Storm disrupts golf title but semi-finalists found

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33676, 28 October 1974, Page 24

Storm disrupts golf title but semi-finalists found

(By

R. L. SCHUMACHER)

Thunder, lightning, hail and torrential rain disrupted the Canterbury amateur golf championships at Coringa yesterday.

After players had scurried to the clubr...,™ „n house from all corners of the course, the storm abated as abruptly as it

began. But the players, most of them midway through their rounds at the stoppage, were; confronted by an entirely! different situation. Almost jin of rain had; fallen in half an hour, and the previously dry greens' were covered with pools of water. The committee elec-’ ted play would resume in spite of some protests, and the second round of match-! play was completed. However, 10 players in plate events decided that they had endured enough and conceded their matches. DEFENDER THROUGH

At the end of an eventful day. D. N. Turner, the defending champion, had qualified for the semi-finals today, with a former Canterbury junior title-holder, G. Urlwin, the Rangiora greenkeeper, D. L. Beggs, and M. D. Stokes, who was playing in the championship for the first time. Turner and Stokes will meet in one semi-final, Beggs and Urlwin in the .other. Turner, the Canterbury Freyberg No. 2, struggled hard in the morning round to overcome the doughty Rusley player, J. M. Angus.

A very meticulous player, Angus Sometimes carried his deliberations to an extreme, and this unsettled Turner ' The foursome, which ineluded M. G. Brown and

J. W. A. Whitaker, was on the course for four hours and a half. Turner went 1 up with a fine chip at the fifteenth, but lost the advantage immediately when Angus holed a 12 foot par putt at the sixteenth and Turner threeputted. Both comfortably made their pars at 17, but Angus pushed his drive slightly on the last and his second shot from the rough landed in a

front bunker. Turner’s second putt was true and his par was sufficient to win the hole and match.

Against the young Waitikiri member, M. G. Brown, in the second round, Turner encountered few problems when his junior opponent lost his magic putting touch on the sixth.

Brown, who had headed the 16 qualifiers on Saturday when he handled the buffeting winds better than his rivals, was most impressive in eliminating the Canterbury N.o. 3 and Christchurch club champion, Whitaker, in the morning. The turning point for Brown was at the eleventh. He holed a 20-foot birdie putt to square the match and repeated the dose at the twelfth to take the lead. Accurate tee shots and consistency with short putts kept Whitaker at bay.

Turner won three consecutive holes from Brown and the match finished at the fourteenth when Brown sent his drive soaring out of bounds towards the Waimakariri River. EXAMS FINISHED Prevented from playing in the championship for the last four years because of university examinations, Urlwin showed no respect for his elder, T. M. Stout, the 1970 champion and member of the Canterbury selection panel, in his first match. His opponent in the second round was the Mayfield visitor, R. J. Feutz. Their match was evenly contested and Feutz was always to be respected on the greens. Feutz kept the match alive when one down by sinking a 35foot putt on 17, but could only match Urlwin’s oneover par at the last.

The surprise package of the championship has been Stokes. The 24-year-old Waitikiri player, who remained unbeaten for his club in the Woodward Cup series, took advantage of putting mistakes by the Canterbury captain, B. C. Talor, to win the eighteenth and the extra hole. STEADY GOLF In the afternoon, Stokes and J. L. Allin (Rangiora) played steadily and when Stokes bunkered his drive on 17, Allin was able to square the match with a par three. On the last hole Allin had the misfortune to bounce into tree roots with his drive. Stokes also had a difficult second, but he skilfully squeezed a 4-iron past a poplar tree, over a bunker, and finished just off the green.

Allin, unable to get distance with his second, could not recover his par and Stokes achieved his with a confident four-foot putt. EFFICIENT BEGGS For sheer efficiency the performance of Beggs was hard to surpass. He had the best score in the qualifying rounds — a par 72 — and was heading towards a similar total when he beat the Harewood open champion, J. T. Boys, in the morning.

W. I. Tucker became Beggs’s second victim. Trailing Dy two holes at the turn, Tucker had little chance of reducing the deficit, and Beggs won at the sixteenth. Three semi-finalists last year, D. R. Griffith, J. A. Orr and G. J. Young, failed to reach the final 16 after the two rounds of qualifying Play. QUALIFYING ROUNDS 150—M. G. Brown, 75, 75. 153—N. M. Griffiths, 79, 74. 155— B. C. Taylor, 80, 75. 156— G. Urlwin, 81, 75; D. N. Turner, 79, 77. 157— B. L. Beggs, 85, 72; S. W. Street, 83, 74; R. J. Feutz, 81. 76; J. w. A. Whitaker. 80, 77; W. I. Tucker, 79, 78; M. D. Stokes, 76, 81. 158— T. M. Stout, 81, 77; J. M. Angus, 78, 80. 160— J. T. Boys, 84, 76; J. L. Aliin, 82. 78. 161— P. E. Neal, 81, 80. MATCH PLAY First round.—Brown beat Whitaker, 2 and 1; Turner beat Angus, 1 up; Allin beat Street, 3 and 2; Stokes beat Taylor, at the nineteenth; Urlwin beat Stout, 2 and 1; Feutz beat Neal, 2 and 1; Beggs beat Boys, 2 and 1; Tucker beat Griffiths, 5 and 4. Second round.—Turner beat Brown, 6 and 4; Stokes beat Allin, 1 up; Urlwin beat Feutz, 1 up; Beggs beat Tucker, 3 and 2.