Tasman Cup Retained By Australian Team

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29337, 17 October 1960, Page 9

Tasman Cup Retained By Australian Team

Australian cricketers, tennis players, swimmers, athletes, golfers, when they compete in New Zealand usually appear as slim of build, tanned in features and confident in outlook; Australian women golfers fit the pattern. It was a highly-competent team of six that retained the’ Tasman Cup, the international women’s trophy played for between the countries since 1933, at Shirley on Saturday.' When the Australians received the cup at a function after the contest, the non-playing captain, Mrs M. Ridgway, was graceful in her comment that the best possible team had been sent and the New Zealanders had measured up well—Australia won by 5| matches to If.

Convincing as the defeat was. New Zealand showed it had produced one player as good as or better than the Australians and Miss N. Campbell, of Nelson, the recent winner of the national title for the second time, at the age of 20, fully justified the faith of the 1000 or so partisans who followed her. After winning her foursomes in the morning partnered by the experienced Tauranga player Miss U. Wickham. Miss Campbell halved her. singles in the afternoon with the Australian who had been her victim in the final of the national titles at Paraparaumu last week. Miss B. Cheney. That half was the best New Zealand could do in the singles but the manner of its achievement in a fantastic finish at the end of the day was enough to erase momentarily from memory the defeats that had gone before. Driving from the eighteenth tee. Misses Campbell and Cheney were all square. The drives were good with Miss Campbell’s considerably the longer as they had been throughout the match. Miss Campbell had the better-looking second but it was short although on the green; Miss Cheney was on the edge at the back. Miss Campbell’s approach putt was a bad one, five foot short; Miss Cheney lipped the cup but sat on the edge and she had a certain four. After long and meticulous study Miss Campbell putted to save the match: it rolled to the edge and sat She turned away, obviously disappointed amid a despairing sigh from the gallery and began to shake hands with Miss Cheney. Then the ball dropped into the hole. A scientist in the crowd was cynical enough to say that the gasp of horror set up a sufficient percussion wave to drive the ball into the hole, but the squared match was a just result. So was the Australian win. Generally the New Zealanders were strong enough in tee and fairway play—the top players, Misses Campbell and Wickham often had more power than their opponents—but they were beaten on and around the greens. Reminiscent of the Australian men’s team that plaved at Shirley in the national championships a few years ago, the women were compact swingers with controlled shots in their long games and an unmatched accuracy in their short games. Their stvles were grooved—similar shots received similar swings each time: and they were quick and sure at summing up the requirements of distance, lie. wind and contours on the fairway, and length, borrow, nap and speed on the greens. Lacked Experience

By contrast, some of the New Zealanders were obviously lacking in experience—three members of the Australian team were more than 40. Some of the swinging, especially among the younger members was exaggerated and inconsistent and the only ones who kept the ball consistently up to the pin throughout a match were Misses Campbell and Wickham in their foursomes. Nevertheless the defeat was ft.- from disgrace and the policy of selecting a ’ young team was not proved unsound. It could be a stronger six which meets the Australians in 1962. Australia had its eighth win in the contest to New Zealand’s three wins and two ties. Misses Campbell and Cheney were not stransers in match play. They met in 1956 in the second round .of the national championships at New Plymouth when Miss Cheney won 2 and 1 and went on to play the final with Miss M. Masters. Last week at Paraparaumu. Miss Campbell won 5 and 4 over 36 holes after being one down ’ after 18 and Saturday’s squa-ed match was a fitting third. Miss Campbell’s driving was superb. She is not a “basher.” She had a calculated line-up each time with a lastminute glance at the position of her feet, a slow backswing. and she was straight and sometimes 40 or 50 yn-ds ahead of her opponent. With her economical style. Miss Cheney suffered little from the difference in length because of her uncanny skill about the greens. Her chips and

