tho bugbear common to those who quickly climb the tree —that of a bad season, having not golfed convincingly since September last. McCrystal, one fears, should not have lost his match. His game is patchy, but even so there is little justification for him not being equal to the task asked of him. At Glendowie-By-The-Sea. Glendowie did not go in for much serious golf at the week-end, though its juniors spent a happy day in friendly rivalry with a -visiting JPupuke contingent. The club had a successful day on June 4 with the playing of the Dewar Cup foursomes competition. The winning card, that of 76 7 —09, by Dr. <J. Horton and J. E. Stedman was most meritorious, being one of the beet of its kind recorded locally. W. A. Laxon and E. G. Bridgens- also scored well in the event, but were quite outdistanced by the leading pah?. Kecompense, however, came for the former iu . their splendid card to annex the afternoon four-ball honours. Mention of Pupuke brings to mind the win of its pennant team- over Otahuhu at the latter course. To eay that the result was unexpected ie to put it mildly, for Poapuke's entry had "been "purely a Sporting one. Otahuhu, on the other hand, was one of the strongest teame in their grade last season, having given Middlemore, the ultimate winners, •■•a hard series of-matches. Though-defeated ■by Levy, Thomas must have been very proud of 'his tail-endere, who really carried the day. Of the Otahuhu men, probably W. B- Eustace is playing the most convincing golf. His cards of 77 —3—74 and - 7s_s_7O, to win the 30 holes aggregate on the holiday week-end represented really fine golf. G. Ilickson, a newly-fledged junior, also experienced a good day, having bagged a trophy both morning and afternoon. On the Hill. Maungakiekie's four-ball attracted a good entry when H. P. Whyman and D. 13. Coutte won with 5 up. Whyman, it may be remembered, rather played havoc with things at his club'e Easter tournament, and can foe a most useful partner in a four-ball. Coutts has long given promise of better things, having two seasons ago been runner-up to L. B. Schnauer for the club intermediate championship. Coupled with D. G. Macfarlane, who also played well on Saturday, Coutte won the bogey at the holiday week-end, so has experienced several recent successes. He has now gained a place in his club's junior . pennant team, and fully justified hie inclusion. L. B. Schnauer and J. D. Shanly also showed up well on Saturday, and at one stage appeared likely winners. Schnauer's two's, for wins at the short fourth and twelfth holes, were of materia; assistance to his side. Middlemoro Episodes. Veteran H. B. Lusk was to the fore in the George Cup bogey at Middlemore, in . which S. Handyside and V. E. Masters also shared the honours. Masters was, however, rightly the hero of the day, it having been a travesty of fortune he missed an outright win. Still , v.E. is one -who plays golf for golf's sake, and gets a great kick out of it all. One notices also that J. P. Aldred is again with the leaders. He has played consistently well this season. W. G. Ralph's win from R. OrRainger in. the captain's prize is wrapped ■ up mainly in a story of missed putts. For once the supreme artist of the greens missed a couple of shortish putte, which ' was about all there was to the match. Ralph ako was not so steady as usual, for two or three sixes crept into his card. The strain was also apparent in the game between lan MacEwan and P. Savage. .Savage owed hie defeat mainly to a succession of errors at tho sixteenth—a hole which cost him dear. At the eighteenth, following a prodigious drive, hie short work again let him down, for he popped his second into a deep bunker. One hears . much of the view that a testing finishing hole is not of prime importances, ae in matches the hole, more often than not, is not played. Without elaborating on the matter, one might ask how great a cbaxm. and watery grave is contained m Middlemore's eighteenth. On the Akarana Course. There was not much in the way o£ . excitement at Akarana, though S. Booth had a clear enough win in the senior medal. J. Swaneon had the best gross card, due mainly to h« sound putting. Jie is stroking the ball nicely, and is always liable to hole out. He should, however, be more decisive of hie chip approaches. He would do well to hit the' shot more down and through, rather than spoon it up. The shot should be crisp and decisive . Only a bad fiddler feels for the note Of Akarana's B grade match, won by W. K. Woolhouse with 87—21—66/ °P e ma y observe that the culprit has by this earned the penalty of his one great moment. ■ : Again the Pennants. ' Maungakiekie and Akarana were evenly matched in the A grade pennant and though the former led in the singles by live matches to three, Akarana might with a little luck have won four of the nve foursome games. . Maungakiekie has, perhaps, to thank J. H. Earle for a splen-didly-holrd putt against Dr. Paterson and W. Greenbank at the seventeenth green. But for Earle the match would have ended two aud one in favour of Akarana. -&aiie » putt for a hard half was a gem and then U and Rankin played the eighteenth faultlessly to square the match. Dr. I atterson play well all d«y. as «*« having been down to TJankin at the twelfth in the Singles be golfed soundly to win out of bounds.

Cullen and Booth and Finn and A. E. Irving, struck blows lor Akaraua iu tho defeat of (Jalderwood and jNloipctli aud •D'Audney and McOwan respectively. Cullen aud Irving were much at home on the course, tho former having finished square with Caldenvood in the singles, tollowing a round of 77. living quite outgolfed Alorpeth, having hit his shots sweetly throughout, l>. ]?. MacUormick commenced disastrously against M. Kiiby, sixes having graced his card for tno three opening holes. He had a respite at the short fourth, where his ball was obligingly knocked into the hole by Kiely in endeavouring to negotiate a stymie. The veteran 'then shook his feathers and won out at tho eighteenth. It was a good recovery. Booth, whose future in the game appears bright, ran up against 'jL'iduiui-sh, with the latter in militant mood and could not cope with the pace set. Allied with Cullen he ha'd, however, a success in tliu afternoon. The match between H. Cusliniore and I. McOwan was not productive of very startling golf, though the former, iti view of his limited experience of the course, did well to win. The remaining singles, that between Bise and Hawley, saw a grand clash, and when Biss, with a lead of two holes, drove a screamer to the sixteenth, the end lip-, peared in sight. Taking a brassie £or his second—he could have got home comfortably with a spoon—he then essayed what his club mates term a "wrap round shot. It would have been a mighty shot had he connected-—but he didn't. Hawley promptly stepped into the breach to win the hole in 5, and after Biss topped his drive at the .seventeenth, Hawley again accepted the proffered opportunity. Two grand shots at the eighteenth left Hawley with the putt for the three, and when Biss approached weakly the match was over. Biss' style is as yet a little extravagant, but he goes after the ball in a most refreshing way. To play opposite him and Bee him whack the ball is, to get a feeling akin to the mouse which lapped a drop of rum and then went hot foot after the cat. This is Biss' first defeat in a series of 15 matches. A defeat ie, however, a good thing to have behind one.