GOLF WARD WINS SIXTH CANTERBURY TITLE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27490, 26 October 1954, Page 15

GOLF WARD WINS SIXTH CANTERBURY TITLE

C. J. Ward won his sixth Canterburv amateur golf title at Russley yesterday, and he won it most convincingly Rarely departing froth the middle of the fairway, he hit his shots to Russley’s lovely greens with precision, and putted with typical consistency so much so that his semi-final and final opponents. H. J. Gosset and D C Watson. never really looked likely to challenge him seriously.

It was a near-perfect day for the finals of the championships, and again there was a gallery of 250 or more to follow the play. The fairways faster than ever, sometimes flattered the drive and iron second, but the greens were well watered, and in spite of their heavy and sometimes lingering traffic, they again offered a true smooth surface.

Ward has won the Canterbury title more often than anyone, and he has placed his name ahead of some of the great names in sport in the province -B. B. Wood, H. B. Lusk. E. M Macfarlane. B. V. Wright A. R. Blank, D L. Woon. It is 22 years since Ward with the audacity of youth, first won’ the title, and yesterday’s success was as popular as It was deserved. As a match player he is probably without peer in canterbury; certainly in yesterday’s matches once he was in front he yielded ground as reluctantly as a Russian diplomat

Watson, well beaten in the final, enjoyed an outstanding success by overcoming the New Zealand representative A. R. Timms in his semi-final He was 3 up after only seven holes had been played, and stayed in command through to the finish. At first it was a matter of Watson having to make recoveries, but later Timms lost touch with his 4 and 5-irons to the green, without the compensating ability to chip dead, as he had been able to do the previous day. He was out in 40 to Watson’s 38, and was 2 down then.

At the 151-yard tenth hole, Watson played a most admirable shot, and sank his four-foot putt for his birdie and another win. Timms played the eleventh badly, his second, third and fourth shots all being far too short, and when he seemed likely to regain ground at the twelfth, Watson emerged from the bunker most confidently and then sank a longish putt for his half in 4’s. The thirteenth hole produced, from Timms, one of the shots of the tournament. His drive was pushed out into rough, and for his second shot, his sight of the flag was almost cbscured. He had a sloping lie, and a bad one, and he had only a foot clearance of a large tree a tew yards in front of him, but on this 459-yard hole he found the green with a truly magnificent 4-wood, and finally won with a birdie 4. Watson threatened to chip in at the fourteenth, and another half at the next hole made him dormie 3. At the very long sixteenth <544 yards), ■Timms played a succession of bad shots, and Watson won handsomely He was only a stroke over scratch when the game ended. Ward and Gosset Ward had little difficulty in his semifinal. His opponent, H. J. Gosset, was only a shadow of his true golfing self at the start, and by the turn Ward was an incredible 7 up. Although Ward, scoring a birdie at the first hole, and taking the required number everywhere else with mechanical efficiency, made the pace a merry one—he was still one under scratch at the turn—Gosset could do hardly anything right. From the turn, he fought back strongly, but his was an almost hopeless task even though Ward at last began to stray occasionally from the tee. Cosset’s ragged period ended when he

At thi* ® core< i a birdie at the tenth. „ the eleventh he hit a drive which but iX b S! nCL ? g ahnost immediately, such h vf^ e< Ori ?.. and his chi P were of tfith a^h ( ?w ah J y he had his half / I a Eh °w of comfort, and he then bunkered twice SKt- Gosse t had another win an? took^^ta 1 tl L e long thirteenth, hfu t*? er back at the sh °rt “ the mevltable hal£ eame The Final

