Young pair ‘clicks’ in golf

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 32

Young pair ‘clicks’ in golf

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

The young pair of Stephen! I Street and Paul Shearer won the Canterbury men’s four- L somes golf title by two ■ strokes at Coringa yesterday II in an outstanding display of 1 golf. Street, aged 20, and Shear- I er, who has just turned 19, 1 proved admirable foils for one another. They consulted ; and encouraged each others frequently and their 36-hole’* score of 143 — three-under;' par — was a splendid effort 1* on the long lay-out against a,* strong north-easterly wind. I Street, a Freyberg repre-j' sentative for the first time ! last year, putted; magnificently on his home < course. The greens were a < credit to the club's green- I keeping staff and Strc was t one of many who relished 1 the smooth putting surface, i For Street, a former South ! Island and New Zealand* boys’ champion, it was bis h first major provincial title. Iti was Shearer’s initial senior.l championship, although the t young Harewood player did i win the Canterbury under-17’1 title two years ago. i After the morning round, 1 Street and Shearer were one,: stroke behind the top Rus-’t sley pair of Bruce Taylor i and James Angus, with the !

1975 champions. Andrew and i Simon Robinson, two shots ’behind. But after nine holes in the ■ afternoon, the championship i was firmly in the grip of | Street and Shearer. They' .had covered the first half in 133, four-under par, with i birdies at the first, second, ’fifth and sixth. At the same stage, Taylor and Angus, starting off the [tenth tee, had dropped two strokes and had fallen five) strokes behind. The Robinsons, with Andiv . putting with aplomb, had joined the Russley pair in second place. The rest of the field was left behind. Street and Shearer dropped strokes on the eleventh and fifteenth on the homeward half, but recovered one with a birdie at the thirteenth. Although Street missed par putts from about 2m. on the holes they lost shots, it was a rare occurrence. He holed six putts from; 3m or more in the round! and showed a technique and) temperament which must! keep him foremost in the) minds of the selectors when they have the difficult deci-! sion of choosing representative teams later this season. Shearer, a member of the South Island junior team

this year, was seldom found wanting. He hit some wonderful iron shots and was safe with his short putts. There are four par-3s al Coringa: the pair needed only 10 shots on them in the afternoon and that was the formula for success. .

Taylor and Angus complemented one another well with steady golf. The iron shots of Taylor and the putting of Angus had them iin the lead at half-way. Although they dropped two shots on the first nine in the afternoon, they struck back with scores of 2.4, 2, for successives birdies from the fifth to the seventh.

• They finished in par 73 and, as ~aylor remarked, one-under after 36 holes at Coringa would normally be a winning score. Two threeputts over the second 18 was their undoing. The Robinsons, equal second last year teamed well as usual. They were one under after 12 in the afternoon, but loose shots on the next two holes cost them a stroke at both. They birdied the fifteenth and finished [with pars.

They were comfortably third from the youthful Templeto.. pairing of ~ _,g Hanna and Harley Henderson. Hanna and Henderson started with an eagle and after a birdie on the sixth, they were three-under in the afternoon. But thev failed ’o have a pa r from the seventh to the eleventh and that ended their challenge. Leading v-ere:— SENIOR 14.<—S. W. Street and P. A. Shearer, 73, 70. 145—8. C. Taylor and J. M. Angus, 72. 73. 148—A. W. Robinson and S. S. Robinson, 75. 73. 152— H. J. Henderson and G. J. Hanna. 76 76. 154— J. N. Williamson and M. G. Brown. 80. 74. 155— J. I. Dixon and G. N. Martin. 77. 78; M. E. Street and B. K. Street. 79. 76. 157— B. G. Paterson and S. J. Paterson, 76, Bl; N. D. Cunnington and B, M. Walsh, 76, 81; F. .1. Poskitt and P. Ellerm, 78, 79: M. W. Small and J. L. Allin 79. 78; R. Sisson and P. McDonald 79. 78. 153— P. L. Holmes and .1. R. A Pat-lane. 76. 82: G. C. Saunders 1 and D. L. Beggs, 81, 77. 159—G Urlwin and L. D. McKinlev. 77. 82: R. M. Vincent and A. Williams 78. 81. INTERMEDIATE 158— P. Ambrose and J. Bierwirth, 83, 75. 162— P. Steenson and D. Erikson. 75. 87. 163 — T. Johnson and B. Grives, 81, 82; A. Lamb and C. Tate, 84. 79; C. Younghusband and P. Kearney. 86. 77. 164— A. McLeliand and C. Paterson, 87. 77. 166—G. H. Turner and R. Haines, 84, 82. JUNIOR 162—G. Allan and J. Banks, 85. 77. 165— A. Robertson and N. McCracken, 84 81. 177— H. V. Reid and G. Nobbs. 88. 89. 178— D. Putt and A. Sloane, 88. 90: B. Taylor and G. Walker, 89 , 89: W. Cochrane and D. Cochrane, 93. 85. 179— W. McPherson and J. Grey. 87, 92.