Bridge decided by half a point

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33942, 8 September 1975, Page 14

Bridge decided by half a point

("The Press’’ Special Service) TAURANGA. The 1775 New Zealand contract bridge pairs champion»hi"p, which was played In Tauranga at the week-end, was decided by the extraordinarily close margin of half a match point. The winners of a contest decided by a margin unparalleled in the 25-year history of the event are two Waikato [players. W. J. Haughie and R. J. Scott. They have several times represented New Zealand in teams events and are leading northern tournament players, but prominence in a national pairs event has eluded them until now.

In the four-session event which began on Saturday afternoon and ended earlj’ last evening, the winners played with model consistency and the equally model demeanour which marks their game. When the final session began, they were five matchpoints and a half behind the tournament leaders, R. J. Brightling and K. G. Wooles. two 25-year-olds from Christchurch, who came within perhaps one trick in 100 deals and 13 hours of play to become the first so young to take a national pairs title. , But in the last round Haughie and Scott scored six matchpoints more than the leaders to snatch a win.

The highest session score of the championship went to the Auckland veteran, B. C. Bell, and his partner, Dr N. B. Hannay, who scored 3971 (66.25 per cent) in the third session and advanced from seventeenth to fifth. A further good score in the last round brought them to third place. In the. discussion that followed the filial session while the scorers were at work, it was generally thought that Brightling and Wooles would win. But the pundits overlooked the fact that Haughie and Scott, their rivals, were sitting eastwest, whereas the Christchurch pair and most of the other contenders for top place were in the north-south position.

In a contest which is really a competition recording comparative scores, this factor may have given the winners a slight

advantage at a critical stage of the tournament. It was an excellent tournament for Brightling and his comparatively new partner, Wooles, a young Christchurch lawyer. Brightling. too, can take great satisfaction from his performance, for he now earns hts living from bridge leaching and selling bridge books. PLACING SLIPPED Professor R. P. Kerr, a joint holder of the title with J. R. Wignail, of Christchurch, this year played with D. Green, of Dunedin. They were well placed after the first session, in which they were fourth, but as the pressure went on, their placing slipped. The top five planings were:— Haughie and Scott (Hamilton), 1395. 1; Brightling and Wooles (Christchurch), 1394 J. 2; Bell and Hannay (Northern), 1354 J, 3; R. M. Jacobs and D. J. Mathewy (Akarana), 1347, 4: P. H. Marston (Christchurch) and G. M. Sims (Auckland), 1345 J, 5.