Top Golfers In Christchurch Today

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29234, 18 June 1960, Page 5

Top Golfers In Christchurch Today

FOUR of the finest golfers in New Zealand will make this week-end a memorable one for the growing number of Canterbury people who find the game one of the most pleasant and exciting sports to watch. At Russley this afternoon, at Shirley tomorrow, R. J. Charles and R. C. Murray, of Christchurch, will meet R. R. Newdick and W. J. Godfrey, of Auckland, in four-ball best-ball matches. The exhibition match at Kaia' poi last Saturday served as a reminder of the virtues of a fourball match, so far as the spectators are concerned. With four top players taking part, there is nearly always someone achieving something spectacular. This team of talented young men. all of them strong candidates for the New Zealand team for the world amateur championships in Philadelphia later this year, provide quite startling contrasts in approach and technique.

and each should contribute much to the occasion. The quality of the golf of which Murray and Charles are capable is fully appreciated in Christchurch, but there have been few opportunities for most people to see Newdick and Godfrey.

Youth It is astounding to think that Godfrey is still short of his eighteenth birthday. When he was 16. he won the amateur championship of New Zealand, and since then he has produced better than scratch rounds on many occasions. An attacking golfer, a youngster with a pleasing personality, and an extremely talented player. Godfrey will win many friends in Christchurch.

Newdick, a member of the New Zealand team which played in the Commonwealth tournament at Johannesburg last year, is also very young in years—he is only 22—but already rich in experi-

ence. He has enjoyed steady successes in the last year or two. He tcok up golf only when his doctor advised him he needed as much fresh air as possible to combat bronchial asthma. He is a very determined and conscientious young player, one who has always practised assiduously, and his form in the recent Freyberg Rosebowl tournament was especially impressive. Newdick has a very high reputation for the quality of his chipping and putting.

New Zealand has long enjoyed considerable stature in Rugby, but in few other sports. However, New Zealand’s performances in amateur golf in the last few years show how much appeal the game now holds for young people, and how the standard of play has risen. In the Commonwealth tournament in England in 1954, New Zealand lost all but one of its matches, yet finished \with a credit balance in individual games At the world amateur

tournament at St. Andrew’s, New Zealand startled the golfing world by leading for the first three rounds, and finishing just behind the winners. In South Africa last year. New Zealand again put up some extremely impressive performances, with S. G. Jones. Murray and Charles outstanding. So the matches at Russley and Shirley during the week-end are not exhibitions by novices. These young players are among the best in the world, and although some allowance may have to be made for the visitors with their comparative lack of knowledge of the Christchurch courses, their skill is such that they are almost certain to produce some excellent scoring. . As a guide to the national selectors, the match may hold considerable interest; but if reports that Jones is still suffering from an injured back are correct, it might well be that the New Zealand team for Philadelphia will be the one playing in Christchurch today and tomorrow.