Four contenders in close finish to women’s golf

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 36

Four contenders in close finish to women’s golf

Bs

R. T. BRITTENDEN

Four teams remain in contention in the Russell Grace women's golf tournament which ends at Waitikiri today. The leaders are Wellington and Auckland, each with seven points, while Canterbury and Waikato-King Country each have six.

In the final two rounds today Auckland will play Manawatu W~nganui — a strong side, in fifth place — and then Wellington. Wellington will meet WaikatoKing Country in the morning and the latter will meet the lowly positioned Northland in the final round. Canterbury must have high hopes of beating Taranaki in the morning but will later meet Bay of Pientyfhames Valley, which was second last year and is equal fifth at present. It is all looking more and more like a Hollywood spectacular. an impression reinforced by the lush green of Waitikiri’s setting, the colourful costuming of the teams, and the regularity of tense finishesYesterday morning Auckland beat Waikato-King Countrv, which shared the lead the previous evening. All the matches were! fiercely contested. Wellington, the other unbeaten team, won narrowly in the morning but both it and Auckland were held to halved matches in the afternoon. Canterbury won twice and Waikato-King Country kept within touch with another close win in the afternoon. Competition is just as exciting for the Eileen Nutt memorial trophy for the plaver with the best record. Four players now have perfect records of four wins: lanice Arnold (Waikato-King Country), Vai Cullen (Canterbury), Heather Booth (Wellington), and Liz Douglas (Southland). Thev do not meet today. If all four keep on winning, Vnold will have an advantage: she has a bigger cumulative winning margin than her rivals. It was a good day for South Canterbury, which performed with distinction but no success on Tuesday. It took a point from its match with Otago, although Sue Hutchins, whose golf has been of high quality lost to the talented young Melanie Irvine. Adrienne Bond had her third consecutive win. South Canterbury maintained its reputation for tropine up front runners with its draw against Wellington. It led in three of five close matches at the turn and. soon after, it seemed clear that Hutchins would win and that Booth would give Wellington a point. Cathie Ramm won for Wellington hut Helen Hames k»pt South Canterbury’s hopes alive. She duffed a fairway wood at 16 and went one down but managed a half against Pat Bull at 17. although she had put her ball in the pond. Hames had a putt of under 2m for a birdie at 18 but missed narrowly. However. Bull uncharacteristically three-putted from about 4m and South Canterbury' had a halved game. Right behind them. Jennie Kellahan (South Canterbury) birdied 14 and 15 to go two up on Judith Hanratty but lost 16 to a great putt and holed an awkward one herself to halve 17. They matched shots down 18, • ach being left with a 6m hi; die putt. Hanratty had to

sink hers to square her game and win the match and made a brave but unsuccessful attempt. Auckland’s talented top three all won against Waik-ato-King Country in the morning, although Alison Eather had problems for a while with Jan Malcolm. Heather Ryan was well beaten by Kaye Maxwell, mainly because her putting was often weak. Janice Arnold was a little lucky to maintain her unbeaten record against a resolute Jocelyn Glanfield. Auckland’s bottom pair, w’hich scored only 2j points in the first three rounds, had victories over Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley but the Bay team came back magnificently. First Pennie MacDougall, with her superb chipping and touch on the greens, accounted for the New Zealand representative, Max-

well. Then Cushla Hickey holed a 3m putt for a birdie to square her match with Cherry Kingham. Behind them, Vivienne Fraher was two up with two to play against Eather. At 17, Fraher was another to get into the pond. The wind there had most of them playing short. Fraher played the last hole like a champion: she was on the back edge for three and left her downhill putt centimetres from the cup. Canterbury started well against Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay but there were some awful shocks ahead, such as Sue Haydon losing four holes in a row. It took a splendid birdie at 18 to give her the match. Judy Davidson made an even better recovery. Two down after 16, she birdied the difficult short seventeenth from 4m and had, another birdie putt go down at 18 after a beautifully contrived pitch. Nothwithstanding a dreadful duck-hook from the tenth tee, where the mt<ch began, Liz Douglas (Southland) played with style and efficiency against an out-of-forrn Sue Bishop (Canterbury). But it was encouraging for the host team that Bishop, four down at the turn, fought with such spirit that she took the game to

