FREYBERG GOLF Canterbury Keeps Unbeaten Record

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30745, 8 May 1965, Page 13

FREYBERG GOLF Canterbury Keeps Unbeaten Record

u u i a str °ke of good fortune, the draw for the rreyberg Rose Bowl interprovincial golf championship has bought together the two leading contenders, Canterbury and \\ aikato, in the final round at Waitikiri this afternoon.

Both teams preserved their unbeaten records yesterday, but Canterbury had by far the stiffer assignment. It defeated the sound Otago side in the morning and emerged from a tense afternoon encounter with the holder, Manawatu-Wanganui, with a 5-1 victory.

W aikato gained easy wins over the two teams at the rear of the field. Gisborne and Southland.

Wellington, Otago and Manawatu-Wang-anui, all with three wins, retained slim chances of success last night.

But if the results follow the pattern established on the first two days, they may thwart each other in the final series of games.

From the point of view of individual successes, Canterbury and Waikato are again to the fore. Four of the home side are unbeaten and two of them, R. E. Clements and K. D. Foxton, have won all four matches. But Waikato has three men with this distinction—E. J McDougall, T. Ormsby, and J B Stevens. K. E. Carter, the Wellington No. 6, is the only other player with four wins The points are. Waikato. Canterbury, 4: Wellington, Manawatu-Wanganui. Otago. 3; Buller-Westland-Marlbor-ough-Nelson. Mid-South Canterbury, 2; Hawke’s Bay, 11; Taranaki-Central King Country, 1; Auckland, J; Gisborne, Southland, 0.

Murray v. McDougall This afternoon’s match between R. C. Murray, the leading Canterbury player, and McDougall, is likely to command the biggest gallery of the tournament. Both are unbeaten. which is cause enough for a large following But McDougall has yet to beat his fellow international and with so much at stake the game could produce some of the most dramatic moments of this rose bowl series. Yesterday brought grey, cheerless skies and a bitter wind to Waitikiri but the genial McDougall scorned to wear a jersey and continued his run of booming drives and superb mid-iron shots Off the tees and along the fairways his opponents were

struggling in his wake but on the greens they came within striking distance, for McDougall’s putting troubles of the first day were still in evi-

dence. “It's not the greens—it’s

[me” he admitted afterwards. I “I’m not stroking the ball j well.” Extra Putter McDougall has brought two I putters to Waitikiri with him j and the central-shafted one 'seems to serve him best. But I he said yesterday he had not I made up his mind on which to discard. ! He found the greens tricky (when putting from three to ' four feet and was in difficulI ties when trying to putt dead. If the ball missed the hole it I tended to roll past rapidly. 1 After a heavy dew yesteri day morning the greens i tended to cut up slightly i around the hole and sprig ; marks caused the ball to Jump around a little. But I they have lasted two days' ‘ hard use well Up-I)own Scoring I The strong, searching wind : brought additional problems ; yesterday. The top player : for Manawatu-Wanganui. J. P ! Means, observed that on the i first day the greens had bite t and held the approach shot I well. Yesterday, however, the j ball tended to skid across the ‘green unless a well lofted shot was played; but this, in ! turn, was risky because of i the wind. Means met Murray in one of the day's needle matches. It did not produce golf of good quality, but it was absorbing because of the closeness of the scores and the rapid fluctuations of fortune, as first one player and i then the other departed from j the tight, dog-leg fairways. It was unfortunate, but perj haps inevitable that the fate of the game should hang on one such straying shot. At j the final hole, the ninth, with : the match square. Means hit {his tee shot well to the left, i by the practice fairway, and i there was some delay while it was debated whether or not j the ball was out of bounds. ‘ Members of the disputes comI mittee ruled that it was, and ■ Murray had only to play safely to the green to win the hole I and the match.

| Earlier, on the first fairway, 1 a member of the disputes com- , mittee was called to decide if ■ Means could remove a 3ft ' stake embedded ip the rough

i immediately in front of his ball. This time the deci-

sion was in his favour and he played a brilliant iron shot over some lofty pine trees only to find a bunker. He carried the brow at the second—the test of a big hitter—hitting a No. 7 iron shot to the green, 25ft from the hole, and rolling in the putt for an eagle. 6in From Hole Murray’s moment of brilliance was at the fourteenth, where his No. 3 iron shot pitched 6in from the hole and finished four feet past. But both men had more periods of exasperation than satisfaction. At the short fifth they both caught the right-hand bunker; Murray failed to emerge and Means exploded right across the green into the left-hand bunker. They settled for a half, five shots each.

If Murray and Means had cause to be dissatisfied with their performances, they could take heart from the adventures of S. G Jones (Hawke's Bay) and F A. Malloy (Auckland) Three-putt greens were commonplace and Malloy, who ap peared to have the game in hand most of the time, almost allowed the erratic Jones to draw level.

On the third green from home Jones's ball was near the edge of the hole, providing a distraction, but Malloy did not ask him to mark it and missed from 30in At the next green Malloy missed from 18in.

But on the last green, only a foot from the hole for a half ar c the match, a grinning Malloy made an exaggerated show of marking his ball before cleaning it—a mimed reference to the incident which cost him a hole in his game with Mur raj yesterday Impressive Hitting Canterbury's performances yesterday were heartening Clements, who has given ground to no-one, continued to hit the ball impressively. His splendid iron play was instrumental in his defeat of the previously un beaten K J. S. Smith (Mana watu-Wanganui), and he was far too sound round the green for the erratic J. S. Roche (Otago) and beat him handsomely.

Foxton. too, continued his unbeaten path and his victory against R. A. Mahokey (Manawatu), a match player of great value, was a damaging blow for the holder. Mohekey played some excellent shots under pressure, but Foxton, although he had trouble with his irons, re covered well.

With the match square. Fox ten cut his second into a clump of willows at the final hole and. faced with a difficult chip through a narrow gap, put the ball Sft from the pin and holed the putt. Mohekey played an excellent No. 6 iron second to the green to be 20ft from the hole, but, to his mortification, threeputted and lost the hole and the match

C. W. Caldwell lost a game of fluctuating fortunes to C. R. Colquhoun (Otago), but scored an important win against the .accomplished J. G. Stern (Manawatu). Caldwell won four holes in succession in the middle stages, and although Stern fought back diligently, Cald well’s steady game brought him home a comfortable winner, 3 and 2.

Poor putting on the first nine holes and hooked tee shots after the turn, cost E. H. M. Richards his game with J. R Howorth (Otago). His putting improved greatly, and he hit some crashing drives against aonther burly farmer, J. F. Farley (Manawatu-Wanganui). but the latter discovered his best putting form of the tournament and took the match.