Abundance of young golfing talent

Press, 15 November 1977, Page 23

Abundance of young golfing talent

Canterbury, recognised as one of the strongest golfing provinces in New Zealand, is likeh to remain that way for some time judging by the strong showings by several of the province's promising players in the seventy-fifth Neo Zealand amateur championship at Russley last month.

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

In an impressive parade of young talent, there looked some outstanding prospects for the future. John Williamson and Brent Paterson reached the final 16 before being eliminated. Williamson, runner to Fin Hobbs in the final of this year’s Canterbury amateur championship, rs a strong iron play and an adequate putter. The tall Christchurch • member finished equal seventh over 36 holes in the qualifying rounds and capped off a notable tournament by beating Steve Barron, a Wellington Freyberg representative and runner-up in the New Zealand event in 1975, at the sixteenth hole in the second round of match play.

Paterson, a diminutive lad who learnt his golf at Harewood but is now playing at Coringa, is sound in all aspects of the game. His steadiness enabled him to beat a Canterbury representative, Mike Small, in the second round but he could not match the sub-par golf of the Auckland No. 2, Phil Reid, a semi-finalist for the last two years in the third round.

Apart from the Canterbury Freyberg captain, Bruce Taylor, the only

other Canterbury player to reach the quarter-finals was the tall, snowy-headed Waitikiri 18-y ear-old, Stephen Paterson.

There are still some faults to be ironed out from Paterson’s swing and

he is still too lose too often. But he has ample potential; the strength and skills are there and it would only seem a matter of time before they are fully exploited.

However, it was a notable achievement for Paterson to make the last eight. He was one of eight players who finished on 159 after the qualifying rounds. Under the pressure of a play-off, Paterson remained unnerved and a par on the first hole was good enough for him to win one of the five places available in the championship draw. Two other players to make their mark, John Parlane and Ricky Vincent, did so in the New Zealand plate event. Parlane, a 21-year-old from Christchurch, reached the last eight in the plate and Vincent made the quarterfinals. Parlane was beaten in the second round of the championship by the Canterbury No. 3, Dennis Beggs. But he played some particularly good golf to overwhelm Ted Webber, an accomplished player from The Grange club in Auckland, in the first round of the plate and he qualified for the quarterfinals by beating the Southland Freyberg representative, Nigel Hunt, in a close match.

Although his next match against the eventual plate champion, Des Turner, had

an early finish, it was more through the brilliance of his opponent’s golf rather than any noticeable decline in Parlane’s game. Parlane has improved immeasurably in the last 18 months and this year he made his debut for Christchurch in the Woodward Cup seniorcompetition. Vincent became another victim of Turner in the plate semi-finals, but he had a tough draw and did extremely well to get as far as he did. The Avondale No. 1 was another who survived the play-off to decide the final five positions in the championship.

Vincent fought his way past Keith Roberts (Shandon), who finished equal seventh in the qualifying rounds, in the first round of the plate event. He beat Mark Street a member of the Canterbury eight-man team, at the last hole in the next round and had another victory at the last green against Michael Atkinson (St Clair) in the quarterfinals.

Two junior players from outside Canterbury to draw favourable comment were Atkinson and Bruce S o u 1 s b y (Queenspark). They showed excellent technique and temperament, and at 16 and 15, respectively, both are likely to improve further with a little more strength in the next few years.

Atkinson gave a magnificent fighting performance against Alex Bonnington (Northland) in the second round, taking him to the twentieth. It was unfortunate for Atkinson that the second extra hole was a par-5 and was playing into the wind. For Bonnington, reputedly the biggest striker of a ball in New Zealand

amateur golf, made full use of his immense power. Two prodigious blows left him on the green and he holed a long eagle putt with Atkinson looking very likely to make his birdie. Atkinson had as his caddy, his father. Ray, a Canterbury Freyberg representative for four years and himself a runner-up in the national championship.