Jacko’s’ birdie putt keeps title with Waikato

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 23

Jacko’s’ birdie putt keeps title with Waikato

From

BOB SCHUMACHER

in Palmerston North When David Jackson’s putter blade started a fateful, 5-metre birdie putt on its way down a slightly breaking slope on the eighteenth green at Hokowhitu on Saturday afternoon he was not confident of the outcome.

Within a second or so, however, it soon struck home that the ball had found the hole as the green was invaded by ecstatic team-mates and supporters all wanting to congratulate young “Jacko” for keeping the Government Life interprovincial golf championship in Waikato for another year. •

Waikato had won two matches and halved another in the final when Jackson, a former national junior and Waikato’s No. 1 for the first, time, walked down the last fairway one hole in arrears of the twice New Zealand Eisenhower representative and Auckland’s top man, Philip Aickin.

At that point it appeared as if a play-off would be needed for the first time under the present format. If Aickin had been able to remain one up and level the over-all score, then the pair who had finished square, Grant Hattaway (Auckland) and George Lasker, the No. 4s, would have been involved in the sudden death play-off. It was a prospect neither relished and they sat together apprehensively by the first tee as the drama unfolded on the eighteenth. Aickin caused consternation in the Auckland camp when he drew his approach shot into a bunker, but he played out admirably and had a relatively straight-forward putt of 3m for his par. He was never put to the ultimate test, however, as Jackson, aged 24, read his right-to-left breaking birdie putt to perfection.

“I was not all that confident over the putt, I just concentrated on my stroke and got it rolling on the right line,” Jackson said when finally free of the back-slapping, handshaking throng. Certainly Lasker was off the seat at great speed to congratulate him.

The final putt and scenes which accompanied it were very reminiscent of last year’s final at Otatara in Invercargill. On that occasion, Waikato also won 3-2 through a similar putt falling at the last green; that time it was against Canterbury and the person responsible for it was Paul Cadogan, who on Saturday was in a different role. He was the team’s reserve and his duty all week had been to caddy for Jackson. Waikato’s 3-2 win reversed the result of section play when Auckland had prevailed by the same score. In fact all five matches differed from the preliminary contest. The victory also embellished Waikato’s out-

standing record in New Zealand’s premier tournament in recent years. It was runner-up in 1983 and 1984 before winning last year.

Jackson, Colin Taylor and the team captain, Allan Smith, were all part of the 1985 successful side, but the winning experience was new for Lasker and the No. 5, John Gatley. Taylor was celebrating his third win; he had been in Waikato’s 1974 triumphant team when making his debut. Gatley was quite emotional at the end of a remarkable fightback which brought him victory over the former New Zealand representative and Auckland stroke champion, Ted McDougall. McDougall was four up at the turn and Aucklanders were counting on an early win.

In what one spectator described as “the battle of the bulge,” the two portly players were level after 16. It was disaster for McDougall at 17; he was snookered behind a small tree from the tee and snapped his No. 4 iron in half in playing the shot. To make matters worse, he lost the hole and the eighteenth as well to a 3m birdie putt. Gatley, who felt it was turning his way after a big birdie putt downhill at 14, was two under par for the last nine and won six holes on the back half.

The youthful Hattaway, who gained his initial selection in the Auckland team by beating four internationals on the way to winning his province’s match-play championship, should have beaten Lasker. He was never behind in the match, but after going one up on three occasions, he immediately gave back the advantage by twice hitting out of bounds and once losing a ball in trees. Even at the last Hattaway had a royal chance. Lasker took two in a bunker, but his opponent found a greenside trap and could only halve the hole in one over pars. In spite of three-putting on three occasions, Terry Cochrane, one of four players in the Auckland side to have played for New Zealand, was more accurate from tee to green than Smith, and his consistency gave Auckland its only win. Cochrane, two down after six, won at the last, a hole which Smith played poorly. Taylor gave Waikato its second success when he beat Michael Barltrop at the seventeenth. The

Waikato No. 2 ripped into Barltrop early and was three under par and three up after six holes. The phlegmatic Barltrop won the next three holes, but Taylor never lost a hole on the back nine, winning 10, 14 and 17 when Barltrop bunkered his approach and two-putted. So the gripping affair hinged on the result of the top players, and Jackson’s match-winning putt provided a fitting finale to a compelling contest. Canterbury whipped the home team, ManawatuWanganui, 5-0, also a reversal of their section round result, to win the play-off for third and fourth. The Canterbury players had felt deepseated disappointment when succumbing to Waikato, 3-2, in the morning semi-finals, and they did exceedingly well to conceal their frustrations and to play a standard of golf which was worthy of a final.

