Waitikiri produces fine golf win

Press, 7 August 1978, Page 3

Waitikiri produces fine golf win

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Harewood’s second player, Mike Small, was placed in an unenviable position on the last green at Shirley yesterday. Facing Small was a putt of just under 2m that had to drop to enable him to beat his Waitikiri opponent, Ross Griffith, and to give Harewood a draw against that team in the fourth round of the senior Woodward Cup inter-club golf competition. After three rounds, Harewood and Christchurch were unbeaten and Waitikiri, surpisingly, was languishing at the bottom of the points table without a victory. Small struck the putt firmly but it was slightly off-line. It was a moment of relief for the Waitikiri supporters thronging the last green, one of anguish for the Harewood team.

Although it was the classical case of the bottom team upsetting the top team, Waitikiri’s win was not really a sporting shock. The team has considerable potential but has not always played to expectations.

Len McKenzie and Colin McNally gave Waitikiri a great boost in the middle; both played well. The accomplished Mark Street gave Harewood a win in the top position against Bob Farrant and his twin brother, Brent, won the last son in a tight match. Christchurch kept its unbeaten record with a convincing win against Russley. Over the last decade, Russley and Christchurch have fought out many Woodward Cup finals, but Russley is well below its normal strength this season and has

only Waimairi Beach behind it in the competition. The all-round strength of Christchurch was evident with Murray Brown and John Orr gaining their fourth successive wins from as many matches.

Avondale continued its bold showing in the competion with a narrow win against Templeton and it has taken over second position. Christchurch will not want to take Avondale too lightly when they meet in the next round.

Coringa had its second win against the bottomplaced Waimairi Beach and the result was never in doubt. Don Pickering had a big win for Waimairi at No. 4, but its only other joyous moments were provided by Digby Briggs and Paul Holmes, both of whom gained halves.