thPftntt TJt e two , «tal moments in The en Ward and Watson. g?een wf, r thei ? 'K as on the second Watson, starting nervously, had ft? l he , firS l bole af t«r chipping over the back of the green, and he was tjmporariiy m trouble at the second. he followed a beautifully controhed approach with a clever putt ftS 11,8 birdie. He had to find the hole so ?*?. 10 feet °f steeply sloping ptrfect and W» S ra alCUlati T s were Proved ?S« ect ’- ard was above the hole With h? Ine J. ee X away - Had he tailed with his putt Watson would have won encouragement as well as the hole. thin^ 8 ® 111 ? 0 ??* apionab- Ward gauged the pace of the putt to a nicety—a half in impressive-looking birdies. The ft her climax was on a lower level. At the thirteenth (459 yards) Watson had ftreftputt* 31 chance ' but contrived to ma T ftft e «, Was m “ch to enjoy in this ~ tbe sunshine and the colourful ordal: ?y green and white °£ ?. well-kept course, the very dignity of the occasion. Golfers when octually playing golf are said by suffer from a form of foot and mouth disease, but yesterday there mom ™ £ ® of real drama in the silence which preceded a putt—a silence sometimes accentuated by the ! r cmbling notes of the birds lffai?s e S “ Ch troublous te rWard’® Steadiness fn N +Ho m « re i C ?? ld said of Ward's golf in than that it was completely mat with his reputation as a stern his well contronS and slightly abbreviated swing, he nearly always went from tee to in the encased by the course architect. Russley is not his home course, but he ard a S* f th nd Way to the Sreen, th er « with sound, strong woods h?™ £f™ ClSe I f ons : His Putting brought him few spectacular results, but it was consistently sound, and almost from the time he addressed the ball, he appeared to have a firm grip on the situation.

not to underestimate the ability ot Watson, a neat, compact golfer who often rises to brilliant heights. In the morning he was in very fine form, but against Ward suffered from a tendency to burry his swing and attempt to hit too hard. He hooked often but for a time managed to recover well enough to keep Ward busy. His short approaches and his undoubted skill on the greens gave him four one-putts in the first eight holes. But the further the game went, the less likely he looked to produce the string of startling figures he needed to challenge Ward. Watson is a good golfer, but Ward’s steadiness and imperturbability combined to make Watson look of rather lesser calibre than justice might have demanded.

The excitement of the second green behind them, the spectators drew breath sharply when Watson, after being bunkered at the third, all but holed a putt of tremendous length. Ward, 2 up after three holes, was in control at the fourth, which Watson saved, after a duffed drive, with a very nearly perfect chip. At the fifth Ward made one of his very rare errors, and it was almost a case for H. M. Bateman: he three-putted. For most of the first nine, Watson rushed from error to error, making magnificent saves and scrambling for nis halves—somewhat like an inexperienced housewife dashing among burning dishes, while waiting for the bell to announce the arrival of her dinner guests. Ward increased his lead to two holes when he won the eighth with a phlegmatic 4, and at the long ninth the game swung almost finally against Watson, who

hit a bad drive and a worse second, then put his third across the green. Watson’s chances improved after a lovely iron at the short tenth, but Ward played the shot of a master at the eleventh (322 yards). At the back of the green, he sank a long down-hill putt for a birdie 3 and re-established his lead at three: Watson had been in a promising position there, and Ward’s putt must have been a little depressing for him. Watson three-putted at the twelfth, and missed an easy putt for a birdie at the 459-yard thirteenth. Ward had his birdie, a reward for two splendid woods and two good putts. The game ended on the next green when Watson failed to hole a putt of reasonable length which would have kept the game alive. Ward was equal to the scratch score for the 14 holes. In the final of the intermediate championship, A. J. McGillivray beat R. W. Jones. McGillivray played steadier golf than his opponent, and after a splendid eagle at the thirteenth he was only three over scratch at the end. Jones was only 1 down at the turn, but lost four of the next five holes. One of the achievements of the day was M. W. Stanley’s round in a Stableford competition. At one stage he was six strokes better than the scratch score, 73, but slipped three in the last four holes. Results:— Canterbury Championships Senior.—Semi-finals: C. J. Ward beat H. J. Gosset, 3 and 2; D. C. Watson beat A. R. Timms, 4 and 2. Final: Ward beat Watson, 5 and 4. Intermediate.—Semi-finals: A. J. McGillivray beat R. F. Lafferty, 2 and 1; R. W. Jones beat J. Rennie, 3 and 2. Final: McGillivray beat Jones. 5 and 4. Junior.—Semi-finals: D. Clark beat A. L. Castle, 4 and 3; R. G. Pool beat A. Donaldson, 5 and 4. Final: Clark beat Pool. 3 and 2. Canterbury Plate Semi-final: J. Durry beat B. L. Clegg. 4 and 3: K. D. Foxton beat L. A. Watson, 1 up. Final: Durry beat Foxton, 2 and 1. Canterbury Handicap Senior.—Semi-finals: R. J. Ramsay beat A. W. Robinson at the nineteenth: J. Mangan beat D. Murdock, 4 and 3. Final: Mangan beat Ramsay, 2 and 1. Intermediate.—Semi-finals: G. H. Owen beat J. H. McGavock, 4 and 2; A. W. Low beat J. W. Loper, 2 up. Final: Low beat Owen, 2 and 1. Senior.-Semi-final: S. Wood beat J. Corbett, 7 and 6; J. Chamberlain beat R. M. Ryburn. Final: Wood beat Chamberlain. 2 and 1.

