A rogue in the gallery

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33060, 30 October 1972, Page 16

A rogue in the gallery

The recent Espirito Santo world women’s team golf championship attracted good crowds in Buenos Aires, but not all the spectators were honest as the Christchurch golfer, Miss S. Hamilton, discovered on the fourth hole.

Playing with the accomplished French golfer, Miss C. Rubin, on the second day, Miss Hamilton hooked her drive under a tree. Miss Rubin suggested that her caddy stand by the ball while she prepared her next shot — a chip over a lake. But it was too late. When the caddy arrived at the spot, the brand new ball had been replaced by a white handkerchief. Miss Hamilton’s four rounds of 81, 79, 76, 78 gave her the best aggregate of the New Zealand team. The tournament was great experience for her, she said. Miss Hamilton said she

found that she could match the other players from tees and fairways, but that she never really had confidence in her short game; her chipping and putting were weak points. The team — whose other members were Mrs G. Bannan (Auckland) and Miss M. Smith — finished eleventh, which was described as dis-

appointing, but the trio are all young and lacked experience.

Yet the final four-round total of 621 represented an improvement of 32 strokes on the 1970 performance, and the team then was much more experienced and finished only sixteenth. Miss Hamilton said that New Zealand finished ninth on a stroke basis, but slipped back two places because of the scoring system used — only the best two rounds were counted.

Miss Hamilton is at present practising with the New Zealand team which will contest the Tasman Cup match-play event against Australia at Shirley on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday she will travel to Palmerston North for the national championships.

Golf.—S. Matuda (Japan) kept the lead with a 13 under par total of 203 after three rounds of the $76,000 Tokai golf classic at Nagoya. Matuda today shot a four under 68 to stay ahead of his feUow Japanese, K. Aral (206 j. and T. Kono (207).