Against Manawatu-Wan-ganui, Canterbury looked anything but a 5-0 winner a few holes from the finish but the players’ zealous approach and some exquisite shot-mak-ing enabled them to steal a spectacular success. Mark Street, three down to Neil Gaskin at the turn, had three birdies in four holes on the homeward half and won 14, 15, 16 and 17 for his win. Earlier, Murray Brown, with typical skill and tenacity, had survived three birdies in quick order by Graham Ansley to come from one down at 16 to win 17 and 18 after a delightful sand wedge to within a half metre of the hole.

In between those wins, Kerry Lake had his finest moment, thwarting the hitherto unbeaten Bryce Mawhinney at the last hole.

Lake had seemed doomed after the fourteenth, which he lost to be

two down. He rallied magnificently, winning 15 with a birdie, 16 with a good putt for par, then 18 with a fine bunker shot and another excellent putt of 2.5 m. Mawhinney, with a strong following from a supportive home crowd, was perhaps burdened by the pressure of his unbeaten record and lacked Lake’s confidence near the finish.

Two very good birdie putts from about 5m at 14 and 15 set John Williamson up for victory against Paul Dench in a tight contest, and John Craw-ford-Smith also showed plenty of pluck in staying one up on Barry Shannon in the third match, which progressed to the last green.

An overcast, gloomy morning greeted Canterbury for its semi-final against Waikato, and the Canterbury mood was sombre as well three hours later. Street offered little resistance to Jackson and Lake let his game slip at the wrong time against Lasker. But Brown, who missed only two greens, was most impressive and won easily against Gatley, while Williamson was far too steady for Taylor, who had a liberal number of loose shots. The crucial match was between Smith and Craw-ford-Smith and the one without the hyphenated name prevailed through a bewildering putting streak. Crawford-Smith’s composure on the greens had enabled him to recover from two down after eight to be one up after 13. He holed several superb putts, but Smith responded with a 2m birdie at 14, a 5m birdie at 15 and a 7m birdie at 16 to take all three holes and place Waikato in the final. Results:— SEMI-FINALS Waikato 3, Canterbury 2 D. Jackson beat M. E.

Street, 6 and 5; C. E. Taylor lost to J. N. Williamson, 4 and 3; A. Smith beat J. M. Craw-ford-Smith, 2 and 1; G. Lasker beat K. A. Lake, 3 and 2; J. Gatley lost to M. G. Brown, 5 and 4. Auckland 3, Manawatu-Wanganui 2 P. J. Aickin lost to N. A. Gaskin, 1 down; M. E. Barltrop beat P. Dench, 2 and 1; T. A. Cochrane beat B. Shannon, 4 and 3; G. Hattaway lost to B. Mawhinney, 2 and 1; T. McDougall beat G. Ansley, 3 and 1. FINAL Waikato 3, Auckland 2 Jackson halved with Aickin; Taylor beat Barltrop, 2 and 1; Smith lost to Cochrane, 2 down; Lasker halved with Hattaway; Gatley beat McDougall, 2 up. Play-off for third and fourth.

Canterbry 5, Manawatu-Wanganui 0

Street beat Gaskin, 2 and 1; Williamson beat Dench, 2 and 1; Crawford-Smith beat Shannon, 1 up; Lake beat Mawhinney, 1 up; Brown beat Ansley, 1 up. Play-off for fifth and sixth: Tasman 410 (E. Boult 84, S. Thompson 80, L; Martell 81, G. Girvin 80, S. Street 85) beat Bay of Plenty 415 (O. Kendall 80, M. Nicholson 88, S. Morpeth 82, N. Johnson 89, A. Reynish 76). Play-off for seventh and eighth; Taranaki 392 (H. Kennedy 69, D. McCallum 83, D. Baird 77, J. Kurta 78, M. Hine 85) beat Otago 412 (B. Atkinson 86, P. Conlon 79, G. Patterson' 84, S. Thomas 85, P. Cassidy 78). Play-off for ninth and tenth: Wellington 386 (B. Hughes 74, Li Phelps 74, R. Barltrop 79, A. Rose 79, G. Arthurs 80) beat Aorangi 404 (R. Bell 80, J. Button 84, C. Alexander 79, P. Hayes 87, P. Brinsdon 74). Play-off for eleventh and twelfth: Southland 389 (M. Atkinson 81, J. Lapsley 74, G. Radka 77, W. Hoskin 77, G. Brinsdon 80) beat Poverty Bay-East Coast 405 (B. Westrupp 85, R. Sutton 79, M. Weston 76, M. Kupenga 87, P. Hakuwai 78). Play-off for thirteenth and fourteenth: Hawke’s Bay 392 (D. Render 74, G. McFadgen 76, M. Long 79, S. Brooky 83, P. Brocklehurst 80) beat Northland 393 (K. Billington 75, M. Harris 77, A. Morgan 80, R. Ash 82, R. Harvey 79).