Canadian Foursome Bogey.—R. K. Atkinson and D. R. Pitman, 3 up. Stableford Handicap.—M. Goodwin 39 points, M. W. Stanley 39 points. Goodwin won on a count-back. CLUB MATCHES CHRISTCHURCH CLUB.— Fourball, best ball bogey: H. M. Minson and F. L. P. Sharp, 4 up; A. R. Bamsdale and W. K. L. Dougall, 4 up; C. Gresson and H. A. Montgomery, 4 up: A. R. Mac Gibbon and L. W. Fleetwood, 4 up; E. A. Cleland and H. M. Clapham, 3 up; J. S. Connell and W. G. Scannell, 2 up; O. A. Y. Johnston and G. R. Hunter, 2 up. Minson and Sharp won on count-back. CHARTERIS BAY CLUB— Closing day matches—Mixed Canadian foursome: N. R. Farrant and Mrs A. Anderson, 54, 10—44. Men’s Canadian foursome: T. W. Patterson and J. Patterson, 50, 6—44. Driving: G. W. Riley. Putting: N. R. Farrant. Approaching: M. Manson. Women—Driving: Mrs H. M. S. Dawson. Putting: Mrs A. M. Jackson. Approaching: Mrs R. K. Allan. RANGIORA CLUB.—October medals. Stableford—A grade: J. Galloway, 38 points; H. G. Fowler. 36: R. G Edwards. 31. B grade: R. Holland. 37; C. M. Turner, 35; C. Chisnall, 33. Mayoress’s trophy, mixed fourball, best-ball: J. Galloway and Mrs Galloway, 8 up; J. Fleming and Mrs Fleming, 4 up; T. Deyell and Mrs Deyell. 3 up; E. Sigley and Mrs Reed, 3 up. •AVONDALE CLUB.— Stroke match: L. B. Rhodes, 91, 24—67; E. Gant, 87, 19—68; L. Rhodes; 76, 7—69; C. C. A. Barnard, 73. 4 RAWHITI CLUB.— Mixed foursome: J. Thomas and Miss A. L. Wilson, 86, 20—66; T. O. Johnson and Miss A. Mcßean, 85, — 6 I : A - 7 Hakson and Mrs Hakson, 85, R. Hooker and Mrs Hooker, 92. 23 —-69. HAGLEY CLUB.— Mixed four-ball bestball (Peace Memorial Cup): J. E. Gudgeon (10) and Mrs Gudgeon (14), 6 up; M. E. Forde (10) and Miss N. Taylor (14), 5 up; D. W. Strong (7) and Mrs J. O’Gorman (20), 4 up; M. B. Hayes (14) and Mrs Hayes (11), 4 up. Stroke handicap: K. Burns, 76, 9—67, won on a count-back from C. P. Bruere, 83, 16—67; G. D. Stuart, 85 15—70. Hole-in-One.—A hole-in-one was scored by C. C. A. Barnard, club captain of the Avondale Club, yesterday, at the seventh hole on the Avondale course. The distance is 125 yards. It was the second hole-in-one scored by Barnard in his career.