Russell Grace Cup For Thames Valley

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 13

Russell Grace Cup For Thames Valley

The seventeenth hole in the last of the 216 matches played gave Thames Valley-Bay of Plenty the Russell Grace Cup for 1964 at Shirley yesterday—and the matches between Canterbury and Waikato-King Country. Until Miss S. Grigg (Canterbury) became dormy one against Miss P. Harrison (Waikato-King Country), there was every prospect of Thames Valley and Waikato finishing first equal.

It was a thrilling finish to a highly interesting tournament. And it was typical of golf’s strange ways—and not necessarily women’s golf—that the only team to go through unbeaten, Auckland, . should finish third. In the last round Auckland beat Thames Valley-Bay of Plenty, but not by the 5-1 margin it needed to draw level on aggregate games. Miss Grigg’s last round, which kept Waikato out, was the finest of the tournament: her 73 set an unofficial course record. Interest Until End But there were several other outstanding matches, and a sustained' interest, for the final positions were not clear until the very end. Even then, there was some confusion among the uninitiated about the placings; for the six- teams which had had byes benefited from a sealing-up process in the points. A cool morning gave way to a mellow autumn afternoon, and the players in the final round responded well to the excellent course conditions. Here and there footmarks on the greens caused some bother, but that was almost inevitable after three days of traffic. When the day began, Thames Valley (20), Auckland (18), Waikato (17) and Wellington (16) were the only teams with prospects of success, and Wellington soon dropped out, beaten 5-1 by Thames Valley. Auckland struggled to a half with Taranaki, but Waikato won all six games against Otago. Needed 6-0 Victory So when the final round started, Auckland needed to beat Thames Valley, 6-0, to win, 5-1 to tie; and Waikato’s best chance was a reasonably even division of games between those teams. After Auckland had narrowly beaten Thames Valley, Waikato, following behind in it' match with Canterbury, n Jed a 5-1 win to head off the field. But Miss B. Murray came in with a win for Canterbury, then Miss M. Ensor with a half. But the three other Canterbury players all lost narrowly and at the rear,

Miss Grigg and Miss Harrison were square, two holes from home. At the seventeenth, Miss Harrison, bunkered from the tee, had to chip out short of the creek, but she played a fine iron to the green. Miss Grigg, just off the green for two, chipped dead and Miss Harrison could not hole her considerable putt. Then Miss Grigg finished off her finest performance with a remarkable display of concentration. A clean, straight drive found the fairway’s centre. A photographer, kneeling down a few yards away, trained his camera on her as she prepared to play her third. Mastered Nerves Miss Grigg hesitated, moved back from the ball, practised again. But she clearly mastered an attack of nerves, .if she suffered them, for her pitch sat snugly down beside the pin and she sank the putt for her sixth birdie. .Although Miss Grigg had played solidly for almost all the tourrrament there was- little hint of the spectacular, about the start of her .game with Miss Harrison. She dropped a stroke at the first, two more at the fourth. Then she had a birdie at the fifth, and the Seventh was halved in birdies, where Miss Harrison sank a 15-footer and Miss Grigg one of three feet. At the- eighth Miss Grigg’s 16foot putt went in for another birdie, and she was out in 38. one over scratch. put she went to one down after dropping strokes at the tenth aand eleventh, only to start -a succession of four 3’s — a birdie at the twelfth, and another' at the fourteenth where she chipped- in from five feet short of the green. At the short fifteenth Miss Harrison had her turn—a chip over a bunker and into the hole. Miss Hajrison was round tn 75, two over scratch. Miss Grigg was three ’under for the last 14 holes. Spectacular Shots' Although the scoring was not so startling, the match between Miss U. Wickham (Thames Valley) and Miss N. White (Auckland) was just as exciting. There were mistakes, bu< there were' many splendid and spectacular shots. . • At the first green. Miss White’s chip ‘ looked likely to run far beyond the green, but the ariuminium poles now used at Shirley have their merits; her ball struck the flag-stick at tremendous pace but stopped only an inch or so from the cup. At the second .Miss Wickham was far down, the bank at the left of the green, but. very nearly holed out her pitch shot back. She played another great Ditch at the long fourth, only to miss a birdie putt of 18 inches. So it went on—never anything between them, and with Miss White’s fine putting touch an insurance against Miss Wick-

ham’s greater length off the tees. It was not all top quality; Miss White was twice in the trees at the sixth, and Miss Wickham twice in the ditch at the eighth. And every now and then Miss Wickham missed a little putt. Repeated Her Birdie The turning point again was at the Sixteenth, where Miss Wickham repeated her feat of the previous day by holding out a chip for a birdie from theback of the green. MisS White made a great effort to save the match with a grand iron into the eighteenth green. Her putt of seven feet seemed certain to drop, but somehow got past the hole. Miss Harrison, in the morning, was given a fright by Miss W. Dillon (Otago), who holed four 20-foot putts in a scratch outward half. Miss Harrison came back strongly and Miss Dillon seemed to have cracked under pressure, but at the fifteenth she holed another enormous putt for a win and was two up with three to Play. Miss Harrison's three bogeys gave her three wins and the match. Her temperament has seldom been questioned. Miss Wickham was three down after four holes against Miss H. Peters ■ (Wellington) in the morning, but was too steady after that. Miss B. Stafford (South Canterbury) was out in scratch figures in her afternoon match with Mrs J. Mangan (ManawattiWanganul). When she was three up after four holes, she looked likely to cause a major upset, but Mrs Mangan settled down to steady golf, and shb dropped only one stroke in her last nine holes. Miss Stafford could not quite meet such demands. Mrs Mangan was scratch in the morning when her match finished on the twelfth green. Defeat Of Miss Butler The day’s upset was the resounding victory of Mrs O. Johnston (Thames Valley) against the national junior, champion. Miss J. Butler (Auckland). MiSs Butler made a few errors through the fairways, most of them on the greens. But Mrs Johnson, a former South African hockey International, played relentlessly accurate golf. She was out in scratch 37. and then led six up. Miss Butler missed a win or two with poor putts: But at the ninth; badly placed in a bunker, she played a remarkable shot which almost gave her a birdie two. Coming home, Mrs Johnson weakened a little, and Miss Butler, from dorrnie six-down, won three successive holes. But the result was almost inevitable. Canterbury, finishing the tournament in seventh place, just escaped the indignity of being one of the six teams with byes when the tournament is played in Waikato next year. In the final results, the six teams which had byes during the tournament have had their points scaled up proportionately. The final table was. Thames Valley-Bay of Plenty 27j, Waikato-King Country 26J, Auckland 24}, South Canterbury 21, Wellington 21, ManawatuWanganui 20. Canterbury 17, Northland 16. Taranaki 15, Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bav 14 Otago 12}. Southland 63, NelsonWest Coast-Marlborough 6.