GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19110, 20 September 1927, Page 11

GOLF.

MORPETH AND HORTON

INSPIRATION V. TECHNIQUE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL. (waiTTEX FOR THE PRESS.) (By Donald Grant.) Tlio final match in the New Zealand amateur golf championship was a victory for power and inspiration over science and technique. For nine holes at the commencement of the 36 holes' match it looked as if science, with its perfectly-played long iron 6hots, mashie shots, and chip-shots, models as they were of rhythm and accuracy, would certainly wear down the defence and the endurance of the opposition. At this stage of the game the power of Sloan Morpeth had not yet came under the sway of the genius which is his, thanks to liis perfect vision and his delicate touch. Repeatedly he played powerful shots through the green, shots lacking the finish of Horton's, but, nevertheless, achieving good results by the pin, so that in elfect he ceded no advantage to Horton either in effectiveness or in morale. Morpeth was getting the results even at tins early stage of the game, although his execution of the shots was not to be compared with Horton's, except on the greens, where the essential truth of his vision and balance gave htm the mastery. .Indeed, when the long match was over, the victor himself, like the real sportsman he is, came to me in order to point out that which 1 had been observing all through th« match, namely, that Horton's shots through the green and up to the pin had been played beautifully, but that he had not been getting the .results which he deserved with these shots.

1 Sloan Morpeth won because he is a golfing genius, and my diagnosis of his success is that his great physical and personal power is controlled 'by a unique touch* of inspiration which 1 call truth, and which comes to him through perfect eyesight and sensitive touch. This quality, this touch oi genius, is the "something" which 1 hinted at in one of my daily reports before the final as the secret of Sloan Morpeth. George Duncan has the same secret, the same quality, and had more of it ten years ago than lie has to-day at -14 years of age. This fact holds a lesson for the new amateur champion. He, too. must expect to have less of that inspiration, that "something," at 40 years of ace than he now has so abundantly at 30. So it is up to him to achieve by degrees the technique .and the science.of. the fully .equipped golfer whom lie defeated so decisively. .He must do this it he is to wm the championship a dozen years after this, when ho is Horton's age. For inspiration fades, alas, with the passage of the years, and the power wanes also. The truth,' however,' will remain to,him, thanks to eye.and touch, and to perfect health: Ifi order to give expression to that truth in first-class golfing results, as Taylor and Herd are doinof at 60 years of age, the inspiration of youth must Gradually j ,be replaced by technique. For tech- 1 nique remains after inspiration lias dc- j parted.

Comparison of the Play. This, of course, is no reflection upon Sloan Morpeth's golf. Oil the contrary, often he played more' difficult*. shots than Horton did; played them in his own powerful. and inspired way, and got results at least as good as Horton's. Indeed, most of the onlookers were thrilled repeatedly by Morpeth's fine results after playing powerfully from the rough, or neatly from • a

bunker, or with a driving iron from a position 220 yards from the green. But those who understood what' was happening saw much more than the results. They saw the . method, the swing, the manner of hitting the ball.

. They saw that Horton made use of the 1 true method, the smoothest swing, the most accurate manner of hitting the ball'—why?' Because lie always played the shot in the- easiest way, relying not at all on inspiration. From a position 100 yards short of a plateau green Morpeth would play a running, leaping shot with a judgment of distance and direction that was uncanny ; an inspired shot, but not a scientific one; a difficult; shot on the heavy undulating course. Rarely did he fail to leave the ball well placed ,by the pin. Horton. on the other hand, invariably played the easiest shot when he was 100 yards from the green. He played a mashie-nibliek, swinging smoothly and deliberately, and striking- the ball with just a suspicion of

"bite." Pictures they were, these masliie and mashie-niblick shots. They sailed lazily through the air invariably dead on the pin. No need to judge the opposition of sodden turf and hummocks arid hanks! The ball soared over these, pitched on the-green, or just short, and quickly' pulled up—a far easier shot than the other. Once the technique is mastered you can go in for mass production in this shot, and it is. I think, the prettiest and most effective shot in golf—nearly.

