Canty one of six with chance in Freyberg

Press, 4 November 1983, Page 26

Canty one of six with chance in Freyberg

From

BOB SCHUMACHER,

in Hamilton Two days and three rounds of the Government Life golf tournament for the Freyberg Rose Bowl at St Andrew’s have come and gone and still six teams have aspirations of finishing as the champion. It is the closest championship for many' years in respect to the number of teams in contention with four rounds remaining. Five teams started yesterday’s single round with the perfect score and all five maintained their unblemished records. Canterbury and Otago did so easily, with 4-1 wins. Waikato was also a comfortable victor, but Auckland and Southland were both made to sweat and squirm before they sneaked home against Wellington and Mid-South Canterbury, respectively. The sixth team still in contention is Bay of Plenty, which has hit its hopples in the last two rounds after a shock loss to Taranaki in the opening contest. In the next four rounds, Bay of Plenty meets four of the unbeaten sides (Auckland being the exception) and Canterbury is its final rival. Auckland produced the greatest escape yesterday. Michael Barltrop, with a win over his older brother, Rod, and big Ted McDougall gave Auckland two wins, but there seemed little chance of a third. However, Stephen Partridge won the last two holes to get a half and the national stroke champion, Terry Cochrane, 5 down after seven, also hit back to birdie the last and claim a half against Martin Webber. Mid-South Canterbury, the South Island teams’ champion, again had a frustrating time. It has yet to gain a win although it nearly scored a half point against Southland yesterday. Charlie Alexander won two of the last three holes to beat Gary Radka, 1 up, and Peter Hayes made a spectacular recovery to halve with Paul Adams. He was 5 down after six holes. Mid-South needed a win from John Bufton, but the big No. 4 lost two of the last three holes and could.only manage a half. Canterbury had a decisive winning margin over Hawke’s Bay yesterday, but the success was not as convincing as the score might suggest. Canterbury had two solid individual wins through Jim Lapsley and

Paul Minifie and Hawke’s Bay gained an early triumph through its old master, Stuart Jones. The other two games were in the balance — in the end they swung Canterbury’s way.

Jones, with his wobbling gait caused by an injury to the hip, ended the unbeaten run of John Sanders for Canterbury in the Freyberg tournament. Sanders had won eight of his previous nine matches and halved the other. It was not vintage Jones, and Sanders aided his own downfall by losing the first three holes, all to par. However, Jones, who has had more wins in 29 years in the tournament than the whole Canterbury team has made in appearances, produced the touch of a maestro at the sixth when he rolled in an uphill birdie putt of 26m. Sanders did recover to 2 down after 11, but he lost the twelfth and the match three holes later.

It was a putt, very similar in size and direction, which ensured one of the close matches went to Canterbury. Brent Paterson, in spite of his superiority from tee to green, had a devil of a time taming the gingerheaded Maori No. 1 for Hawke’s Bay, Jamie Kupa. The pair were never separated by more than one hole for the first 15. Kupa putted magnificently: he had to because his tee shots were scattered far and wide. Paterson compounded his worries by several three-putts, but went 1 up at a vital time by taking 15.

The sixteenth hole is among the hardest, a par-4 of almost 400 m, but Paterson holed his 24m birdie up a slope and he felt that was a fine present on his twentythird birthday. He safely halved the seventeenth in par for the win.

Mark Street had earlier clinched Canterbury’s third win, also at the seventeenth. He was 1 up playing the hole, tossed in a high short iron to within 3m and, after long deliberation, holed the birdie putt. His opponent, Steve Vercoe, clung like a leech to Street throughout and his putting rescued him on many occasions. Two birdies on the back nine gave Street the leeway he wanted.

Although not playing as well as on the first day, Minifie was matched against an opponent who struggled harder and when Minifie had a steady patch on the back nine, Rick Berry quickly capitulated.

Lapsley received a signal honour at 6.30 a.m. yesterday. An old friend phoned to inform him that he had been named as the Timaru Boy’s High School “Old Boy of the Year.” “It makes me feel old,” he remarked.

