Fine golf by Taylor

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 3

Fine golf by Taylor

B. C. Taylor (Russley) showed as the top contender for the No. 1 position in the Canterbury Freyberg Rose Bowl team this year when he brilliantly won both his matches in helping Canterbury to beat a combined MidSouth Canterbury team, 18 matches to 14, at Ashburton yesterday.

After establishing a twohole lead against the combined team’s No. 2 player, A. C. Browne, in the morning round, Taylor played a couple of loose shots on the eleventh and twelfth holes to lose his lead. But when Browne missed a 10ft putt on the sixteenth Taylor went 1 up, and poor drives by Browne on the last two holes enabled Taylor to retain this margin. In the same foursome were the Canterbury No. 2, J. R. Broadhurst, and the top combined player, R. C. Murray. When their match ended on

the fifteenth, Broadhurst was one under the card, yet had been beaten, 4 and 3.

“I thought I was playing well to be one under,” Broadhurst said. And so he was, but it was not good enough to match the immaculate golf from the experienced New Zealand representative. The putt which ended the game was typical of Murray’s play—a 30-footer struck crisply and truly in to the cup. Murray completed his round in 67—six under the card. It was a different story in the afternoon when Taylor met Murray, and Broadhurst played Browne. Murray dropped a stroke on the fourth when his second shot went through the green, and a birdie to Taylor on the short fifth gave him a two-hole lead. But it was the eighth hole—a 482-yard par five—that really demonstrated Taylor’s top form.

Murray played splendid drive and iron shots to 15 feet from the hole and putting for an eagle. Taylor had pushed his iron to the right and was faced with a difficult little pitch shot up a bank to the green. With a perfectly-controlled wedge, he lofted the ball on to the green and, much to the disbelief of Murray, it ran in for an eagle. Murray two-putted and went 3 down. Taylor again dropped strokes at the eleventh and twelfth holes, but never let Murray get back into the game. The match ended on the seventeenth, Taylor winning, 3 and 1.

Wayward drives again spelt disaster for Browne, and he conceded to the steady Broadhurst, with two holes remaining. OTHER WINNERS

Other Canterbury players to record two ■ wins were the much-in-form R. H. Bradley, the dogged Kaikoura player, P. Harvey, and the young Avondale golfer, L. McMillan, wjio was unbeaten in the senior inter-club competition last year. Bradley must also be a

strong candidate for the Canterbury rose bowl team. His winning margins over W. L. Maw and D. S. Satterthwaite would have been much bigger had he sunk several mediumsized putts he left himself. Like many players yesterday, Bradley had difficulty in reading the bumpy greens. Included in Bradley’s foursome was the Canterbury champion last year, T. M. Stout. On the 350-yard eleventh hole, Stout played a shot which was most untypical of a leading golfer. His low, skimming drive hit the women’s tee immediately in front of him and riccocheted back some 50 yards behind the startled foursome. He lost the hole. The only two Canterbury players to lose both matches were J. F. Logie, a member of last year’s team, and G. Urlwin, the Canterbury under-21 champion. Results (with Canterbury names first) were:—

Morning round B. C. Taylor beat A. C. Brown, 1 up; J. R. Broadhurst lost to R. C. Murray, 4 and 3; G. L. Titmus beat J. Barbour, 2 and 1: J. F. Logie lost to G. P. Vesty, 3 and 2; R. H. Bradley beat D. S. Satterthwaite, 4 and 2; T. N. Stout lost to W. L. Maw, 5 and 4; M. Strange lost to W. Romeriu, 3 and 2; E. H. Richards beat D. Murdoch, 3 and 1; G. Urlwin lost to I. E. Beswarwick, 1 down; P. Harvey beat N. Bain, 1 up; W. L Tucker beat C. Alexander, 3 and 1; D. Griffiths and J. Lapsley, all square; S. G. Rutherford beat R. Wakefield, 1 up; D. L. Beggs lost to M. McLennan, 2 and 1: R. Walsham lost to G. Maw, 3 and 2; L. McMillan beat M. Ussher, 4 and 3. Canterbury 81, Mid-South Canterbury 7}. Afternoon round Taylor beat Murray, 3 and 1; Broadhurst beat Browne, 4 and 2: Logie lost to Barbour, 1 down: Titmus lost to Vesty, 3 and 2; Stout beat Satterthwaite, 1 up; Bradley beat Maw, 3 and 1; Romerill and Richards, all square; Strange beat Murdoch, 1 up; Harvey beat Meswarwick, 2 and 1; Urlwin lost to Bain, 4 and 3; Griffiths lost to Alexander, 1. down; Tucker lost to Lapsley, 3 and 1; Beggs beat Wakefield, 2 and 1; Rutherford lost to McLennan, 3 and 2; McMillan beat Maw, 2 and 1; Walsham beat Uasher, 3 and 2. Canterbury 9}, Mid-South Canterbury 61. Match acore: Canterbury 18, Mid-South Canterbury 14.