The Decisive Factor. I say- '"nearly" because the putt really is the most elfective shot. This is aumitted by all. "The man who can putt is a match for anybody,." - said old Willie I'arii, several times open champion and one of the finest putters who ever sank a putt. In the ltyder Oup international match the British professional team was easily, a match tor the American team all the way to the green, but as putters there was no comparison between the two teams. The difference in the putting gave the Americans a victory by 9} matches to • i That story was repeated an the amateur final. Morpeth won on the greens. Horton, after playing like an angel up to the jgreens, made ,the angels weep with his putting. His sense of insecurity on the grefens gradually invaded his consciousness when he other shots and his game deteriorated as the second round of ,18 holes was played. • In a great match of this kind the most important shot you can meet is a holeable-putt on. the first green. Horton had a six-footer for a three.' He put the ball past to the right of the hole. On the second green, which he had' reached perfectly with drive, brassie, and chip-shot to within 6ft of.the cup, the same proposition faced him—a 6ft putt for a win in fout. Of course, he was conscious of having missed that six-footer on the first green. It was harder than ever to hole this one on the second. Again the ball slipped past on the right. Two chances gone at the beginning of the match! At the fourth it , was 10ft that was missed in the same way. At the ninth, tenth, and eleventh, after faultless shots to the pin, Horton failed with putts of 4ft, 10ft, and 4ft respectively. That was the deciding factor throughout the match. The poise and the accuracy which characterised Horton s play off the tee and up to the pin deserted him oh the creen'and appeared in Sloan Morpeth. No ohe could avoid noticing this. When Morpeth took his stance for a long rup-up putt or for any kind of putt, he was all balance, ease, confidence, and these feelings, so essential for good "putting, he owed, 1 think, to his perfect eye and sensitive touch. On the; greens he was like the most delicately-attuned instrument,' and he I looked as if he might hole anything. I Firmly he holed out from 3ft on the ! first green, after a difficult run-np. He repeated that on the fourth for a win, just missed from 40ft at the seventh,

grazed the cup at the ninth from the same distance, * should have got his iive-yarder at the tenth for a two, holed 12ft on the 13th for a win. That is the story of the match. Morpeth went on doing that and all the time the balance and touch which he felt on the putting green communicated the sense of confidence and power.to him in the other departments of the game. His long game and his iron-play, always good, became better. He began to appear unbeatable as the second round of the match proceeded and he maintained and then. increased his lead. Climax of the Match. After losing the second hole in the afternoon, the 20th of the match, Horton, then 4 down, held Morpeth at that position until the 26th. At this hole, measuring 400 yaids, Horton put his perfect iron shot on the green and 12ft from the cup. Morpeth failed to get down in 4 and Horton had reduced his lead to 3 holes. Three down and 10 to play did not sound so bad, and it certainly did not feel so bad. Horton felt his coun-ter-attack was due and that the inspiration for it had come with that great stroke to the pin and that easy win in 4. The ninth green is 380 yards from the tee and is perched on the verge of a steep and disastrous bank which bounds the fairway all the distance up to the green. Both got away fine drives j and were well placed about 170 yards from the green. Horton was about five yards ahead of Morpeth and lying better. He certainly would have .to go for that risky green, because he had to win holes. Halves would only postpone the moment of defeat; And the position of the two balls made the bold shot to the green an inviting one to Horton. Moreover, it hras his best distance. If Horton could get his second on to that green aiid into that beckoning hollow in which the hole was placed, he had every chance of winning another hole and of reducing Morpeth's lead to 2 holes.

Morpeth knew that also. He had to play first. Would he make the way easy for Hortoa by playing for safety, hoping for a half, in order to retain his lead? Many good golfers would have done precisely that. But Morpeth is not built that way. He has the heart of a champion, like Tommy Armour, who won the American open by an incredibly bold and brilliant finish. And so we wondered—those of us who understood —as Morpeth pulled out his iron and addressed the ball. (Already in my mind's eye I could see Horton's shot soaring toward the win.) With no hesitation Morpeth smacked that ball de*d for the pin; an unbeatable shot. It pitched short and ran 'up to the pin—dead for a 3. He had stolen Horton's thunder, and that most skilful iron-player belt beaten, was beaten, by this master-stroke from Morpeth at the crisis. It was a champion shot and it revealed the champion. The "birdie" 3 which followed gave Morpeth the hole and made him once more 4 up. .It also discomfited Horton's counter-attack and made Morpeth's victory certain. Power and inspiration had proved too strong a combination for science and technique. Let us not discount science and technique. Eatlier let us endeavour always to combine technique with whatever we may have of inspiration and power.

I GERALDINE DEFEATS TIMARU. A match was played on Saturday afternoon on the Geraldine links against a team from the Timaru Golf Club, and resulted in a win for the home team. The scores Mere as follows (Geraldine names first) SINGLES. Grieve 0 Houlihan .. 1 Paterson . . 1 Cramond . . 0 McDonald .. 1 Webster .. 0 Feilding .. 1 McClelland .. 0 C. J. Kerr .. 1 Menzies .. 0 Capt. Kerr .. .1' Sawell ... 0 McLeod . 1 Coxhead 0 Mcllray ... 1 Martin .. 0 Burrows •• , $ Simpson .. J McKochnie . . 0 Tait ...... 1' Totals —Geraldine,: '7 J; Timaru| 2£. FOUR-BALL. Grieve and Pater- Houlihan and Crason : 1 . mond . . 0 McDonald and Webster and McFeildiug . . 0 Clelland . ■ 1 C. J. Kerr aud Menzies and ' Capt. Kerr .. 1 Sawell .. . 0 McLeod and Mc- Coxhead and MarIlroy 1 tin 0 Burrows and McIvechnie . . 1 Simpson and Tait 0 I Totals —Geraldine, 4; Timaru, 1.