BLACK'S MASTERPIECE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 252, 23 October 1936, Page 13

BLACK'S MASTERPIECE.

HOLED OUT IN ONE! TITLE-HOLDER, TAKES 76. FINE HOMEWARD RUN BY MURRAY. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") NEW PLYMOUTH, this day. For a long time during the early stages of the open championship, with which the 2s ew Zealand golf championships commenced, it appeared that the scratch score of the course was to defy the field, although competitors were "aced with the best conditions that could be expected. There was not a sign of the winds which are known to play havoc with medal rounds, but players who had early given indications that they would return cards in the low seventies were not equal to the strain. After playing the first half well, Ritchie looked sure to set a high standard early in the morning after being out in 34, but he was not the same player in the next half and there was much disappointment when his 76 went up on the board. It was left to the Miramar player Max Moore to set a standard of 74, after the holder of the title Murray had failed to do better than a 76 —and that only by dint of a fine homeward run of 36—when matters looked none too bright for him. Player after player had complained about the heavy state of the greens and inability to get up with their approach putts, but hopes of better scores were revived when A. J. Shaw and J. P. Mortland reached the turn in 36. A big gallery followed in their wake, and were treated to one of the former champion's best displays. Shaw had not had the best of luck with his putts in the early stages, though lie was compensated by running down a long one for 2 at the short sixtli hole. There was further compensation later on, for Shaw hoied another 2 at the first short hole coming home, from the edge of the green. Finally lie negotiated a 25-footer at the eighteenth to give him a tally of 70 —four under the scratch score of the course and equal to its par. Shaw's driving and his seconds to the greens, more often than not mashies or mashie-niblicks, were infallible, and his 70 was richly deserved. The shortish putts he missed, and there were several of them, were atoned for by the long ones, and his tally was the just reward of his play. Shaw's round was the commencement of better performances, and, though none of his rivals equalled it, it was his spectacular finishing hole-in 3 and his nearest rival's mistakes at the same hole that enabled him to lead the field at the end of the day.

7 Pax Smith Makes Good. 7 After' Shaw, Ca-thrp and Pax Smith— 7 the last-named making his first appearance 7 in the national championship, came along 7 with cards of 73. Then the two profcs--7 sionals, T. S. Galloway and A. E. Guy, 7 went one better. Finally, at the very tail 7 of_ the field, came Jack Black with the 7 epice of the afternoon. He had not beaten 7 Shaw, he was only a stroke worse, but 7 he had notched a one in the effort. 7 111-luck has pursued Jack Black in the 8 long years lie has "Untested the New Zea--8 land golf championships, but to-day for--8 tune favoured him. With one of those 8 almost miraculous happenings, he holed a 8 one at "Moses," the shortest hole on the 8 course (113 yards), the fourteenth, hidden 8 amid sand dunes and bullrushes. Little 8 of the green can be seen by the players, 8 and all that Black knew until he got near 9 the green was that he had played a very g satisfactory shot. The clapping of a small 9 gallery warned him that something un--9 usual had happened. The ball had landed 9 plump in the hole. _ . 7 9 The young Akarana player Pax Snnth, 9 aged 17, played true to liis recent form in 9 Auckland. It was a triumph for youth 9 that he should occupy fifth place with 0 Cathro and Hobbs at the end of the day. 0 His first half saw him hitting a wonder--0 fully consistent tee shot, without reaping 9 the full benefit of it. He played flawless r» golf coming home, excepting three putts 9 at the eleventh. At the long tenth lie n placed his third sliot dead for a birdie 4. n The threes at the two short holes prer, seuted no difficulty to him, and lie sand; wic-hed a. birdie 3 between them. He picked up another stroke against the card , with a 4 at the eighteenth, to make his \ total for the nine holes 35. This, with a: | 38 out, made his tally 73. % L Always In Semi-final. 1 Little was heard of the Wanganur 1 player L. Cathro in the preliminary play,'. 1 but after Shaw had set the tongues wag-, I Tin" with hie fine round the dour little 1 representative from Castlecliff arrived 1 with a card only three strokes worse. L Cathro has appeared in only three New L Zealand championship meetings, but on - each occasion he has reached the semi-final 5 of the amateur. His golf to-day was 2 sound. Out in 36, he slipped strokes at the second and third, but retrieved ■ them with two "birdies," and he gained ■ a stroke on the course figures with another ! "birdie" at the seventh. Like Galloway, ' he started home with a 6 and a 5. but ' picked up the lost two strokes with 4's ! at the seventeenth • and eighteenth. t The unassuming Maungakiekie profesI sional T. S. Galloway has contested the I open since 1923, but his round of 72 toI day was his best achievement in the ! national event. True, he had a 71 at > Heretaunga in 1932, but the Wellington ! course was much easier than Ngamotu. < Galloway was one of the few players to I go out in 35, the best of the day. He ■- got a setback, starting home with a 6 and I a 5, to lose two strokes, but was • equal : to the standard figures (and a birdie , as : well) for the remainder of the round. He was in the same position as Shaw when he teed up at the eighteenth, want- „ ing a 4 for a 71, but whereas Shaw got a 3 Galloway took 5. For his size there • is probably no one at the meeting who will outdrive Galloway, and those who saw him play at Auckland in the exhibition match against Sarazen and Miss Hicks, partnered by J. Ferrier, will remember the "screamer'' he hit at the fourteenth to outdrive his rivals. Incidentally, he was the star performer on that occasion. Remarkable Start and Finish. A. E. Guy had to wait until the gallery following Shaw and Mortland had trekked past him on the first tee before he could drive off and when he had to play three balls off the tee —his first two having been hooked near the fence—the composure of the robust professional was no doubt ruffled. Things were not as bad as they appeared, for Guy found his second ball (the first being over the fence) and lost only one stroke with his opening 5. When he holed a chip for 3 at the ; next Guy was on an even keel again. ' There was scarcely a blemish afterwards 1 in his round of 72. Hitting a terrific Ball from the tees, he never had an anxious moment. Coming home, a string of three 3's from the twelfth to the fourteenth (the middle one a birdie) was a bright patch, and finishing in two birdie 4's he was home in 35. His first half was < completed in 37. Celebration at 19th. Doughty warrior in medal and match 1 play, Jack Black had one of the finest rounds of his lengthy career, to fill the role of runner-up to Shaw on the day's play. Black has achieved some extra- , ordinary things on the links, and is noted < for his, uncanny ability to recover from ' trouble; but his round to-day had but one instance of that characteristic, and the 1 real trouble of the day beset him when he met a host of friends at the nineteenth to i celebrate his one at "Moses." 1 The first half of Black's round made 1 pretty reading: Eight fours and a three, I for a 35. The long tenth cost him a six, j but he more than retrieved that lost' i stroke when he holed out at the fourteenth i. ifor one. Then he wanted four fours for aj. 69, a better position than Shaw had been in. However, at the filial two holes he j could not better the orthodox fives, and so, he finished in 71. i: Thurgood's 74 was a surprise, but the 1 Wellington handicap 3 player played c fine golf. -I Juvenile Prodigy. i There were ten 75'e, and the most meri- 8 torious was that of the "baby of the field," 8 the sixteen-year-old J. Jeffery. 1 his lad r plays on a nine-hole course near r*ew Plymouth, and apparently does not know 1 what nerves are. I