approach putts were nearly always dead to the pin and left her with an easy putt to hole out. On the other hand, Miss Campbell’s putting was ragged: she was stabbing and not stroking, pulling them off the line or sending them past the hole. There was never much between them and never more than one hole the difference. Miss Cheney had an early lead which she was unlucky not to increase at the sixth when Miss Campbell’s second was too big but hit some spectators and stopped by the green. The New Zealander hit a colossal drive at the seventh and had the hole all the way, especially as Miss Cheney was bunkered as she was again at the eighth to give Miss Campbell a 1 up lead. Putting Lapses A missed six-foot putt on the ninth was a forerunner of a deterioration in Miss Campbell’s putting in the second half and typical of the pattern of play was her loss of the eleventh .>“with a poor chip and a poor- putt after two beautiful long shots. Miss Campbell went to 1 up again at the thirteenth where she recovered magnificently from a bunker and Miss Cheney had one of her rare failures with a chip and two putts. They squared again at the fourteenth. Miss Campbell won the next. Miss Cheney the next and that led to the thrilling eighteenth. Miss Campbell returned a 79 and Miss Cheney an 80 Miss Wickham, of Tauranga, a former New Zealand champion, and Miss Borthwick, four times Australian champion, were fairly evenly matched. Again it was a case of the New Zealander being slightly the more powerful but lacking the finesse of her opponent in the short game. Miss Borthwick was 2 up after the fifth, 1 up after the seventh and at the eighth Miss Wickham had one of her grand chances of improving her position. Miss Borthwick was in the trees with her second, her low shot out running through a bunker to near the green. Miss Wickham played well out of a bunker with her third but she missed a reasonable putt while Miss Borthwick got one about tiie same length to halve. They turned with Miss Borthwick 1 up and she was 2 up after the tenth. Then in the next seven holes Miss Wickham could make no impression as Miss Borthwick hung on determinedly and won, 2 and 1. Miss Wickham had another good chance to reduce the lead at the thirteenth but she again missed a moderate putt in spite of her habit of carefully lining up from both sides of the hole. There was a great deal of interest in the performance of the local player. Miss S. Grigg, but she has not been at her very best of late and she lost 3 to 2 to the young Australian, Miss M. Masters, New Zealand champion of 1956. Miss Masters was one of the best of the Australians with an outward half of 37, one over scratch and a five over figure when the match ended. Two beautiful birdies in the first half enabled her to be 3 up at the turn. At the 424yard fifth she was nearly on with her second and chipped to the pin for a birdie 4, and at the 313-yard seventh she was on with her second and sank a good putt for a birdie 3. Miss Grigg did not have a happy time with her woods, although some bad lies contributed. She had too much height on some of her tee shots but her worst wood put her out of bounds for a penalty 2 on the fourth. She got a hole back with a fine, long putt for a birdie on the short thirteenth but she was outplayed by Miss Masters, whose iron play was especially praiseworthy. Young Players The two 19-year-old players in the New Zealand team, Miss M. Stubbs, of Waipukurau, and Miss S. Chapman, of Titirangi, made satisfactory debuts in international golf but were both somewhat nervous. Losing to Mrs J. Fisher, 2 down. Miss Stubbs was never more than 1 down until the last green. This stocky player with a full string lacked in accuracy but had plenty of fighting spirit and did well to take her experienced opponent -to the last green. She was square after 14 but lost the fifteenth when she was bunkered and she put her drive in the trees on the eighteenth. Miss Chapman lost 4 and 3 to Miss G. Small, whose firm approaching and sure putting virtually decided the' result. However, she was helped a little by /the young New Zealander’s inexperience which led her to misjudgment and errors in the selection of clubs, one especially at the fourteenth when she tried a wood out of the rough when an easv iron would have sufficed. Like Miss Stubbs she was not always able to get out of a bunker at the first attempt. Misses Campbell and Wickham made a fine foursome combination for if one faltered the other came to the rescue and they beat Miss Borthwick and Mrs M. Dawson, 4 and 3. This was one match where the Australians did not get the better of the New Zealanders around the greens and they were often short. On the other hand. Miss Campbell’s grand seconds gave the New Zealanders an advantage and Miss Wickham kept the ball well up with chips or bunker explosions They were out in 38, two over and were 3 over when the match finished In the other foursomes Misses Masters and Cheney were far superior to Miss Stubbs and Mrs H. McDiarmid. of Hamilton, winning 5 and 4. The New Zealand pair made

far too many errors and did not recover well enough. When Miss Stubbs failed to get out of a bunker the first time at the ninth, the Australians were 4 up at the turn and they went to 5 up after the tenth. Results (New Zealand names first).— . Singles Miss N. Campbell halved with Miss B. Cheney. Miss U. Wickham lost to Miss P. Borthwick, 2 and 1. Miss S. Grigg lost to Miss M. Masters, 3 and 2. Miss M. Stubbs lost to Mrs J. Fisher, 2 down. Miss S. Chapman lost to Miss G. Small, 4 and 3. Foursomes Misses Campbell and Wickham beat Miss Borthwick and Mrs M. Dawson. 4 and 3. Miss Stubbs and Mrs H. McDiarmid lost to Misses Masters and Cheney, 5 and 4. Australia won by 51 matches to 11.