Canada Cup Stiff Test For Golfers

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29974, 8 November 1962, Page 7

Canada Cup Stiff Test For Golfers

VEW ZEALAND'S profesatonal pair, R. J. Charles and E. A Sourtherden,. match their ability against the world in the tenth Canada Cup golf tournament in Argentina today. The 72-hole professional championship of the world lasts for flour days, and 34 countries will be represented by two-man teams at the Jockey Club course sA San Isutor, 15 miles from Buenos Aires. This tournament, which has grown from an annual match between Canada and the United States into world-wide proportions, is a team and individual championship. The team I title was won in its inaug- j ural year in 1953 by Argentina, and has since been won flour times by America, i twice by Australia, and once each by Ireland and Japan. The tenth tournament shares one factor with the first—-that tiie United States will start firm favourite to win, America’s record is unsurpassed—four victories and three times runner-up in nine competattons. The man who has played the leading role in his country’s successes is a golfer-extraordinary, Samuel Jackson Snead, of Hot Springs, Virginia, who was in the winning team of 1956 with Ben Hogan, won with Arnold Palmer in 1960, and again with Jimmy Demaret in 1961. Snead, winner of 112 tournament titles and close to half a million pounds during the 28 yeans he has been playing as a

professional, is also the de* fending individual titleholder. He scored a record 272 last year ait Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico. This

time Snead is again partnered by Palmer, and while Snead may have lost scene of his brilliance this year, they remain a team of tremendous talent. Palmer is undoubtedly the world’s top professional of the day —a household name whereever golf is played. Argentina, the surprise first winner of the championship, and runner-up the next year to Australia, will be represetnrted by Roberto de Vicenzo and Fediil de Luca; de Vicenzo played in both the 1953 and 1954 matches, and as the host team, Argentina will have local knowledge of the course and the weather in its favour.

Australia, too, has a winning combination in Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle, who took the title in 1954 and 1959. On the latter occasion Thomson, four times British Open champion, lost the individual title in a playoff with the Canadian, Stan Leonard. Nagle, whose season’s successes include winning the New Zealand Open title, and finishing second in both the British and Australian Open championships, will pose possibly the greatest threat of the United States’ hopes of completing a hat-trick of victories. Another potential threat will come from South Africa, led by the man who has taken out of America more

golf winnings than any other overseas player, 26-year-old Gary Player. The little South African’s partner will be the former South African amateur champion, Dennis Hutchinson. Of the four teams entered by the British Isles, only Ireland has distinguished itself, with its victory in 1958. Of that successful team, Christy O’Connor is again playing, partnered by Jimmy Martin. England, Scotland, and Wales will be represented by tournament-wise pairs in Peter Alliss-Bernard Hunt, John Panton-Eric Brown, and Dai Rees-David Thomas respectively, and these Ryder Cup veterans are very capable of upsetting the United States. In this distinguished company, Charles and Southerden face a tremendous task, but so well has Charles

played this year and so much greater is his golfing stature than it was 12 months ago, that he should be up with the high and mighty when the final positions are tabled. Southerden, recent winner of the New Zealand professional championship, is unlikely to form a winning team with Charles, and New Zealand may have to wait until a player of Charles’ ability joins the professional ranks for a pair that could carry off the trophy. The young Auckland amateur, W. J. Godfrey, who has ambitions to be a professional, may prove to be that player. The scratch-70 course of

6746 yards long is expected to favour accuracy rather than long hitting. It was planned by the famous Scottish golf course architect, Alistair MacKenzie, who has made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. He did a masterful job on ground not particularly suited for a golf course. The terrain is flat, so tons of dirt were carted to the course tor the making of hazards. MacKenzie's task was long but rewarding. A feature of the course are the “punch bowl” greens, with mounds of 14ft high surrounding the backs and sides of the putting areas. AU the fairways are tree-lined and the turf is springy and in excellent condition. MacKenzie built a course to test the greatest—and the Canada Cup wiU be won by the team with the ability, the courage, and the resource to match its variety and difficulty.