Spectacular Second Round By Miss Ensor

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 11

Spectacular Second Round By Miss Ensor

(By

R.T. BRITTENDEN)

A barrage of birdies, most of them when they were urgently needed, took Miss M. Ensor into a one-stroke lead after 36 holes of the Canterbury 54-hole women’s stroke championship at Waitikiri yesterday.

Her second round of 76, quite the best of the day, put her just ahead of the defending champion, Miss S. Grigg, and Miss C. Sullivan. Miss Ensor’s second round was an extraordinarily spectacular effort, for she was home in par figures, 37, and when she was not scoring birdies—there were five in the round—she seemed to spend rather too much time putting. She had two threeputt greens, and one on which astonishingly, she took four putts.

The golf in the morning was distinctly drab. There were fingers of frost across fairway and green when play began, and the hint of autumn seemed to chill nearly all the competitors, who played without confidence or conviction, particularly on the greens. But the events of the afternoon were genuinely exciting.

The morning leader was Miss Sullivan, with 82, followed by Miss Grigg on 83, Mrs J. Lees and Miss L. Hillis on 84, Miss Ensor and Miss S. Thompson on 85. After the first nine holes of the afternoon round had been played, Miss Grigg, Mrs Lees, Miss Ensor and Miss Sullivan were down to a stern battle.

The lead changed repeatedly, with the birdies and the blunders by all parties. But Miss Ensor deserved to be in front, for when the pressure was greatest, she played better than the others. If there were drifts of leaves here and there, and wet greens in the opening stages, conditions for golf could hardly have been more pleasant, and the scoring generally was disappointing. Apart from Miss Ensor and Miss Grigg, the only player to break 80 was Mrs R. R. Newton, who fought hard in the afternoon to card a 79. The only early excitement was provided by Mrs J. Wilson, of Hamner Springs. Her tee shot at the short fifth very nearly made the day memorable. the ball rolled gently up to the pin, struck it, and stayed out by an inch or two. AGGRESSIVE METHODS During the morning round. Miss Sullivan looked the most likely to lead. She made mistakes, but her aggressive methods, and her powerful hitting, gave her an air of confidence nearly all the others lacked.

Her speed of swing told against her, in the end. In the afternoon, the difficulty of achieving proper timing produced costly errors. She hit many magnificent shots, but when the top players were engaged in their sturdy battle, Miss Ensor’s relaxed methods looked the more impressive. Miss Grigg did not hit the ball very well in the morning, but she played far better in her second round, when she came back in 38, one over the card. In that period her steadiness around and on the greens spoke eloquently of her temperament, and experience.

The tremendous potential of Miss Sullivan’s golf was often apparent. In the morning she was well through the par-5 fifteenth hole with a drive and a 4-wood At the sixteenth, she hit another tremendous drive, knocked her 9-iron on the head, but from far beyond the green, chipped back dead. NEW SET OF IRONS Notice of Miss Ensor’s intentions for the afternoon were given during her morning round. She had a new set of irons to master, and after seven holes, she was nine more than the card. However, she dropped only three more strokes in the .last 11 holes, and by the end was showing the freedom and confidence which marks her best golf. Mrs Lees, an experienced representative. player, and one who can get the ball out off the tees with the best of them, needed only to hole a few putts of reasonable length to have been in front at lunch. She again played well in the afternoon, until a dreadful crash at the seventeenth. The ebb and flow of the struggle over the last nine holes was delightfully enters taining. After 27 holes, Miss Sullivan, 121, led Mrs Lees by one stroke, Misses Grigg and

Ensor by two. Miss Ensor, with two birdies going out, had scored 39, notwithstanding that awful four-putt performance at the eighth. Mrs Lees had done best, with 38, Miss Sullivan had also broken 40, and Miss Grigg had dropped back a little with her 41.

But it was Miss Grigg who started the homeward run, with her birdie 3 at the tenth. Miss Ensor, after threeputting the eleventh, had a birdie at the twelfth (455 yards) and Miss Grigg a splendid birdie at the longest hole, the 470-yard thirteenth, where Miss Ensor again threeputted. BIRDIE EXCHANGE

Holing a difficult curling 12-footer, Miss Ensor had her 2 at the fourteenth and then scored another birdie when she played the fifteenth with authority. Miss Sullivan also had a birdie there and so did Miss Grigg, with a huge putt from the back of the green. Over the last nine holes, all four leading players were in front at one time or another. Leading scores are:— Sliver Division

1S1: Min M. Ensor, 85, 76. 162: Min S. Grigg, S 3, 79; Mira C. Sullivan, 82, 80. 166: Mrs J. Lees, 84, 82. 167: Miss L. Hillis, 84, 83. 168: Mrs H. Newton, 89, 79. 170: Miss M. Doherty, 87, 83; Mrs V. G. Henderson, 87, 83. 172: Mrs G. Simpson, 90, 82. 173: Miss S. Thompson, 83, 88. Bronze Division

190: Mrs D. M. Fisher, 95, 95. 194: Mrs D. J. D. Smith, 97, 97. 196: Mrs B. T. Chillis, 99, 97; Mrs B. Vaughan, 97. 99. Handicap events

Medal, silver division, morning: Mrs B. M. Parker, 91, 18— 73. Afternoon: Mrs B. B. Newton, 79, 9—70. Bronze, morning: Mrs I. Dickson, 101, 34—67. Afternoon. Mrs E. D. Lawson, 98, 29—69. Stableford, silver: Mrs V. G. Henderson, 33 points. Bronze: Mrs H. E. Cook, 35 points. Teams’ match: Mesdames H. B. Drinnan, F. Innes and G. B. Battersby, 227; Mesdames D. Fisher, W. Head and S. Fox, 229.