One-Handed Golfer Wins Cup At Hagley

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 5

One-Handed Golfer Wins Cup At Hagley

A golfer who has proved that the loss of a band is no handicap provided the player is keen and prepared to practise. is A. W. Lewis of the Hagley Club. Last Saturday, after three week-ends of otose matches, Lewis won the Hagley Cup. Lewis, who as the result of an accident some years ago had his right arm removed just below the elbow, won the tournament by sheer determination; during it he spent all his spare time practising. When playing golf. Lewis ties the thumb and the forefinger of his artificial hand together and he considers this makes him “just as good as .he rest.” He said, however, that he does get the power from his shots entirely from hds left hand while the right, or artificial hand, acts as a steadier. As with most golfers. Lewis said that his main trouble was keeping has head down

rather than any difficulty with his artificial hand.

Lewis’s victory in the tournament was not easily won. In the sema-ftnal he won at the nineteenth after two rounds had been played and both had been halved. In an earlier round a second match had been necessary in order to gain a decision.

Lewis won tihe final, oneup, after sinking what he described as "easily a 30-foot putt” at the 17th green. Lewis has been playing golf regularly for about seven or eiglk years and this was not his flr=>t tournament success. In 1955 he won the Been Memorial Cup at Hagley and two years later he was run-ner-up in the same cup. At the present time Lewie’s handicap is 24 and the other entrants in the tournament, a total of about 30. had handicaps from the 15 to the 21 mark. During the tournament his rounds in stroke play were consistently around 87.