Freyberg to Canterbury in tense last match

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34126, 12 April 1976, Page 32

Freyberg to Canterbury in tense last match

(From 808 SCHUMACHER)

TIMARU.

Champions are noted for their courage and fighting qualities. Canterbury’s five Freyberg Rose Bowl golfers possessed plenty of those attributes when they came from the b rink of defeat to win the national tournament at the Levels course on Saturday.

A more exciting, dramatic finish could not have been envisaged. Canterbury had won its sixth successive match in the morning in another nerve-wracking contest against Wellington.

With Auckland losing to Southland in the sixth round, only Otago, which beat Manawatu-Wanganui. 4|-4, had any chance of overhauling Canterbury, and by co-incidence, the two southern provinces had drawn each other in the final round. Slender lead Otago had won five matches and 204 individual games, Canterbury was a point ahead but only had an advantage of half an individual game. Otago only needed to win 3-2 to repeat its 1973 victory. As the players approached the final few holes, Otago appeared certain to get the 3-2 result and possibly do even better.

After playing the sixteenth, Colin Hoole, the Canterbury No. 5, was 2 down, immediately behind him, Simon Robinson was 1 up against the nuggety Otago No. 4. Phil Conlon. But Robinson lost 17, his fourth hole in a row. and was all square on the last tee. Otago already had one point as John Sanders manipulated his putter with devastating effect to inflict the first loss on Canterbury’s middle man, Dennis Beggs. Canterbury’s plight became desperate when Geoff Saunders lost the sixteenth to go 1 down and walking up the sixteenth fairway Bruce Taylor was even with Otago’s top player, Geoff Clarke, but struggling to remain that way.

■Die poll at that point favoured Otago in three

matches, with the other two games deadlocked; it looked impossible for Canterbury to reverse the trend, which had gone Otago’s way over the middle holes, and gain the 2| wins needed for victory. "But under considerable pressure, the Canterbury players stood steadfast. They had made all the front running; there was no way they were going to be deprived of their prized trophy. All four matches still alive continued to the last hole, a testing par-4 with a sloping green. The pin was towards the top of the slope and made a small target from the fairway. But the four Canterbury players played outstanding approach shots; they all made their pars whereas three Otago players missed the green, their fours, and lost the hole. Canterbury snatched the last-minute win. 3-2, to claim the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1965, and the fourth time in the 26-year-old history of the event.

Hoole recovers Canterbury’s resurgence started with a resourceful Hoole. He was 2 down after his left-handed rival, Kim McDonald, placed his approach to the ninth only centimetres from the hole. Hoole won 10 with a birdie, but lost 15 to again trail by two.

McDonald was bunkered at 17, came out weakly and his 10m putt to win tne match hit the hole and stayed out. Two great shots on the last hole gave Hoole his par; McDonald was again bunkered and failed to recover his par. At the same time Hoole was gaining a vital half point, Taylor calmly rolled in a 6m birdie putt on 16 to take the lead from Clarke and restore fresh hope to the Canterbury supporters. Robinson was the next of

the Canterbury heroes. He was 4 up with five holes remaining, but then suffered the agonising experience of losing 14, 15, 16 and 17 all to pars. He hit out in anger off the last tee and struck one of the biggest drives of the tournament. It travelled 250 m and. after pacing the distance to the hole, he chose the correct club; his 8-iron second leaving the ball 7m from the hole.

Conlon could not respond. He missed the green with his second, chipped too strongly and failed with a long putt. Robinson, arms aloft, was highly elated, Conlon bitterly disappointed.

Otago’s disastrous run continued when Ronnie Johnston was in trouble off the seventeenth tee and he eventually lost the hole to allow Saunders to level. Although both missed the final green with their seconds, Saunders was handily placed. Johnston chipped and twoputted; Saunders chipped to within 2m. “I knew that putt was to win the Freyberg,” he said afterwards. The broad blade of his putter had been working with excellent results during the round — there were three 5m birdie putts on the front nine — and there was no question of him missing. Maximum points

Taylor, who fouhd his touch with his putter at crucial times against the in-form Clarke, lost the last hole to a magnificent 10m birdie putt. But he finished all square and the half point meant Canterbury had gained the maximum seven points — a feat which tournament veterans could only recall having been accomplished once in the past. Wellington came very close to ending Canterbury’s perfect record in the sixth

round. Peter Rankin, with three birdies in five holes was 4 up, and handed Hoole his first loss.

Robinson was too strong and accurate for lan McDonald. They finished at the fourteenth, but Wellington had its second victory when Chris Alldred stopped Saunders at the same hole. Fond 18th But the Canterbury players will always treasure fond memories of the eighteenth green. The remaining two matches went to the last hole. Taylor holed a 5m putt to remain 1 up on Rod Barltrop, and Beggs chipped dead to give Tony Procter no chance of recovering the dropped shot at 17 when he missed a 2m putt. Otago finished a clear second and a draw against Hawke’s Bay in the final round was sufficient for Auckland to finish third by half an individual match from Southland, which was beaten by Waikato in the final round.

Mid-South Canterbury, second last of the 14 associations last year, improved substantially. It finished with four points — the same number as the fifth-placed team, but was relegated to eighth on a count-back of individual matches.

Matches were so unpredictable in all positions that no player managed seven straight wins. In fact, McDonald, the Otago No. 5, was the only one of 70 golfers not to suffer a loss. He won three and halved four of his matches. Saunders, Beggs, Robinson, and Ho.ole conceded just one match and their consistency formed the basis of Canterbury’s final success. Taylor made his contribution on the final day, and his win against Barltrop was badly needed by Canterbury.