Consistent Angus wins first Canterbury title

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34132, 20 April 1976, Page 28

Consistent Angus wins first Canterbury title

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

James Angus overcame two strong challenges to win the Canterbury amateur golf championship for the first time at Waitikiri yesterday—one from a talented youngster of 16. the other from the resolute, experienced Canterbury Freyberg captain.

Angus beat the Burnside High Schoo) lad. Brent Street, on the last green after a thrilling match from which the victor and the vanquished won much credit. He took the final from Bruce Taylor, also on the last green, in another ten-e and thrilling battle.

There was as little certainty about the outcome of the semi-finals and finals as there was about the weather. The shifts and changes of the games were matched by the patches of sunshine, the swirling sea, and an easterly wind which came and went erratically. Angus won his title well, for of the four left on the last day. he was by far the steadiest. Taylor, undoubtedly tired after the stresses and strains of leading Canterbury to its Freyberg victory, fought with typical tenacity. But the player who really captured the imagination was young Street. Cool temperament He is a player with every prospect of reaching the top. for with his full-arced, smooth and easy swing went a cool temperament quite remarkable and utterly admirable in one so young. The Street name will be found on many winning lists in the next few years. An older brother. Stephen, is in Australia with the New Zealand team; Brent’s caddy yesterday was his twin brother, Mark, second top qualifier on Saturday. And while Brent was playing beautiful golf in his match with Angus.

[his father was fighting out — but losing — a semi-final of I the junior championship. ! Street's match with Angus was a delightful exhibition. I Street calmly and efficiently parred the first eight holes but was then one down to (the implacable Angus, who started with a birdie from 4m and scored another at the par-5 sixth. Street had a great chance at 9, but there he made his first significant error, with a three-putt green. But Street maintained pressure on the 24-year-old Angus, getting inside his opponent at 9, 10, and 11, without positive reward. It came at the short twelfth, where he holed a putt of 5m for a birdie. Street matched Angus in accuracy from the tee. and hit some glorious irons; there seemed, too, to be a remarkably old head on those young shoulders. He made a grave error at 15. however. He had a putt of about Im for his half, with Angus already in the hole. But Street's putt was short. If this lapse suggested that the tension w T as getting at him, he dispelled any such notion with a great bunker shot at 16 from which he made his par 4. And when Angus went through the green at the short seventeenth, Street was there, pin high, for his par and a win. Angus, whose errors had been very few*, took the game with a chip he placed almost dead at the last; Street dragged his putt for the half to the left of the hole. They were both round in 74, two over — highly creditable at that stage of a match-play championship. Although he had to struggle against his tendency to hook, Taylor played fine

golf in winning his semi-final against the national junior representative, Murray Brown. At 11 and 14, they both had tree trouble, but Taylor had a ball with a happy knack of finding freedom. Several of Brown's putts barely failed to drop; at 15 he had a dreadful lie but a subsequent chip missed by a whisker, and at 16 his chip to save the day hit the hole and jumped out. But if Taylor hit some erratic shots, he was strong and resourceful, and he was still only one over when the game ended at the sixteenth. The final was extraordinary, in Taylor’s inability to find the greens, and his ability to recover. Although he always looked relaxed and playing well within himself from the tees, the - hooks were still there, and he found the putting surface in the prescribed number only five times in the 18 holes. Yet in defeat, he was only three over the card. But in action. Angus is essentially practical. He puts much thought and work into his golf, and his steadiness brought him a thoroughly deserved victory. His work as a bread vendor does not permit him to be a candidate for Freyberg tournaments: were he available, he would be a very strong contender. Taylor, who used a 3-wood for driving except at the tenth hole, was able to out-hit Angus — when he kept them straight. But Angus missed only four greens in the round and, but for three dreadful putting lapses, he would have had the game in his control long before the eighteenth. Angus came again with a good birdie putt from almost 3m at 13 and he went to two up at 14, where Taylor, a little lucky to be in the clear after a tee shot which seemed to hook a little too quickly, hit a bad approach from a difficult lie. Taylor got a hole back at 16 where Angus was victim of a strangely high, lively bounce when his approach hit the green. His pitch up and back looked good — but it landed in the soft earth around a young tree and he was left far from the hole. Taylor missed the -green at the short seventeenth, but a great chip almost gave him a birdie. So Angus was one up playing the last, a long 4 into what was then a stiff easterly. They both missed the green badly, on the right, and both played admirable chips. Taylor holed from something over a metre, Angus, firmly, from a slightly lesser distance. Angus finished in 74, two over, to Taylor’s 75, and won a proper reward for his strong accurate driving, his sound irons, and. at the most vital stages, his safe putting. Results.— CHAMPIONSHIPS Senior.—B. C. Taylor beat M. G. Brown, 4 and 2; J. Angus beat B. K. Street, 1 up; Angus beat Taylor, 1 up. Intermediate—M. J. Stanley beat K. L. Haycock. 3 and 2; D. Pocknail beat G McCarthy, 3 and 2; Stanley beat Pocknail at the 20th. Junior. —I. R. Eggers beat E. A. Graham, 2 and 1; E. C. Marshall beat S. P, Street, 4 and 3; Marshall beat Eggers. 5 and 4.

CHAMPIONSHIP PLATES ? ' Senior.—J. E. Carbines beat F. : D. Pankhurst, at the 19th; J. S 3 N. Williamson beat G. L'rlwin, 9 and 7; Williamson beat Carbines, 7 and 6 Intermediate.—-N. Cunningham beat P. Shearer, 2 and 1; J. L. Reid beat P. Steenson, I up; Reid beat Cunningham, 1 up. Junior.—N. J. Lucas beat D. Miln.,3 and 1; G. C. Jones beat G. King, 3 and 1; Lucas beat Jones. 6 and 4. HANDICAP Senior.—N. M. Griffiths beat M. Guy. 6 and 4. Intermediate.—J. Tonkin beat W. Hall, t up. Junior.—S. Cotton beat R C. ** Ferguson, 3 and 1. PLIGHTS Senior.—E. Hanton beat P Smith, 3 and 2. Intermediate.—J. Forrest beat J. Sewell, 1 up. Junior.—J. A. Page beat T. J. Williams. 3 and 2.