But he played like a brash youngster. He had power, timing and confidence, eagled the tenth, and ended the match with a 13m birdie at 13. His opponent, the previously undefeated Tony Richards, won the first hole, lost the next four and was never let back in the match.

Quite unbelievably, Lapsley has lost only two holes in three rounds and has not gone further than the fifteenth.

Tasman started strongly against Otago and only its No. 1, lan Strickett, was behind after three holes, but the pendulum swung the other way as the match progressed and Otago was firmly in control in three matches at the turn.

However, Lyell Marfell, distinctive with his cloth cap, kept his unbeaten record to give Tasman its only win. He was 5 up at the turn and won at the sixteenth.

The Tasman No. 5, Kevin Downie, who had two wins on the first day, looked set for a third when he led Murray McDowell, 2 up with three to play. But he lost 16 when his ball split on the approach, 17 when he three-putted, and the last when he was bunkered and could not match his opponent’s par. An experienced Tasman team will not be an easy opponent for Canterbury in the fifth round and Southland has the record to make life difficult for Canterbury in the afternoon. A key fifthround game will be between Waikato and Auckland, while Waikato and Bay of Plenty should provide good fare in the sixth round.

Results:— Round three (one round only played yesterday).— Northland 2%, Taranaki 2Vt K. Billington bt J. Kurta, 5 and 4; A. Nicholls halved with M. Martin; B. Mcleod bt B. Ducker, 3 and 2; A. Morgan lost to K. Holyoake, 1 down; S. Sullivan lost to N. Rowlands, 2 and 1. Canterbury 4, Hawke’s Bay 1 B. Paterson bt J. Kupa, 2 and 1; J. Lapsley bt T. Richards, 7 and 5; J. Sanders lost to S. Jones, 4 and 3; M. Street bt S. Vercoe, 2 and 1; P. Minifie bt R. Berry, 5 and 3. Auckland 3, Wellington 2 M. Barltrop beat R. Barltrop, 2 and 1; T. Cochrane halved with M. Webber, E. McDougall beat J. Sims, 6 and 5; G. Goldfinch lost to T. Procter, 2 and 1; S. Partridge halved with M. McDonald. Southland 3, Mid South Canterbury 2 G. Radka lost to C. Alexander, 1 down; K. Todd beat G. Smith, 2 up; P. Adams halved with P. Hayes; J. Creedv halved with J. Bufton; M. Matheson beat G. Brown, 4 and 3. Waikato 3%, Poverty-Bay East Coast 1% C. Taylor halved with P. Rouse; D. Jackson beat R. Clark, 4 and 3; A. Smith beat G. Smith, 4 and 3; S. Reid lost to E. Gordon, 2 and 1; J. Gatley beat M. Thomson, 4 and 3. Bay of Plenty 5, ManawatuWanganui 0 O. Kendall bt N. Gaskin, 3 and 2; M. Nicholson bt P. Simpson, 6 and 5; P. Yelavich bt B. Shannon, 4 and 3; B. Simpson bt D. Court, 2 up; P. Hay bt M. Gibbons, 5 and 3. Otago 4, Tasman 1 K. McDonald beat I. Stricken, 6 and 5; M. Atkinson beat S. Street, 5 and 4; A. Rose lost to L. Marfell, 3 and 2; S. Morshuis beat I. Donaldson, 5 and 4; M. McDowall beat K. Downie, 1 up.

Tournament points after three rounds: Canterbury 3 wins (13% individual games), Otago 3 (12%), Waikato 3 (10), Auckland 3 (9%), Southland 3 (9), Bay of Plenty 2 (10%), Taranaki 1% (7%), Tasman 1 (6), Hawke’s Bay 1 (5%), Northland % (6), Wellington 0 (5%), Manawatu-Wanganui 0 (4), Mid-South Canterbury 0 (3), Poverty Bay-East Coast 0 (2%).