GOLF.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19220, 28 January 1928, Page 20

GOLF.

WELLINGTON TOURNAMENT. AUSTRALIANS ELIMINATED. (PBESS ASSOCIATION TBL3QBAM.) WELLINGTON, January 27. Play in the Championship and Hanlicap Golf tournament, arranged as a preliminary to the contest between Australia and New Zealand for ; the KirkWindeyer Cup on Monday, was continued at Miramar to-day, when the first and second rounds of the tournament championships were decided, each round being over 18 holes. Those to survive the day's play were: Sloan Morpeth (Titirangi). Donald Grant (Shirley). A. G. Sime (Westport). Dr. Kenneth Boss (Balmacewan). They will meet in the semi-finals tomorrow morning and the final will be played in the afternoon. Although the day was beautifully fine players in the tournament found the wind decidedly tricky. The first round of the championships was decided in the morning and the second round in the afternoon. First class golf was played in the first round by the veteran New Zealand golfer H. B. Lusk, in his match with J. L. Black of the Hutt Club. Down the fairways and on and around the greens Lusk gave a brilliant display and finished four up at the loth green, one over fours for the round. With the exception of the first he went out with par figures fbr each hole. Lusk turned three up. The best gallery game of the morning was that between the two "colts," L. Seifert, of Palmerston North, and the Eltham player H. P. Dale. They had a hole.and hole struggle which finished one up in favour of Dale. Dale had won the first three holes. Seifert sank a ten foot putt for four at the ninth, and the players turned all square. Well played fours halved the tenth, and bogey in fives the eleventh. The 13th and 15th were halved for fours and fives respectively, Dale winning the twelfth and his opponent the 14th. The 16th was halved in five. The 17th went to Dale in four, and even fours at the 18th gave the match to Dale with one up. H. A. Black (Hutt), and A. G. Sime (Westport) had a close game. The first hole went to Black in five. The second was halved, while a long putt by Black on the third green halved the hole. Threes gave the next two holes to Sime, while the sixth and seventh went to Black. Sime turned for home one down, but from then on he came on to his game and finished three and two, Black being unable to take a hole. Once past the turn coming in Sime was one under fours. Par Golf. Apart from the first three holes par golf was played by Donald Grant (Shirley), and A. E. Conway (Miramar) when they met in the morning round, lmt Grant's figures were slightly too good for those of his opponent. What Grant himself described aa villainous putting gave his opponent the first three holes. Grant holed a long putt for four at the fifth after being in a Ibunker, and after that he did the next ,ten holes in one helow fours, finishing the winner five and four. A keen contest resulted in the match between Sloan Morpeth (Titirangi) and J. Goss (Wanganui). Morpeth won the first in four, the nex't two holes being halved. Morpeth was two up at the fourth, but Goss took a hole at the fifth. Morpeth was three up at the turn. At the eleventh Morpeth stood four up. Goss reduced the lead to three up at the next hole. Morpeth was down in four at the fourteenth, and finished three and two. A. D. S. Duncan was mainly indebted to courageous and successful putting for his round against the Australian, Nigel Smith, whom he^ defeated by six and five. Smith appeared to be somewhat off his game, and for the most part was not handling his clubs with the same accuracy as on the first day of the tournament. Another close game was provided by the young Australian player, W. E. Smith, and T. H. Horton (Masterton). Smith was. a hole to the good at the turn, and added another at the tenth, thus making him two up. Horton won the eleventh and Smith the next, while halves were recorded for the next four holes. Both were in difficulties at the seventeenth, but Smith, won the hole, end with it the match, two and one. Consistency was a feature of the play 'of Kenneth Boss (Balmacewen), who was matched against H. J. Shanks ](Mornington). At two holes Boss carded two's, and he finished five and four. Morpeth Beats Duncan. The 1 game between the holder of the omateur title, Sloan Morpeth, and the "Grand Old Man of New Zealand golf," Arthur Duncan, who met in the second round in the afternoon, attracted a large gallery. Duncan obtained length with his drive from the first tee, the hole being halved in four. A twenty-five-foot putt gave the second hole to Duncan for three, while sound threes and'fours halved the third and fourth holes respectively. With a fine mashie shot Morpeth was within thirty inches of the pin at the fifth, but he missed the putt, and the hole was halved in four. At the sixth hole, of 106 yards, Morpeth was on the green in one and Bank for two, one under bogey, thus bringing the game back to all square. Duncan was one up at the seventh, but the game was again all square at the eighth, where Morpeth won in three to four. Morpeth made a good recovery from ja bunker which he found with his tee shot at the ninth, and the hole was halved in fours, leaving the game square at the turn. Morpeth obtained a great second, to land just short of the green, at the tenth, while his opponent's second pulled into a hollow below the green, Morpeth taking the hole. Duncan missed a twenty-four-foot putt at the next, and laid Morpeth a half stymie. Morpeth overran the hole but Bank with his return, and the hole was halved in fours. From then on Duncan seemed unable to stand up to his younger rival, and Morpeth won the match four and three. Some idea of the quality of the golf played can be gleaned from the fact that Morpeth was eight under bogey at the finish and Duncan four under bogey. Dale v. Sime. Never more than a couple of holes separated H. P. Dale and A. G. Sime, who opposed each other in the second round, and who both played excellent golf. . They missed chances for three at the first and fours halved the hole. The second was colourless, and resulted in another half, while Sime took the honour at the third in four to five. Both were on in two and down in three at the - next, and at the fifth Dale sank a ten-foot putt for a half in four, being unlucky not to win the hole, as his third lipped the tin. After a hole-and-hole tussle to the turn, they went to the tenth hole with the game all square. Each missed putts n.t the tenth and sixes halved it. Sime got Sato-a bad position at the eleventh, and I

