Freyberg victory achieved by strong team effort

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 4

Freyberg victory achieved by strong team effort

(By

BOB SCHUMACHER)

Champagne corks popped in profusion and the bubbly liquid flowed copiously last Saturday evening at the hotel in Timaru where the Canterbury Freyberg golf team was staying.

The Rose Bowl, a big, handsome trophy, was topped to the brim with the sparkling beverage and was borne round the hotel’s dining room. Patrons gladly drank to the team’s success.

It was a joyous, memorable occasion for Canterbury’s Freyberg golfers who had survived four tense, tortuous days of uncompromising match-play golf and had emerged triumphant with an unblemished record. As usual, there were the sceptics — ironically, criticism after the selection of the team was uncommonly

harsh. One long-time supporter of Canterbury golf considered it the weakest team for many years.

There were no such misgivings among the Canterbury team of Bruce Taylor, Geoff Saunders. Dennis Beggs, Simon Robinson and Colin Hoole.

For Robinson and Hoole, it was their initiation in Frey berg golf. Beggs was their senior by one year; Saunders was playing in the event for the fourth successive year and the captain, Taylor, was easily the team veteran, making his eighth successive appearance.

The unabashed elation shown by the Canterbury players after coming from a seemingly hopeless position to beat Otago and clinch the trophy in the spine-tingling final round was understandable. They deserved to dine with wine for they had produced champagne golf

of a vintage that had not been tasted since 1965. Before the tournament started, the players, fit and confident, fresh from an overwhelming victory against Wellington, toasted one another: “Here’s to us winning seven matches,”

they said. Last Saturday, the wording of the toast had been changed slightly: “Here’s to us having won seven matches.” Not even the most bigoted Canterbury supporter could have expected the side to gain the maximum points. It faced a difficult draw; the title-holder, Auckland, the 1973 champion. Otago, and the victor in 1971, 1972, and 1974, Waikato, were among the seven associations Canterbury had to meet. The Timaru community revelled in the glory of holding the country’s premier teams’ tournament for the first time at the Levels course, and when the home team, Mid-South Canterbury, was eliminated from the running, attention was focused on an unbeaten Canterbury. The win became a reality after the second day when Canterbury humbled the pre-tournament favourite, Waikato, 4J-1- The players believed then that they had a second to none chance of winning and when they defeated Auckland and became a clear leader after four rounds, the scent of success was overpowering. Canterbury’s triumph did not occur through the brilliant deeds of one or two players. It was very much a team effort, with each player responding under pressure and winning vital games when they were most needed, especially on the final day against Wellington and Otago. Taylor, devastating on the greens in the practice rounds, lost touch during the first game against Alex Bonnington (Northland). Three small putting lapses on the second nine allowed Bonnington to square the match and eventually win. He lost to Peter Burney (Auckland) in the same manner. Only against the New Zealand representative, Ted McDougall (Waikato) did Taylor find putting form on the first three days, and that was the main reason his record stood at one win and four losses before the final day. Through these times of tribulation, Taylor was still able to joke and lend encouragement to his team. But it was a zealous Taylor, who strode purposefully around the course on the final day. With the putts finally finding their target, Taylor played an important hand in Canterbury’s last two victories.

He was 3 down after four to Rod Barltrop (Wellington) but had erased the deficit by the turn. A 5m putt on the last hole left Taylor 1 up against the hapless Barltrop. Last year, the Wellington amateur won seven straight games; this time he only won his last.

Taylor finished the tournament with a fine half with Geoff Clarke (Otago), who had won five of his previous six games. The general soundness of all aspects of his game proved too much for Saunders’ opponents to overcome. He had his best Freyberg tournament —

five wins (including one against the national amateur champion, Stuart Reese (Waikato) — and one half. Saunders had to fight back after dropping holes early, but he thrived in these situations. He was involved in an unusual incident at the tenth against Terry Pulman (Auckland). Pulman, 1 up at the turn, moved the ball in addressing it. It was not visible to most spectators and Saunders was unaware of what had happened. But Pulman sportingly conceded the hole and to his chagrin, Saunders holed splendid birdie putts from 5m and 6m at 11 and 12 to gain a winning position. In his first Freyberg at Wanganui last year, Beggs performed impressively with four wins and one half. This year he fared even better, winning five and halving another. His long and straight driving was a feature of his play and he was solid around the greens, although he would have liked to have made more one putts. The deadly chipping and putting of John Saunders (Otago) cost Beggs his unbeaten record in the last round. Robinson had a great golfing week, striking the ball sweetly throughout. He is destined for a long and rewarding future in the Canterbury Freyberg team.

The powerful Australian, Hoole, also had a spectacular debut, losing only to Peter Rankin (Wellington) who had an early rash of birdies. He hardly dropped a shot over the first four rounds, although he went to the eighteenth against

tenacious opponents in Russell Garton (Northland) and Eric Maguigan (MidSouth Canterbury).

Against Garton, Hoole chipped in from down a bank at the fourteeneth. It was a vital blow — “I haven’t done that since 1 was a 5-year-old in short pants,” he quipped. Mid-South Canterbury improved its position from thirteenth last year to

eighth, and gave all teams a hard battle. Ross Murray, the veteran No 1, was the crowd’s champion and he gave his ever-present large gallery plenty to talk about.

Murray is still one of the most authoritative and accurate strikers in the country. He had five wins and several spectacular rounds. Maguigan made his mark at five with four triumphs, and Charlie Alexander, after a bad start, recovered to finish with a 50 per cent record. The defeat of the unbeaten Hawke’s Bay by Buller - Westland - Marlbor-ough-Nelson was the shock of the tournament and one of the most unexpected results for years. Finn Hobbs led “United Nations" by example. He inflicted the first defeat on the former national champion, Mike Nicholson (Bay of Plenty) in the sixth round, and included the highly-regarded Paul Hartstone (Hawke’s Bay) and the New Zealand representative, Barltrop, among his four victims.

lan Donaldson had three wins at two, Gary Girvin won two and halved two at No 4, and Wayne Murtha finished with the best record — four wins and a half in the bottom position.