Fortune Deserted Canterbury In Rose Bowl Golf

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31062, 18 May 1966, Page 15

Fortune Deserted Canterbury In Rose Bowl Golf

rrHE reasons for CanterA bury’s lack of success in the Freyberg Rose Bowl contest at Auckland last week are hard to fathom. The Canterbury men hit the ball as well as any of the other players on display and there was certainly no lack of ability or application among the six who sought to uphold the fine reputation won on the fairways and greens of Waitikiri 12 months ago.

Yet the team finished the competition with the distressing record of one win —against the lowly BullerWestland - Marlborough-Nel-son side—two halves and three losses.

In several of these encounters victory seemed to be in Canterbury’s grasp, only to prove elusive in the final analysis. The classic illustration w'as the game against Wellington, the winner of the Rose Bowl. At the half-way stage Canterbury was ahead in four

games, square In the fifth and R. E. Clements was one down to J. D. Durry in the sixth. Nine holes later Canterbury had lost, 5HBefore the rain started on the afternoon of the second day, Canterbury was ahead in every match against Taranaki. Then the rain pelted down and Taranaki took fresh heart; R. L. Cameron was three down to D. R. Hope with six holes to play but by hitting low-flighted irons which scudded across the pools of water on the greens, the nuggety Taranaki man won, two up. The game finished in darkness with Canterbury drawing, three-all.

Par golf at Freyberg tournaments is often not good enough to earn victory, as Canterbury found to its cost. R. K. Atkinson was one over par for 14 holes but lost by the huge margin of 6 and 4 to P. Watson (Bay of Plenty), a tall youngster

who had played so badly In practice that his fellow players resigned themselves to “carrying” him for the tournament. Atkinson played the first four holes of this game in par figures—and found himself four down. Clements had a similar experience against the Auckland No. 1, B. P. Vezich. In the first six holes Vezich had only seven putts and Clements was four down, although he was square with Other matches were lost for different reasons. J. R. Broadhurst, playing well, was one up with four to play against the wily old master, B. M. Silk (Mana-watu-Wanganui). “I have had two twos at this hole,” remarked Silk as the players stood on the tee at the par three fifteenth, “and I would not mind betting I get another one.” Broadhurst watched in dismay as Silk’s prediction came true.

At the succeeding hoi® Broadhurst played safely, with Silk in trouble. But Silk played a splendid shot to the green and holed his putt for a win. He held his advantage to the end. The greens at Grange, with their clay bases, provided a reliable surface after rain. But after a drying wind had been blowing, a well hit shot to the green was likely to go bouncing through the back. The undulating nature of many of the greens placed a premium on selecting the right line for a putt One of the three members of last year’s winning team, E. H. M. Richards, was Canterbury’s best points winner at Grange, with four wins and a half. He has had 12 wins and three halves in his 24 rose bowl matches. J. L. Logie, who made a good debut at No. 6, was unbeaten until the final day, scoring three wins and a half.

It was Clements’s twelfth rose bowl contest and although it was not among his more successful performances he gained considerable stature from his defeat of J. P. Means (Mana-watu-Wanganui), a member of the New Zealand team last year. His two points and a half enabled him to pass K. D. Foxton’s aggregate and become the highest points scorer for Canterbury in rose bowl golf. He has had 38 wins and eight halves in 72 maitches.