SPECTACULAR RECOVERIES IN WELLINGTON VICTORY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31340, 10 April 1967, Page 3

SPECTACULAR RECOVERIES IN WELLINGTON VICTORY

The tide of golfing success ebbed and flowed at Waitikiri yesterday before Wellington beat Canterbury, nine matches to seven, in the annual inter-provincial fixture.

The Wellington team, on its way south tt defend the Freyberg Rose Bowl at Dunedin, looked a probable winner at lunch, when it led Canterbury by three matches.

Resolute play by the home side reversed the position in the afternoon, and at a late stage Canterbury was in a position to snatch the victory which Wellington has been seeking in this fixture for four years. But from two games which Canterbury appeared certain to win, Wellington salvaged a win and a half. Tipped The Scales Wellington’s hero was P. R. Rankin, whose spectacular recovery against J. R. Broadhurst in the last match of the day tipped the scales in Wellington’s favour. Broadhurst was four up at the turn and was three holes clear of his rival with five to play. Then one bad shot by Broadhurst and three birdies by the imperturbable Rankin put the Wellington man in front. Broadhurst had to win the final hole to square the match and his prospects looked bright when Rankin’s second shot kicked sideways off the bank surrounding the eight-

eenth green. But the Wellington player recovered well and holed a sft putt to halve the hole and win the match. A few minutes earlier the Wellington veteran, J. M. Lacy, had also completed a resolute fight-back by squaring his match with J. F. Logie after being four down at the turn. Logie appeared to relax the pressure after building his long lead and Lacy, who was painfully slow but painstaking in his approach and treatment of all his shots, gradually won back valuable ground. Scoring Not Good

It was a gloriously warm day at Waitikiri and the wellgroomed course beckoned invitingly to the players to display their known skills. The general scoring, however, was not outstanding, the psychological pressures of match play taking their toll on the 16 players who took part in the match. The former national champion and Wellington captain, J. D. Durry, was the most consistent of the top men. Although he has not played at Waitikiri since the 1965 Freyberg tournament, he went round twice without experiencing any great difficulties. Durry’s relentless par golf won him a comfortable victory against the Canterbury No. 1, E. H. M. Richards, and he had some unconvincing form by D. R. Hope to fhank for an easy win in his other game. Both Richards and Hope, however, did well against the Wellington No. 2, I. D. Woodbury, who was the New Zealand reserve player last year. Richards played tight golf to recover from two down to square after holding a fleeting lead on the way. Putting Failures Hope was wholly convincing in carrying the fight to the Wellington man, finishing him off at the fifteenth. Woodbury, like most of his teammates, found the pace of the greens much slower than those in Wellington and his lack of success in putting gradually eroded his confidence. Durry, Rankin and P. K. Creighton each gained two wins for Wellington, but the only Canterbury player to win his matches was the athletic J. A. On, who, regrettably, will not be in action at St. Clair. On, playing at No. 7, produced consistent par golf to beat M. McDonald and then started with a burst of 3-4-3-3-3 to be five up after five holes against J. A. Sharp. The necessary formalities were completed at the sixteenth.

Creighton played impressively for Wellington, easing ahead of the steady J. F. Logie in the morning and the ebullient R. K. Atkinson in the afternoon. Creighton’s game has always been welltailored and now that he is fully fit he should be among the prominent players at Dunedin. Three-Putting Rash The Canterbury captain, R. E. Clements, suffered an unaccountable rash of threeputts in the late stages of his game against Rankin, who appeared to be doing his best to keep Clemente company. But Clements three-putted thrice to Rankin’s twice and therein lay the fate of the game. Clements played some excellent shots—and a few a little out of sorts—in beating J. E. Meikle, who learned his golf in the Golf Foundation classes in Christchurch a decade ago. Broadhurst hit a host of magnificent drives during the day, but found Meikle a little too consistent about the greens. Atkinson enjoyed conspicu-

ous success in his play from tee to green but could not find the right formula on the greens. He beat Lacy well enough, but the tidy Creighton gave nothing away. Canterbury’s No. 8, R. M. Farrant, shaped promisingly. He was three down after six holes against Sharp and although he played the last nine in par figures he found the leeway too great. In the afternoon he engaged McDonald in a keen cut and thrust encounter, and emerged victorious. Results (Canterbury names first): —

E. H. M. Richards halved with I. D. Woodbury, lost to J. D. Durry, 4 and 2. D. R. Hope lost to Durry, 5 and 4; beat Woodbury, 4 and 3. R. E. Clements lost to P. R. Rankin, 2 and 1; beat J. E. Meikle, 2 and 1. J. R. Broadhurst lost to Meikle, 2 and 1; lost to Rankin, 1 down. R. K. Atkinson beat J. M. Lacy, 5 and 3; lost to P. K. Creighton, 3 and 2; J. F. Logie lost to Creighton, 2 and 1; halved with Lacy; J. A. Orr beat M. McDonald, 5 and 3; beat J. A. Sharp, 3 and 2. R. M. Farrant lost to Sharp, 2 down; beat McDonald, 3 and 1.