Lapsley keen to represent Canterbury

Press, 26 August 1980, Page 28

Lapsley keen to represent Canterbury

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Although the initial appearances of Jim Lapsley, a former No. 1 for the Southland Freyberg Rose Bowl team, in Canterbury golf have not brought immediate success, there is little doubt that he will be a valuable acquisition to the province. . . Canterbury is very rich in golfing talent at present and Lapsley will not have an easy passage into either the eight-man team for the South Island inter-provincial event or the five-man Freyberg team. However, Lapsley said

this week that he is very keen to win a place in the top Canterbury teams. and it will be hard to leave out a player of his natural ability and excellent temperament. This month, Lapsley, aged 26, bought a 246 acre farm at Cust. He has had little competitive golf in recent months, but has joined RangiOra and is determined to play as much as possible. Will, he find time to do this with his farming commitments? “I’ll make the time,” he answered. Although Lapsley would rather forget the 1979 Frey-

berg tournament at Nelson — he managed only two wins from seven matches — he has been a member of the Southland team in that event for eight successive

years and had commendable records on the two occasions he'was in the top position. The tall, lean farmer was seen in better light at last year’s New Zealand amateur championship when he was runner-up with John Gatley (Lochiel) in the foursomes and reached the semi-finals

i of the individual match-play > after qualifying in equal • sixth place. ' A former Southland cham- : pion of champions, Lapsley . has won that province’s

stroke title for the last two years and has been twice runner-up in the match-play championship. He also represented New Zealand as a junior in Australia in 1973 and 1974. Lapsley’s first game in Christchurch was for North

Canterbury in the Woodward Cup on August 17, but he found the lack of match play costly and was beaten by the Waimairi Beach No.. 2, Digby Briggs. There were signs that Lapsley, a very big hitter and especially strong with his long irons, was finding his touch at Ellesmere on Sunday when he was No. 1 in the Country team that was well beaten by Town. Lapsley finished one-under par in the first round, but that was not good enough for him to beat the often brilliant Mark Street, who

was one under. In the afternoon, however, he played steadily rather than spectacularly to account for John Williamson, the Town captain and a member of last year’s Canterbury Freyberg team. Next Sunday will provide Lapsley with another chance to advance his claims in front of the provincial selectors. He has been chosen at No. 3 in the Canterbury team to play Mid-South Canterbury and will be opposed by two Freyberg representatives in Eric Maguigan and Kevin Fraser.