Newdick Inconsistent Over Last 8 Holes

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30587, 2 November 1964, Page 14

Newdick Inconsistent Over Last 8 Holes

The Harewood golf course looked no more than a pleasant exercise for the young New Zealand professional, R. R. Newdick, when he played the first nine holes yesterday in four under par. But by the eighteenth the course had retained its reputation of being a thorough test of good golf; Newdick dropped strokes at six of the homeward nine holes to finish with a one-over-par 74. The visiting professional was taking part in a four-ball, bestbail exhibition match with the New Zealand representative, R.

C. Murray, of Russley, and two of the Harewood Young People’s Club best products, D. R. Hope and B. C. Taylor. Taylor, whose handicap is four, teamed with Newdick to beat Murray and Hope, 5 and 3. Play continued to the eighteenth, where the unofficial card showed that Hope had matched Newdick with a round of 74, followed by Taylor 75 and Murray 77 Splendid First Half In an interview with “The Press” on Friday, Newdick had said the demands of striving for extra length had caused a lack of consistency in his game. His display yesterday supported that contention. For the first nine holes he cut a spelndid figure. His drives were reasonably long and ad mirably straight, his accurate iron play enabled him to reach most greens in regulation figures and his putts were well struck and rarely off line. A splendid 325 yards drive with a back wind off the tenth tee gave no hint of the irritating little inconsistences that were to beset Newdick’s game before the eighteenth green was reached. There was a strong chance of a birdie at the tenth, but his short game faltered and the hole yielded only a bogey. Then there were dropped strokes at each of the succeeding three holes and a further four strokes were lost in the last four. Sandwiched between these misfortunes were two birdies at par four holes, but they were not sufficient to stop the general decline. Trouble with Trees But for the magnetic effect of the trees on his ball, Murray would have played a far more prominent part in the match. At eight of the holes he was called on to play shots from positions in and around the pines, and' It said much for his powers of recovery that most of these shots gave him a fighting chance for a bogey. But the cumulative effect must have had an effect on his concentration. Murray, however, did produce two of the best putts of the afternoon. At the fourth green he judged the borrow superbly from 18ft for a birdie, and at the eighteenth he was successful with a spectacular effort from 40ft.

Newdick’s sustained brilliance in the early stages took much of the attention away from Hope and Taylor, but they played soundly to reach the turn all square. On the homeward run they had better figures than their distinguished partners, Hope returning a 37 and Taylor 38, compared with Murray’s 39 and Newdick’s 41. Hope outdrove both Murray and Newdick at some holes, and while his drives were not as well positioned, his excellent iron play gave him several attacking chances on the greens. But his putting lacked consistency, and two good chances were lost by three-putting. It was significant, however, that he was closer to the pin than his rivals on several occasions. Taylor made a mostjuisptcious start. The only player to use a wood at the first, he put his ball 18ft from the hole and sank the putt for a birdie. Thereafter his driving was the least impressive part of his game, but his chipping was often brilliant and his putting sound. He chipped in for a bogey three at the thirteenth, and at the eighth played a splendidly Judged shot from sloping ground to within lain of the hole.

The performances of both Hope and Taylor in such celebrated company must have given great stimulus to the golfing ambitions of the boys and girls in the gallery.