Brilliant round puts Robinson out in front

Press, 7 May 1980, Page 38

Brilliant round puts Robinson out in front

PA Hamilton Simon Robinson, a 25-year-old sheepfarmer from Kirwee, near Christchurch, and his wife, Debbie, have every reason to be pleased with their golfing holiday to celebrate their first year of marriage.

On the 6028-metre, par-72, Lochiel Golf Course, near Hamilton, Robinson yesterday led a field of 118 players at the end of the first qualifying round with a brilliant 68 (34-34) in the New Zealand Amateur Championship. He was four under the card after thirteen holes and although he dropped a shot when he three-putted the par-four seventeenth. he scored a brilliant birdie at the last. The course record is 66, held by the New Zealand professional, John Lister. Robinson’s round was all the more meritorious in that he is playing in this, his third, amateur national tournament without his No. 2 ; iron — he lost it in a pretournament practice round and it has not been returned. ; His round included birdies at the first, sixth,, ninth, and eighteenth holes, and an ■ eagle at the par-five thirteenth, but he dropped n shots at the fourth and sev- , enteenth. 1 At the end. of the day, however, he had only a solitary stroke to spare over j Colin Taylor,. one of Waik- ; ato’s favourite golfing sons. . 1 Had he not missed:a onemetre putt ’on the sixteenth j green, Taylor. would have 1

diocrity in his 71 (36-35), i scoring four birdies and 1 dropping shots at four holes. A 20-year-old Otago con- i tender, Gerry Kelly, stole some of the limelight with a i brilliant homeward 33, three under par, with three birdies for his 71. Clyde Burney (Manukau) and Phillip Aickin (Whitford) scored even par 725. Geoff Clarke (St Clair), the top qualifier for each of the last two years, was grateful for a 73. John Finn, the 1979 run-ner-up, stared with two duffed wood shots at the first hole, salvaged a par and finally scored 74 (38-36). Michael Atkinson, who partnered Finn to win the foursomes on Monday, played several loose iron shots, and ended up with 75, Scoring, generally, has not matched the ideal playing conditions, but Lochiel is a tight, driving course, with tough finishing holes, and several prospective good : rounds have come apart to- • wards the end. An added incentive for top players contesting the cham- i pionship is that a four-man [ team to represent New Zea- j land in the Eisenhower Tro- i phy contest at Pinehurst, ’ North Carolina, from Octo- ; ber 8-11 is due to be an-,

nounced on or about May 16. The second and final qualifying round will be played today, the top 64 qualifiers then entering match-play. Leading scorers were:— 68— S. S. Robinson (Shirley, Christchurch). 69— C. E. Taylor (Hamilton). 70— P. Street (New Plymouth). 71— G. A. Kelly (Otago); J. H. Lapsley (Winton). 72 — C. Burney (Manukau); P. J-. Aickin (Whitford). 73— R. W. Stevenson (Lochiel); S. E. Reid (Ngahinepouri); G. E. Clarke (St Clair); P. W. Mosley (North Shore); M. E. Barltrop (Manukau); S. Bittie (Hamilton); R. A. Godso (Pukekohe); S. Morpeth (Manawatu); J. J. V. Bary (Lochiel) J. Ferregel (Pukekohe); R. P. Bell (Ashburton); J. A. Kupa (Napier); P. E. Hartstone (Te Awamutu). 74— J. S. Thomson (Waikare); H. Winchester (Omanu); R. Hyland (Whakatane); M. K. Webber (Paraparaumu); G. Dyer (Manukau); G. Joynes (Hamilton); B. Roderick (Tauranga); J. Finn (St Clair); P. R. Harnish (Manukau). 75— T. R. Pulman (Grange); T. Cochrane (Waitemata); C. D. Castle (Wellington); S. Barron (Waikanae); G. Ritchie (Murlwai); R. White (Remuera); J. Kurta (Napier); B. Laurence (Tahuna); T. Treen (Titirangi); P. K. Creighton (Grange); M. J. R. Atkinson (St Clair). 76— M. N. Nicholson (Whakatane); G. Radka (Greenacres); P. K. Keenan (Levin); R. T. Hogg (Whitby); A. Methven (Muriwai); K. Johnson (Rotorua); R. D. Morgan (Hamilton); C. H. Neill (Paraparaumu); B. C. Taylor (Russley); P. A. Reid (Muriwai): C. Treen (Peninsula); R. Kitto (Wanganui); A. R. Smith (Lochiel).

shared the lead. That was the only shot he dropped and he had birdies at the fourth, sixth, tenth and twelfth for halves of 34 and 35. Taylor, a member of the neighbouring Hamilton club, has been in grand form lately, winning both the North Island tournament and a stroke-play tournament at Wainuiomata. Paul Street, an 18-year-old from New Plymouth, struck a blow for youth with a tidy round of 70 (34-36). The experienced Southland player, Jim Lapsley, had flashes of brilliance and me-