Canterbury goes down on a day of golf upsets

Press, 9 November 1984, Page 44

Canterbury goes down on a day of golf upsets

From

BOB SCHUMACHER,

in New Plymouth

The golf fraternity of Taranaki was in good heart and humour at the Ngamotu course yesterday. The reason was simple and the jubilation understandable — the home team had lowered the colours of the playing through champion, Canterbury.

Canterbury’s loss to Taranaki, its first to that team since the national inter-provincial championship became one for fiveman teams in 1968, was not the only notable happening of an eventful third round in the Government Life tournament. ' Overnight, Canterbury had been one of four teams with the perfect score along with Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Southland. Bay of Plenty starved yesterday, losing all five games to Waikato, and Auckland crushed Southland. Southland’s sole success came from the tenacious Jim Lapsley, a member of Canterbury’s triumphant Freyberg team last year. When the final putts fell on another beautifully serene day, Auckland was alone on the leader board with three points, a half point clear of Taranaki and Wellington, which gained maximum points off Poverty Bay-East Coast. The championship is far from decidea. Waikato, Canterbury, Bay of Plenty and Southland, all have two points, and most of the top seven teams have to play one another over the next four rounds. Canterbury’s fall from grace has not been as dramatic as that of Otago. The 1982 Freyberg champion and present South Island title-holder has yet to record a point, losing, 3-2, to Tasman yesterday. The most significant achievement was the win by Tasman’s young No. 1, Elliot Boult, who beat the former international, Kim McDonald, at the last green.

Mid-South Canterbury also had a rewarding third round. It beat Hawke’s Bay, 3%-1%, with Charlie Alexander having this third successive half at No. 1, and Peter Hayes and Robbie Bell listing their second wins. Canterbury had been straddling the straight line on the first day without becoming completely unbalanced. But it teetered too far against Taranaki in spite of a courageous effort by Mark Street and John Sanders to steady the lean when all seemed lost. A minor consolation it might be, but the Canterbury team played well in its 3%-l% defeat. It was more a case of the Taranaki players rising to the challenge of playing the titleholder in front of an unabashedly supportive gallery than a disastrous slump by Canterbury. The Taranaki players have had a lot of golf recently, three of the team are members of the host New Plymouth club which finished its club championships recently. Murray Brown, who has played extremely competently over the three rounds to date, had the misfortune to strike the in-form Ken Holyoake. Brown was par for the first five holes and two down to the unpretentious Taranaki player who was two-under at the finish. If Brown had cause to rue the consistency of Holyoake, Paul Minifie had even more reason to reflect on how golf can deal cruel blows. He played disappointingly on the first day, but managed to win. Yesterday he was so much sounder yet

lost at the fourteenth. Darryl Baird missed no chances, five birdies and finished four-under par. With the bottom two matches decided early in favour of Taranaki, the crowd flocked to the two key contests, between Murray Martin and Street and Jack Kurta and Sanders. The phlegmatic Brent Paterson, now one of only three unbeaten No. Is, gave Canterbury a win which it constantly expects and gets from him. He had some trouble breaking free of Robert Rookes and they were square after seven holes. Paterson won eight and nine, then birdied 11,12 and 13. Rookes was relieved at the quick finish: “When he knocked in those three birdies I just wanted to go and see what was going on up front.” The other two contests had remarkable finishes. Sanders was one up at the turn in spite of struggling to hit the greens in regulation. His recovery work was excellent. Kurta putted poorly on the first day and lost both games, but he gave lie to that with an incredible 25m birdie putt up a gentle slope at 10, then holed a birdie putt from 13m at 14 just when Sanders looked comfortable at 2 up. Buoyed by that putt, Kurta won 15 and hit the pin with his bunker shot at 16 to gain another birdie and his third successive hole. Sanders had his turn at 17, where he was only centimetres from an eagle. He won the hole with a birdie and they stayed square at 18

when Sanders, after badly missing the green, placed a most delightful and difficult running chip beside the hole. By that time, though, Canterbury’s cause was hopeless. Street and Martin had. never been separated by more than a hole most of the way. Martin holed a long birdie putt at the eighth to be square and the pair remained level to the fourteenth where Martin got the break with another birdie.

Today, Canterbury plays Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay-East Coast last.

Tasman 3, Otago 2 (Tasman names first)' K. Downie lost to M. McDowell, 3 and 2; G. Girvin beat P. Conlon, 4 and 3; L. Marfell. beat F. Whitaker, 1 up; G. Domigan lost to S. Morshuis, 2 and 1; E. Boult beat K. McDonald, 1 up. Taranaki Canterbury 1% (Taranaki names first)

K. Holyoake beat M. Brown, 4 and 2; D. Baird beat P. Minifie, 5 and 4;. M. Martin beat M. Street, 1 up; J. Kurta and J. Sanders, all square; R. Rookes lost to B. Paterson, 5 and 4. Mid-South Canterbury 3%, Hawke’s Bay 1% (Mid-South Canterbury names first) R. Bell beat S. Jones, 3 and 2; A. Mangum lost to A. Ford, 3 and 2; G. Kelly beat T. Richards, 3 and 1; P. Hayes beat J. Kuna, 1 up; C. Alexander and D. Render, all square. Other results:— Waikato 5, Bay of Plenty 0; Auckland 4, Southland 1; Manawatu-Wanganui • 3%, Northland 1%. Points and individual wins:— Auckland 3 (11%), Wellington 2% (10%), Taranaki 2% (9%), Waikato 2 (10%), Canterbury 2 (8), Bay of Plenty 2 (8), Tasman 1 (6), Northland % (6), Otago 0 (5%), Poverty BayEast Coast 0 (1%).