Christchurch A Wins Woodward Cup Final

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27417, 2 August 1954, Page 3

Christchurch A Wins Woodward Cup Final

GOLF

An awkward stt putt on the eighteenth green, suhk with careless confidence by A. Robinson at the moment that J. Rennie, on the seventeenth, was guiding a 2ft putt into the,hole with the studious, almost professorial air that marked all his work on the greens gave Christchurch A the Woodward Cup at Waimairi yesterday, when Waitikiri- the holder, was beaten in the final by five games to three. Robinson’s putt allowed him to stave off a determined challenge by the Waiti kiri veteran, A. R. Blank, and Rennie’s" which gave him a half at the hole’ finally decided the match, for Waitikiri had to win the last two matches to draw level.

It was a good day for golf, and the course, because of the fortunate absence of frost, played well There were a few complaints . about the greens, but the visiting players agreed that for this time of the year the course was in good order and demanded unrelenting accuracy. The first Christchurch player R n Kearns, gave a particularly good exhi- ? J n . s mateh wlth L - J James, and he had it won a good way from home Kearns hit the ball beautifully, an™ nearly always accurately. He seemed interested in getting real length into his shot! whfn Jfflgth was an advantage, but he neve? lost his coolness and composure, or the “®L qu L 6t competence that marked SS?. 01 ?? K h< i. d,d - Even at the eighth! ad misadventures, he achieved a win: he drove on to a thick patch of ice plant, from which he was «Wc, to lift, but he found a bunker It the left of the green. His explosion showas so admirably played that the pltt was a formality, but James, having to fink an awkward one for a half, just failed who suffered from one or two hooked woods from the tee and fairwa? made some lovely shots, and won the ninth to be only 1 down, but he could nolonger keep Kearns in check and a between two exceptional!? players “ dad “

Jackson Off Form t C w J tS? , w t s to excellent form against X W. Jackson, but the Waltikiri man was sadly out of touch, and only a desperate eff0 * I L t at - l he end took the match as far Ward took a SIX on the ?^ h f i <^ + \ d 1 epressing enough start, but after eight holes was still only two over 4 s and was two holes ahead. Ward, playing methodicaUy and accurately, was completely in charge, and it was sad to“ see * Ply 6l, as Sood as J ackson in such XSP probably through lack of golf. He always seemed to be Wi3i m w?rri to green on terms J? nce , tbare he fell into Smi the eighth ’ Ward was a * ee a very b° ld putt go ,r -? m a lo ng way out, for an S.. a Wln - and at th® turn 'v.-Sa,?/. 4 2 P ' Ev cn at the tenth, where Ward was twice short, his approach was

stopped'Sn h inch C ft. O m ll .? acy h hat th e ball son was restricted and back later but half ’ He came wide. 1 016 lee way was far too ° f admira ble Watson, but the Ji 13 game th A. before he was abte h J^ aS Well advan ced Blank started 3 with th2° ass i ,me control, material advantage If °l? g £ al and ond achieved thr™iJh at the rebirdie, but afte? ltebt Ch i p ? mg , in for a Played they were Sn^aii 101 ® 5 had been son might be all Sdu ?re. WatJane, but there ? golfin g Plain about his game That %- st T efficiency However A eP ‘ £ lank bur^ 4 «° h < r iS went on Blank Fowke’s Good Golf what was r per k h e 4 DS Of th S hr totohureh. gave them all Althonlh X-,- best _, dis P la s - of to work like a slrin<i ndlSposed ' he went his instalment withom T„ g Meeting a U X n e‘ l-Wher h e e wTs wa e ve d red H gom rO tH S P ti?e a tenth operation. straggl?d I fol h a ° £ i he fore Fowke in a lon B time behim s?wn ’up o « n S vernacular, had played some fixcellent golf P CeSS als ° hut b. P 'j A in front. 3-1. into the WaitiklrX Put heart course wte ~ supporters on the h^ee^sU 1 w °bbled and bobbled about like a from °th2 C hn? Py ea b . efore running away irom the hole, almost deliberately it f“tTo e n an r d°=? l P!a K yed ‘ he per? ♦n2.« On ? nd - a Pl°mb, and won it. He was mo a s 1 t nS me a rito?i‘o“ rnPUShed opponent was Key Match d„w^ t ?H. news of battle filtered back down the course, it became clear that A. h m 4u tcb » w ith A. Robinson was th £ key to the whole affair, S^at churcb . was ahead 3 - 2 - and had the eighth match as good as won, with the seventh still very much in doubt. Robinson, a four-handicap player, gave a ivery fine exhibitign indeed. There are nol