I Conway, the New.Plymouth Club player, lived up to his reputation, as did his young clubmate D. V. Sutherland. The latter had something in his round which no other player had, an air shot when he was trapped in the long grass. C. C. Clements was one of those who laid the foundation for a fine round, with a 35 out. He was still going well at the twelfth, where he missed a putt, and this was the forerunner of a number of lapses on the greens. Allbon, the Masterton professional, making his debut, carded a 75, showing that the high opinion held of his ability were well founded. Glendinning's Four Off Tee. Another professional who did better than his figures indicate was N. Fuller. He required 41 for the outward journey, in consequence of a 7 at the second, where he pushed his second under the turnstile. He came home in 36, which few bettered. A meritorious homeward round was that of the Manawatu player, K. Glendinning, whose last nine holes took only 35. His round was ruined by a sequence of sliced balls from the tee. At the eighth the of-bounds fence jutts into tlie course, to catch a sliced ball of good length, and I Glendinning put no less than three over it before he got one on the fairway. He thus I played four off the tee, and carded an I eight for the hole. Many of the players complained of the heaviness of the greens being responsible for poor putting and ruined cards, but the greens were almost uniform in their I strength. N.Z. LADIES' TOURNEY. SOUTH BEATS NORTH ISLAND. A message from Dunedin yesterday I stated that South Island lady golfers had I beaten the North, at Balniacewan, by 7 games to 1. -This was a prelude to the I championship, the match play in which j started this morning, there being no | qualifying round. Only seven individual games were teleI graphed yesterday. It now transpires I that Souths victory in the missing coiltest was by Mrs. A. C. McKillop (Christchurch) over Miss C. Wilson (Masterton), 4 and 3. GLENDOWIE LADIES' CLUB. The junior championship of the (!londowio Ladies' Golf Club was finalised yesterday, Mrs. X. Taylor defeating Miss X. Shnrlniid. 1 up. l'ost entries will be recived for the open tourney to-inofrow and Monday. MAUNGAKIEKIE LADIES' CLUB. The captain's match play foursomes competition of the Maungakiekie Ladies' Golf Cluh was decided yesterday, t lie liual resulting:—Mrs. J. Jerrat and Mrs. V. Kerr beat Miss A. Grove and Mils E. Schnauer, 1 up. Itest scores in the C grade match pin rod yesterday : —Mr*. I{. \V. Shepherd. 107: Mrs. T. Kirkup, 108 ; Mrs. C. Swallow, 117. TITIRANGI CLUB. The Titirangi Golf Club will hold competitions at the week-end for those members and visitors who are not taking part in outside tournaments. The first match will be. a Stableford bogey handicap to-i morrow afternoon. |