Canterbury women’s foursomes title tied

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33516, 23 April 1974, Page 26

Canterbury women’s foursomes title tied

For the first time since 1967. the Canterbury women’s foursomes golf championship ended in a tie yesterday, and one of the principals in the finish seven years ago, Miss S. Boag (Waitikiri), was again in a winning team.

Miss Boag, partnered by the new Canterbury Russell Grace representative, Miss J. Kinnaird (Coringa), finished strongly over the final stages of the afternoon round at Templeton to return the best round of 78 and a 36-hole aggregate of 160.

The leading pair after the morning 18 holes, Miss M. Ensor (Waitikiri) and Mrs V. A. Bishop (Russley), failed to repeat their score of 79, and approached the final hole needing a par 4 for 81 and a share in the championship.

Miss Ensor might have felt some apprehension on the final tee because last year — when partnered by Miss Boag — she hit her drive out of bounds and the pair narrowly failed to repeat their 1972 success.

But the Russell Grace No. 3 player made no such mistake on this occasion. Mrs Bishop lofted an iron to the back of the green where it just failed to grip and remain on the putting surface.

Miss Ensor had a satisfactory chip to within 18in of the hole, and Mrs Bishop, after being told of their opponents’ score, deliberated over the putt before confidently sinking it for their oar.

The successful pairs had an advantage of six strokes over

the third place-getters. Miss S. A. Ritchie (Geraldine), and Mrs J. Lees (Templeton).

After the first round it was obvious that either the Russell Grace combinations of Miss Ensor and Mrs Bishop or Misses Boag and Kinnaird would prove triumphant. Both pairs were playing well, especially as the week-

end rain gave little run on the fairways and was making it difficult to reach some of the par 4s in 2. Mrs Bishop, whose long, straight drives were of consideiable assistance, and Miss Ensor dropped six shots on the first 11 holes during the morning round, but recovered well bv parring the last seven.

In contrast to the first 18, when they scored well on the par 3s and ss, it was the par 4s which proved their strong point in the afternoon. Chipping and three-putts cost them shots, especially at the par-5 seventh where they took 7 after iust missing the green with their third.

But they, like Misses Boag and Kinnaird, combined well and were happy with their game.

There was little to suggest that Misses Boag and Kinnaird would score 78 at the start of their afternoon round. They dropped shots at the first two holes and another at the fourth. But they hit back with a birdie at the par-4 sixth — the result of two excellent 3-wood shots — and dropped only three further shots over the next 12 holes. The defending champions, Mrs N. D. Cullen (Russley)

and Miss J. Davidson (Waitikiri), were never in contention after their morning effort of 89, but they improved nine strokes in the 1 afternoon to take fourth place. One of the best morning rounds was returned by the Akaroa pairing of Miss S. Hutchinson and Mrs A. Maturin. But they failed to sustain the same form in the afternoon.

They finished second in the over-all net after losing a count-back to Miss Ritchie and Mrs Lees. Results:—

160 —Miss Ensor and Mrs Bishop, 78, 81; Misses Boag and Kinnaird, 82. 78. 166—Miss Ritchie and Mrs Lee, 84, 82. 169—Mrs Cullen and Miss Davidson, 89, 80. 174—Miss S. Clephane (Russley) and Mrs S. Whitaker (Christchurch), 86, 88. 177—Miss Hutchinson and Mrs Maturin. 180— Mesdames L. Seear and J. Benschop (Templeton), 91, 89. 181— Mesdames N. Mann and M. Davenport (Christchurch), 92, 89; Mesdames D. Ritchie and F. McDowell (Avondale), 89, 92.