frills about his golf, but he hits the ball with extraordinary vigour and accuracy. His strong, assertive golf had Blank in trouble early, and a well-played birdie four at the tenth gave Robinson a lead of three. Blank, responding to the rising tide of battle, as one expects him to, soon won a hole back, and took another at the sixteenth, where Robinson and his centre-shaft putter were at odds for once in a way. At the Seventeenth both drove well, but Blank’s second was hooked badly, and only a most efficiently-played third allowed him to halve the hole, a fine recovery. At the eighteenth, they went to the back of the green together in two shots, in spite of Robinson’s advantage off the tee. Blank, from lift away, narrowly missed holing his putt, and Robinson left himself an awkward one for the half, but down it went. Rennie’s Win Christchurch had a good match player in Rennie to meet Devine, who was played at seventh, although the previous match had been his first loss of the entire series. Rennie, picked a somewhat tortuous path to the green quite frequently, but he was never really out of the picture, for he played some wonderfully accurate recovery shots from rough and bunker. Devine did miss several real

openings, after starting with a birdie at the first hole, and playing the shot of the day, a- long wood over tall trees, at the fourteenth. Rennie assumed a onehole lead early in the match, and he held it with admirable tenacity through to the last green where, with the match in effect over, he was lucky with the bounce of his second shot and holed a longish putt for a birdie and another win. The game’s crisis was at the seventeenth where Devine desperately needed a' win. In a way, it was more comic relief than dramatic highlight, for the hole was halved in sixes. Both drove too close to the trees on the left and had to use a shot getting out into the fairway again. Rennie’s third found a bunker, and Devine, falling into the understandable error of misjudging distance on this particular hole, put his third through the green into country it would be sheer euphemism to describe only as rough. Rennie got to the green—just—with his fourth, and Devine merely advanced uphill through the undergrowth. Rennie, apparently making a series of rapid and involved, calculations, found a satisfactory answer to the problem with a putt ending a couple of feet from the hole, and Devine, finally on the green and past the hole, sank a brave putt up the slope for his six. Rennie made no error with the short one, and that was that. In the eighth game, W. Collins (Waitikiri) was early in the lead against G. R. Hunter, and was three ahead with six holes to go. A grand effort by Hunter to hole a putt from the edge of the sixteenth green and keep the game alive deserved to succeed, the ball going in and out again. The features of the other matches yesterday was the superb form of R. E. Clements (Templeton), who was playing at Shirley against H. W. Lawrence. Clements, hitting the ball his usual prodigious length, and making very few errors of any sort, had two birdies, and was one under scratch at the turn. He then came home in 33, three under scratch, to end with a 68, a very fine round. It was small wonder Lawrence, usually a difficult opponent, was finished by the thirteenth green. A. E. Ison’s victory over P. Lewis was as large as it was unexpected, and C. C. A. Barnard completed his Woodward Cup season with his geventh win in seven rounds—the only player to win the distinction.

Results yesterday:— Christchurch A v. Waltikiri R. D. Kearns beat L. J. James, 4 and 3; C. J. Ward beat J. W. Jackson, 4 and 2; L. A. Watson lost to M. R. Blank, 5 and 4; N. M. Fowke beat H. C. Hill, 3 and 2; I. B. Cromb lost to D. J. Ramsay, 4 and 2; A. Robinson beat A. R. Blank, 1 up; J. Rennie beat J. P. Devine, 2 up; G. R. Hunter lost to W. Collins, 3 and 2. Christchurch A won by 5 games to 3. The match was played at Waimairi. Russley A v. Kaiapol M. W. Stanley beat L. Morris, 3 and 1; W. D. Armstrong beat A. F. Green, 2 and 1; D. C. Watson beat G. A. Appleton, 3 and 2; K. D. Foxton lost to R. G. Rainey, 1 down; J. W. Logan beat J. Eathorne, 6 and 5; F. Williamson halved with R. D. Frizzell; C. G. Penlington lost to R. BruceSmith, 4 and 3; W. A. C. Turner lost to D. G. McAlister, 2 down. Russley A beat Kaiapoi by 4J games to 3J. The match was played at Avondale. Avondale v. Templeton H. W. Lawrence lost to R. Clements, 6 and 5; A. E. Ison beat P. Lewis, 5 and 4; F. W. Roberts beat J. Teehan, 5 and 4; W. J. McGavock beat E. G. Legge, 1 up; A. L. Large lost to R. W. Jones, 1 down; A. H. I’Bell lost to B. Barclay, 3 and 2; C. C. A. Barnard beat F. Marshall, 3 and 2; G. J. Cormack beat G. Day. 7 and 6. Avondale won by 5 games to 3. The match was played at Shirley. Russley B v. Christchurch B R. G. Penlington lost to S. R. Cuthbertson, 5 and 3; B. W. Johnson lost to J. Bull, 4 and 3; P. R. Hadley beat J. McLean, 4 and 3; J. W. Johnston lost to A. E. Benzie, 1 down; J. D. Lawson beat J. Prendergast, 2 and 1; W. L. Fairclough beat G. Chapman, 4 and 3; R. H. T. Hamilton lost to L. H. Marshall, 1 down; C. Gibbs beat W. Caldwell, 6 and 5. Russley B drew with Christchurch B, 4 games each. The match was played at Templeton. The final positions of the teams were:

BLANK CUP Northern Section In the northern section of the Blank Cup, Waitikiri A, with a very handsome win over Hagley, retained its lead and won by two points from Russley A and Rawhiti. Results were:— Waitikiri A v. Hagley B L. Rhodes beat D. Glue, 6 and 5; I. Wilby beat C. D. Wilson, 7 and 6; J. J. Potts lost to J. J. McAuliffe, 2 down; L. Chappell beat C. Forgarty, 3 and 2; M. McNally beat L. R. Roper, 2 up; R. E. Thomas beat K. Lomax, 6 and 5; C. Cliff beat T. Waugh, 6 and 5; A. Bailey beat H. C. Smith by default. Waitikiri A beat Hagley B by 7 games to 1. The match was played at Rawhiti. Kaiapoi v. Rangiora J. Casserley lost to C. H. Johnson, 6 and 4; H. A. Barnett lost to D. Cochrane, 1 down; J. Dempster halved with H G. Fowler; B. V. Glubb beat H. J. Whittington, 2 and 1; G. G. Baker beat A. C. Fraser, 6 and 5; R. G. Stead halved with S. T. Midgley; M. Duncan beat B. W. Eder, 1 up; D. McAllister beat A. H. Forward, 3 and 2. Kaiapoi won by 5 matches to 3. The match was played at Waitikiri. Rawhiti v. Waimairi B J. R. Davis halved with I. J. Campbell; A. Milesi beat J. Anderson, 3 and 2; L. J. Russell beat D. Smith, 6 and 5; G. Anderson beat J. Collier, 1 up; W. McKenzie beat B. McGuire, 4 and 3; G. Gray beat M. P. Hall, 2 and 1; J. Sproston beat B. S.. Dudley, 4 and 2; W. S. Brown beat R. H. Duncan, 3 and 2. Rawhiti won by 7J games to J. The match was played at Hagley. The final points were:—Waitikiri A 6, Russley A 4, Rawhiti 4, Kaiapoi 3, Waimairi B 2, Rangiora 2, Hagley B 0. Southern Section Waimairi A, undefeated in the earlier rounds, maintained its advantage of half a point over Waitikiri B and won the southern section. Results: — Waitikiri B v. Russley B R. J. Ramsay beat N. J. Forward, 2 and 1; B. Gault lost to A. Glubb, 2 and 1; C. R. Ogier halved with L. Fisher; P. F. McNeilage beat K. Watson, 2 and 1; A. Hay beat R. Sweet, 5 and 3; E. G. Batstone lost to R. Lane, 1 down; J. Pritchard beat N. Smith, 4 and 3; J. F. Tucker lost to I. Souter, 1 down. Waitikiri B beat Russley B by 4J games to 3|. The match was played at Kaiapoi. Waimairi A v. Hagley A P. O'Malley beat D. T. Warner, 6 and 5; J. W. Simon beat R. D. Johnston, 1 up; J. Hartley beat R. B. Nichols, 5 and 4; B. L. Clegg beat W. A. Purdie, 3 and 2; N. Johnson beat K. I. Burns, 5 and 3; E. G. Thompson lost to R. J. Palmer, 3 and 2; G. “V. Hood beat J. E. Berry, 7 and 5; C. A. Priest beat B. A. Miles, 5 atid 4. Waimairi won by 7 games to 1. The match was played at Russley. Avondale v. Templeton

A. B. 800 l lost to D. Lamberton, 1 down; A. J. Dickey beat H. Langford, 4 and 3; M.'Oates lost to R. Wishart, 8 and 7; G. Mclntosh beat P. Anderson, 3 and 2; J. Hanson beat L. Blumskey, 5 and 4; Y. F. Bell halved with R. Kane; C. Pascoe beat S. Andrews, 3 and 2; H. E. Clarke beat F. Busch, 1 up.

Avondale beat Templeton by 51 games to 2J. The match was played at Rangiora. The points were: Waimairi A 51, Waitikiri B 5, Christchurch 31, Avondale 3, Hagley A 2, Russley B 2, Templeton 0.

Points Ch. W. D. L. F. A. pts. Christchurch A ,. 7 0 0 39 17 7 Waitikiri .. 7 0 ■ 1 34j 211 6 Russley A .. 4 1 2 34J 211 41 Avondale ..2 2 3 27$ 281 3 Christchurch B .. 2 1 4 24$ 31$ 2$ Templeton .. 2 0 5 23$ 32$ 2 Kaiapoi .. 1 1 5 22$ 33$ 1$ Russley B .. 1 1 5 18 38 1$