the sixteenth, where she barely missed her birdie and succumbed to one. At the front of the field, Davidson started well, faltered a little, but came back strongly with some stylish and efficient golf. She won her game with a birdie at the fourteenth hole. Haydon had to bring to bear all her skill and courage to hold off Rita Guttery. Haydon played two great shots to the eighth (their seventeenth) to end the match. Cullen found Jan Scandrett just as demanding. This game ended at the ninth, where Cullen, after being bunkered, holed an enormous putt for her par. Boag was also square playing this hole after a tremendous tussle with Robin Low. At the last tee, Low’s tee shot found the green but then teetered away cruelly until it ran briskly down the bank to the bunker. Boag took the match with a fine tee shot and an approach putt which spoke of finality. Among many other fine matches, one of the most fascinating were that between the two youngest players. Matewai Peni (Waik-ato-King Country) aged 15, halved with Debbie Randell (Nelson-West Coast-Marlbor-ough), aged 14, after a great game. Points:—Auckland 7 (12£), Wellington 7 (12), Canterbury 6 (131), Waikato-King Country 6 (12), Manawatu-U anganui 5 (12£), Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley 5 (11), Otago 4 (11), Southland 4 (9), Taranaki 3 (9). Nelson-West Coast-Marlborough 2 (10i), South Canterbury 2 (8J), Northland 2 16). Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay 1 (7p. Manawatu-Wanganui and Nelson-West Coast-Marlborough have byes today. FOURTH ROUND South Canterbury 2j z Otago 2] R. S. Hutchins lost to M. E. Irvine, 2 down; A. Bond beat S. F. Armstrong, 5 and 4; J. Kellahan beat R. G. MacDonald, 3 and 2; A. Knight lost to B M. de Lambert. 3 and 2; H. Hames halved with W. R. Gillett. Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley 3s, Northland P. MacDougall halved with T. Hill; V. Fra her beat R. Gray, 2 and 1; C. Hickey beat P. Butler. 3 and 2; A. Osborne, lost to S. Wells. 3 and 1; G. McMillan beat J. Snelling, 4 and 2. Canterbury 3| z Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay Ij V. A. Bishop lost to K. Burns, 3 and 1; S Boag beat J. Morton, 3 and I; N. D. Cullen beat H Hokianga. 2 and 1; S. Haydon beat J. Weaver. 1 up; J. Davidson halved with J. Coffey. Wellington 3, Manawatu-Wanganui 2 A. Seiringer lost to D. A Whitehead, 3 and 2; H. Booth beat R. T. Laugesen, 3 and 2; J. Hanratty beat V Ayling, 4 and 3; C. Ramm lost to J. J. Stewart. 4 and 3; I. H. Bull beat C. Symonds. 4 and 2. Auckland 3, Waikato-King Country 2 K. Maxwell beat H. Ryan. 4 and 3; A. Eather beat j. Malcolm. 4 and 2; R. Kingham beat M. Duncan, 4 and 3; J. Glanfield lost to J Arnold. 1 down; S. M. Bunt lost to M. Peni, 4 and 3. Southland 3, Nelson-West Coast-Marlborough 2 W. R. Douglas beat D. Woodhouse. 4 and 3; R. Low beat ,J. R Parkes. 6 and 4; J. Scandrett beat T. Cumpstone, 2 and I; K. Guterv Jost to A. H. Adams. 2 and 1: R. J Bishop lost to D. Randell. 2 and 1 FIFTH ROUND Wellington 2| z South Canterbury 2J Seiringer lost to Hutchins. 4 and 3: Booth beat Bond, 3 and 2: Hanratty lost to Kellahan, 1 down; Ramm beat Knight. 5 and 3; Bull halved with Hames. Auckland 2|, Bay of Plenty-Thames Valley 2| Maxwell lost to MacDougall, 4 and 3; Eather losts to Fraher. 1 down; Kingham halved with Hickey; Glanfield beat Osborne. 3 and 1; Bunt beat McMillan, 3 and 1. Manawatu-Wanganui 4, Taranaki 1 Whitehead beat Bryant, 5 and 4; Laugesen beat Urbahu, 3 and 2; Ayling halved with Svkes; Stewart halved with Priest; Symond beat Rook, 5 and 4. Northland 1, Otago 4 Hil lost to Irvine, 4 and 3; Gray lost to Armstrong. 2 and i; Butler beat MacDonald. 2 up; Wells lost to De Lambert. 2 down; Snelling lost to Gillett, 6 and 4. Waikato-King Country 3, Nelson-West Coast-Marlborough 2 Ryan lost to Woodhouse. 3 and 2; Malcolm halved with Parkes; Duncan beat Cumpstone. 4 and 3; Arnold beat Adams. 4 and 2; Peni halved with Randell. Canterbury 4 Z Southland 1 Bishop lost to Dougas. 3 and 2; Boag beat Low, 1 up; Cullen heat Scandrett. 2 up; Havdon beat Guttery, 2 and 1; Davidson beat Bishop, 5 and 4.