Sobers goes four under

Press, 12 February 1982, Page 20

Sobers goes four under

Sir Garfield Sobers, of the West indies, is regarded as the greatest cricketer in the history of the game. Had he not devoted his youth to making thousands of runs and taking hundreds of wickets, he could undoubtedly have been a top golfer. Sobers, who is visiting New Zealand at present, played at the Harewood Club’s old course on Wednesday in company with Simpson Guillen, the former West Indies and New Zealand test representative. The left-handed Sobers, who takes his golf clubs with him wherever he goes, is on a handicap of three. At Harewood he went out in 37, level with the card, and had two birdies — the second and the fifth. He did not drop a stroke coming back, and had birdies at 11, 12, 16 and 18 to finish the half in 32, and with a score of 69 — four under.

His birdie at the 436 m last hole was the most spectacular. This is a dog-leg with an opening beyond a copse of tall pines. Sobers did not get far enough with his drive to nave a view of the green, but nit an astonishing nine-iron pver the trees and was on in two. It was a good day for Guillen too. He is on a andicap of 10 but played two under it with his round of 81. Not only famous cricketers can find further success on the golf course. Last weekend, the former All Black half-back, Lyn Davis, a single-figure handicapper, had a round of 68, four under the card, at Charteris Bay. The official course record is 67, set by Graeme Martin, of Russley; but Davis’s score was the best ever returned by a Charteris Bay member in an official competition.