Golf West Coasters go close to upsetting Canty

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 35

Golf West Coasters go close to upsetting Canty

By

808 SCHUMACHER

It was a case of so near, yet so far for the BullerWestland golfers who almost stole Canterbury’s

thunder in the annual contest between the two teams of eight at Waitikiri at the week-end. Except for a tied result

in 1977, Canterbury has held the Doug Doyle Memorial trophy since 1974 and has usually been a comfortable winner on home courses. However, Buller-Westland fielded a very good team and provided plenty of cheek on Saturday afternoon, Canterbury winning that round, The second round yesterday was desperately close; the outcome depending on the last hole between the only two players left on the course, the No. Is, Murray Brown (Canterbury) and Trevor Joseph. Brown won the eighteenth hole, Canterbury tied the second round, 4-4, and had gained an over-all victory, 8%-7%. Had Joseph won the last hole, the match result would have been reversed. His match with Brown typified the closeness and change of fortunes which occurred in most matches. Brown, down early, squared the game at the turn and went 1 up with a fine birdie at 14. Joseph’s reply was to chip in for a birdie at the difficult fifteenth. A par was sufficient for Brown to win 16, but he three-putted 17, his third such error on the back nine, and the pair were level playing the eighteenth. It was a skilled shot that won the hole and match for Brown. He seemed blocked by trees after his drive, but drew a No. 5 iron shot around the obstacles and on to the green. Joseph missed his par from 3m, and Brown was down safely in two for the win. Of the Canterbury team, only the No. 6, Robert McDonald, managed two wins, although John Craw-ford-Smith, the fourth player, had a win and a half. On the debit side, Peter Heasley, playing at No. 2, had two losses. Buller-Westland’s brave bid centred on the No. 2, Murray Perks, and the No. 7, Stuart Thompson, both of whom won twice, and their experienced Freyberg representative, lan Donaldson, who had a win and a half. Perks, who had beaten Brown at the eighteenth on Saturday, was 1 down after Heasley birdied the eighth yesterday. The complexion changed dramatically over the next five holes, all won by Perks. Thompson, aged 17, played splendidly in the difficult conditions, hitting the ball powerfully and keeping it in play. He fired a couple of birdies at John Parlane on the front nine to be 3 up at the turn, and he won decisively.