Dale won five to six. An exeellenllyplayed two gave the twelfth to Sime while Dale pulled his tee shot at the fourteenth, and Sime won in three to four, the intervening hole being halved in fours. Dale putted weakly at the fifteenth, and Sime won. The sixteenth was halved. Dale kept the game alive by putting for four at the seventeenth. At the eighteenth Dale was short with his second, and the hole being halved Sime won the match one up. ' Grant Beats Lusk. Between Donald Grant and H. B. Lusk there was an exceedingly close go, the fortune of the game favouring first the one and then the other. As in the morning, Lusk started well, and at the fifth he was three up. They turned all square, and from then on both played golf of a high standard. The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth were halved. Lusk was short with his second at the sixteenth, and Grant won in four. Both got away good drives at the seventeenth. Grant drove his iron shot below the green, while Lusk got by the hole with his btassie. The hole was halved in four, making the game dormy one. With his second and again with his third, Lusk was short approaching the last green. Grant found a bunker, but chipped out to within a foot of the hole. Lusk missed a seven-yard putt for four, the ball just creeping past the hole. The hole was halved in five, Grant winning one up. Playing a steady game, as he had during his morning round, Kenneth Eoss gradually wore down his opponent, W. B. Smith, in the second round, and finished five up at the fourteenth. Details:— First Round. A. D. S. Duncan (Wellington) beat Nigel Smith (Australia) 6 and 5. H. B. Lusk (Middleniore) beat J. L. Black (Hutt) 4 and 3. Donald Grant (Shirley) beat A. E. Conway (Miramar) 5 and 4. W. E. Smith (Manly) beat T. H. Horton (Masterton) 2 and 1. Kenneth Eoss (Balmacewan) beat H. J. Shanks (Mornington) 5 and 4. H. P. Dale (Eltham) beat L. Seifert, jun. (Manawatu) 1 up. A. G. Sime (Westport) beat H. A. Black (Hutt) 3 and 2. Sloan Morpeth (Titirangi) beat J. Goss (Wanganui) 3 and 2.

Second Round. - Sloan Morpeth beat A. D. S. Duncan 4 and 3. Kenneth Boss beat W. B. Smith 5 and 4. Donald Grant beat H. B. Lusk 1 up. A. G. Sime beat H. P. Dale 1 up. The draw for the semi-final is as follows: — Sloan Morpeth plays Donald Grant. A. G. Sime plays Kenneth Eoss.