ON THE LINKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 204, 28 August 1936, Page 13

ON THE LINKS.

WEEK-END "WASH-OUT." JIM FERRIER HITS RECORDS. MAUNGAKIEKIES FAVOURED COURSE. Golf at the week-end was literally a wash-out; and though Sunday broke gloriously fine, the majority of the courses were soaked to the point of being practically unplayable. Maimgakiekie was the' exception, and the first tee presented an j animated scene from an early morning i hour. There is something ferocious about the golfer when denied his Saturday afterI noon round and the resultant vigour dis- ( played on the teeing ground, had much | of it not been misdirected, was sufficient ' to have knocked the cover oil' any ball.. '■ The solitary match played, that between Jno. Earle and C. A. ■ Jarman in the Bledisloe Cup,-resulted in a signal win for the former. All square, with eight holes left behind, Earle quickly won two holes, and then experienced a life when .Jarman missed the shortest of putts for the win. j Thereafter he was given no chance, Earle running out the winner four and two. Earle's putter performed miracles, as in his round of 77 he required only twenty-, five putts, which is exceptional. Jarman is having an exasperating run in missing • the plums in big events, but may take j heart that the regularity of his appearances is evidence of a vastly improved game. Play at Pupuke. I Pupuke, by reason of its conformation, iilso allowed of week-end play, R. W. | Mill lis, who has shown up in various events, being best in the Stableford with i 23, 17- —40, a total which it invarially calls i lor good golf to better. R. Durham 39, and H. A. Randrup were the others in the running, Randrup,- in particular, playing well from his low mark. Something of a record has been achieved in the playing of matches for the club championships, the finals for both senior I and junior titles being set down for the | week-end. W. D. Ross and H. E. j Nicholas are left to dispute the club title, and it remains to be seen whether the veteran can round-off his splendid performances by a further success. A good match is also expected for the junior honours, in which H. A. Craig meets C. H. Palmer. Matamata Surprises. Matamata, too, is on its way with its championships, mild sensations having been caused in the defeat of ex-champions in L. H. Little and J. Corbett. G. Fitzgerald and D. R. Abernethy, victors in the above encounters, are, however, quite sound players, and fairly earned their spurs. Little's defeat, of course, was unexpected, as his abilities are recognised far beyond the confines of his club. Ferrier's Great Form. Though Jim Ferrier displayed little sensational at his lone appearance on an Auckland course, he quickly set tongues wagging on his return home. His first real appearance was at Kensington, home of the Australian Club, and he christened the new layout with a 67, four stroked under the course record and par. Bob "Withycombe, who should have been a, member of the last Kirk-Windeyer team which visited Auckland, and Alan Waterson, were previously joint record holders i with 71. Kensington is a great course in every way, which adds to the glamour of Ferrier's 31 for the first nine holes. It is, however, something of a hopeless | dawn for the average golfer to learn that j despite it all Ferrier has found his iron play all wrong. Following his C 7 ho put up a 72 at Manly in the afternoon, and then on Sunday morning at The Lakes courses had a 70 against the par of 72. I would hesitate, however, to say that the Lakes supplies so critical a test of j golf as does Kensington. Laid out by Erie Apperley, it was much in the rough | four years ago. There, is however, something of a breath of home about it, as round the back of tile course are several holes of an undulating type common to New Zealand courses. To wind up Ferrier's little performance, it m.iy be noticed that for his week-end c.'fering of 54 holes he was seven under foirns. Sarazen's Appreciation. Those who know Gene Sarazen suspect him of being a leg-puller, but if his utterance regarding fiornabrook represents his honest opinion then the Masterton player and New Zealand golf has been paid a high compliment. Hornabrook, thanks largely to association with T. H. Horton, is a particularly fine iron player, which, amongst amateurs, is rare. He has the art of hitting his shots so that the ball, if anything, fades slightly to the right at the end of its flight, which is the hallmark in iron play. The champion is going great guns, and is already favourite for this year's amateur crown, lie is, however, not yet a Ferrier, and we saw just where the latter stood in comparison with the professionals in the recent British openRotorua Tourney Reflections. ■ A Rotorua tournament without Harold Lusk playing an important role at some stage would lose something of its accepted air, and the veteran Aucklander has again carried on in traditional stylo by showing the way to all but one player in the qualifying rounds. Lusk's totals of 73 and 74 represented delightfully steady golf, and are tributes to the remarkable manner in which lie retains his abilities. Mortland, who led the field, is too well known to need introduction. His scores, though good, are in no way sensational, in view of his record. Whatever the outcome of this championship, however, Mortland promises to play a prominent part at New Plymouth in October. J. E. Stedman's 71 was one of the highlights of the tournament, though he fell away with 78 in the afternoon. He ranks with tiie best stylists of the younger school locally, and though his game perhaps lacks devil, he would develop into a class player, given the right atmosphere. N. A. Naismith, too, revealed promise of good things to come in occupying fourth place among the 90 entrants. Naismith hits a long ball and loses little by comparison with others in his green work. J. R. Hobbs, who so impressed the critics, hails from Hastings, and has played really good golf in his club and in various inter-club events for months past. Whether he will stand up to the testing ground of big tournament play remains to be seen. Older stagers who qualified comfortably were H. D. Brinsden, J. Goss and a former title-holder in E. G. Tallis. None of the trio was particularly impressive, but Goss, as an old and tried match player, can be depended on to_ fight on. Brinsden, were he to recover his form of mid-winter, would have only one serious rival, Mortland, but i,t is the question whether Brinsden's game is now so wonderfully accurate as was the case three months ago.