Steady Golf To Win Foursomes Title

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31498, 12 October 1967, Page 15

Steady Golf To Win Foursomes Title

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

Steady, methodical golf took Miss J. Hanratty (Wellington) and Miss M. Ensor (Christchurch) to their first national titles when the New Zealand women’s foursomes were played at Shirley yesterday.

They had two rounds of 77, four over scratch, and won by one stroke from Miss W. Bryant and Miss G. Taylor, of Te Awamutu, both members of the New Zealand team in Canada this year.

The event rather lacked drama, in its final stages, but there was ample material for it in the background stories.

Miss Ensor, who recently returned from a holiday in Australia, was runner-up in the Victorian championship and won through to the semifinals of the Australian championship, although she had merely “taken her clubs” and was more interested in the holiday than golf.

SPLENDID TEAM Miss Hanratty resumed playing golf only a fortnight ago. after a lay-off of eight weeks through indisposition. But neither of them looked anything but form golfers, and they made a splendid team.

The leaders in the morning were Misses Bryant and Taylor, with 76, and it was a rather disappointing best score, in splendid weather, with the fairways affording run, and the greens fast and true.

They struggled somewhat in the afternoon, and their misfortunes were crowned at the seventeenth, where Miss Taylor played a splendid uphill approach putt, but Miss Bryant failed to hole a short one. Misses Ensor and Hanratty played solid golf in the morning. Occasionally an iron would be off line, but they made few mistakes, and there was a spectacular recovery by Miss Ensor at the eighth, where she found the green from an unhappy position in the trees. Miss Hanratty putted very

soundly, but without luck, and it was Miss Ensor who gave them a birdie at the 478yard sixteenth with a putt of 20ft. FINISHED STRONGLY

They played well in the afternoon until they dropped two shots at the fourteenth, and another at the short fifteenth. But a fine chip by Miss Ensor gave them a 4 at the seventeenth and they finished soundly With another par 4 to keep their one-stroke lead.

Among the most impressive players were Miss H. Booth (Poverty Bay) and Miss N. White (Titirangi), also members of this year’s New Zealand team. Both hit the ball well, and they look strong prospects for the New Zealand championship, which begins with the first qualifying round today. They were not without misfortune. In the morning, at the short thirteenth, Miss White struck a splendid tee shot which left the ball 18 Inches from the hole. Miss Booth, in addressing her ball, touched it while transferring her club from in front of the ball to behind it, and incurred a penalty. They had their 3, but it was a costly lapse. GOOD, BAD MIXTURE

This talented pair began the second round disastrously, with a three-over 7. and after three holes they had dropped five strokes. Then they played good, controlled golf, with par after par, not dropping another shot until the sixteenth. Miss Booth holed a fine downhill putt for their 4 at the seventeenth, but she bit a loose drive at the last hole and when Miss White had taken the ball from the trees. Miss Booth duffed her chip, and they finished with a 5. The best round of the day —after a dreadful morning—eame from the national stroke champion, Mrs N. D. Cullen, of Invercargill, and the former New Zealand champion, Miss U. Wickham (Tauranga).

They played superbly, finding green after green in regulation figures, and putting soundly. A dropped stroke at the sixth was recovered with a birdie at the seventh, and when they holed out for 4 at the tenth, they were one under the card. They weakened only at the end of the round, dropping a shot at each of the last two holes. The first round of the MellSop Cup, and the first qualifying round for the championship, will be played today.