Wellington Holds On To Half-Point Golf Lead

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32252, 21 March 1970, Page 13

Wellington Holds On To Half-Point Golf Lead

(From J.K. BROOKS) INVERCARGILL. Auckland and Wellington are still set on a collision course to decide the Freyberg Rose Bowl when the 1970 inter-provincial golf tournament reaches its final stage this afternoon. Both teams won their fifth-round matches by substantial margins in chilly weather on the Otatara course yesterday.

Wellington goes into the last day’s play with an advantage of half a point over Auckland, although it is trailing its northern rival by one game in total wins.

Despite the defeat of its leading player, J. D. Durry, to the dogged left-hander, A. Day, Wellington crushed Northland yesterday in an impressive display of strength. Auckland’s win was not so convincing; it was behind in three games with three boles to play against BullerWestland - Nelson - Marlborough, but a collective barnstorming finish enabled Auckland to win two of these and halve the third. Wellington has the tougher assignment this morning. While Auckland plays the weakened Hawke’s Bay side. Wellington will be confronted by Waikato, which redeemed its reputation with a fighting finish to I beat Canterbury yesterday. Canterbury Eighth Mid-South Canterbury and Otago both won well and now share third place with Waikato. But Canterbury is back in its familiar position of eighth—and it has two hard games, against Otago and Manawatu-Wanganui awaiting it today. Three Aucklanders—P. A. Maude, G. R. Hughes and R. D. Gillespie—and two of the Wellington players, B. C. Rafferty and R. M. Barltrop, are unbeaten, and of these, Gillespie has the perfect record of five wins. M. R. Osman (Manawatu-Wanganui) is the only other player who has won every match. Points after five rounds, with total wins in parenthesis, are:— Wellington 5 (ISJ), Auckland 4-1 (194). Otago 31 (151), MidSouth Canterbury 31 (141), Waikato 31 (131), Manawatu-Wanga-

f nui 3 (15), Hawke’s Bay 3 (14). Canterbury 2J (Hi), Gisborne , li (10i), Taranaki ij (8i), SouthI land 1 (8), Northland 1 (8), Buller - Westland - Nelson-Marl-borough 1 (8). Bay of Plenty i ' (10>. ■ I I Osman continued his run I of brilliant performances yesf terday in beating the lefthanded Southlander, P. R. Adams. Beefy drives, suppleI mented by cleanly-hit iron I shots and putting' of incred- ' ible accuracy, kept Osman in “ the ascendancy. Birdies at the seventh, J eighth and ninth holes gave j him a commanding lead, and i he was five under par after nonchalantly rolling in a 60ft J putt for another birdie at the 'twelfth. He dropped two 1' shots when he hit his ball the fence at the fourteenth, but at this stage the “' result was beyond doubt. '! Durry, well beaten by OsJ man on Thursday, had a fur--3 ther setback to his hopes of regaining a place in the New Zealand side when he lost today. The Northland left--1 hander lost the thirteenth and v! fourteenth holes through his i- own errors, to be one down, i but he holed a 20ft birdie fl putt at the fifteenth and took j the lead on the strength of a

. brilliant three-iron shot ' ‘ which left him a putt of only ‘ , 18in for a birdie at the next ! ■ hole. In the face of this re-lj ' covery, Durry three-putted the; i seventeenth to give Day the I 1 . match. Maw’s First Win ! Mid-South Canterbury ac- 1 1 complished what Canterbury 1 • failed to do when it overcame 1 1 Bay of Plenty, only the luck- I less J. Barbour failing to win 1 ■ a point. W. L. Maw showed 1 • a greater appreciation for ' 1 keping the ball in play and!: ’ gained his first victory, and! tR. C. Murray and A. C ! Browne were too steady for 1 > their opponents. I G. P. Vesty had a tighter • match, against the schoolboy, ! M. Nicholson, but the halved game enabled Vesty to re • main unbeaten. - Canterbury is rapidly gain-; f ing a reputation as a “halfi way team.” In common with - its games against Auckland • and Bay of Plenty, CanterI bury gained a healthy lead at s the turn, only to slip to de- , feat as the pressure went on! » in the back nine. t B. C. Taylor, whose form i was a mixture of good and ■ bad, achieved a measure of consistency at the right time to.gain his team’s only win. J. F. Logie, however, also had some distinction by gaining a half against P. Hartstone, who is clearly one of the finest hitters of the ball at Otatara.

Lucky Rebound His tee shot att he eighteenth was not one of his best efforts, for fie hooked it into the trees. But luck was on his side —the ball hit a branch and was deflected on to the fairway. A few moments later, he holed a 12ft putt for a par. Logie was a worried man when he left his 30ft approach putt sft short of thei hole, but he cast aside the; problems he has had on the! greens by holing the putt to square the match. '

“I had begun to wonder if I would ever hit a golf ball properly again,” said the national champion, G. C. Stevenson (Waikato), after beating Canterbury’s No. 1, R. M. Farrant. Stevenson, who had had] a half and three losses, was i given a helping hand when Farrant started badly, losing | three holes quickly. Two impressive birdies by Farrant reduced Stevenson’s lead to one hole after 11— and then the pressure was applied by both men. The twelfth and thirteenth were halved in birdies, and after Stevenson had failed by 2in to hole out from a bunker, Farrant squared the match with another birdie, from 12ft, at the fifteenth. Pressure Shot Stevenson lost the sixteenth through catching the trees, but won the next hole when Farrant was bunkered. At the decisive eighteenth. Farrant produced a magnificent ■drive, but Stevenson, under obvious presure, played a re- ! markable iron shot from a | steep uphill lie. The ball ■ landed Bft from the pin, and i , Stevenson holed the putt to! win the match with a birdie I , to Farrant’s par. Canterbury had seemed cer- { i tain to win the remaining two' I matches, for R. K. Atkinson: ; was two up with five to play j > against S. Reid, and J. R. ’ Broadhurst was three up > after eight against his mas- . sive rival, E. J. McDougall. Then the blow fell. AtkinI son, who had been playing 1 well, suddenly had an attack of the golfing horrors, and lost four successive holes with a mixture of dragged putts, two badly mishit chips, and a j sliced drive into the trees. > Broadhurst seemed to lose! I his inspiration after a long I period of inactivity through » a hold-up on the ninth tee.' 5 But McDougall obviously! t profited from the enforced! I rest. Playing splendidly-! t judged wedge shots into the < | greens and putting with great > | accuracy, he scored five birdj i ies in the next seven holes to i hammer the last nail into 'Canterbury’s coffin.