Chch, Waitikiri scramble home

Press, 15 August 1988, Page 24

Chch, Waitikiri scramble home

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

The defending champion, Christchurch, and the team with the best record in the last five years, Waitikiri, both exhaled sighs of relief after scrambling to narrow wins in the opening round of the Woodward Cup inter-club golf championship at Avondale yesterday. Christchurch, which has yet to lose to Central Canterbury, was made to sweat for its 4 victory, and Waitikiri’s supporters had an anxious wait before their worries were alleviated by the holing of a 1.5 m putt on the last green by a newcomer, Gordon Smith, which gave his team a result against Waimairi Beach. The tense finishes did not end there; Harewood had to wait until the final putt of the match before it gained victory over Russley, also by 4J4-3!6> and an identical score was returned in the Coringa-North Canterbury contest, Coringa claiming the win.

Templeton achieved the only clear-cut win of the round, beating the regular bottom-placed Avondale, 6-2. Christchurch had to depend on its top pair, John Williamson and Rick Vincent, to guarantee it victory against Central Canterbury and neither was found wanting. Williamson had special cause to celebrate his win over Mark Elley; the Christchurch captain had lost to that player in the opening round last year. Birdies at the two par-5s on the back nine had Williamson 3 up after 11,

but Elley had his birdie putt conceded at 12 and was well poised to win 13 until Williamson riveted in a 5m par putt. Elley missed a short birdie putt at the fourteenth, a common and costly occurrence for him throughout, and he was not given the chance to get back in the match.

Vincent took time to master the Central captain, Mike Williams, but his steadier putting on the back nine proved decisive.

Central Canterbury had the better of the middle order, Michael Robertson taking advantage of Ken Collett’s putting woes and Tony Daly accounting for the junior, Curtis Mercer. Although Brett Tucker gave Christchurch a most needed win, his father, Wayne, lost two holes later in the match to finish square with Adrian Sisson. The crucial fourth win was supplied by one of Canterbury’s selectors, Geoff Saunders, whose success ensured that his one hundredth match in the competition was that much more memorable.

The opposing Smiths, Philip for Waimairi Beach and Gordon for Waitikiri, held the key to their over-all match result. Waitikiri received a rude jolt in the top order, only the No. 1, Tony Christie, succeeding. Fred Poskitt, Steven Greenall and Gavin Levy, in his debut, had the seaside club 3-1 ahead in the top order. Although Gary Maw won well at No. 8 for Waitikiri, the other three matches went to the seventeenth or final greens. Matthew Brownlee

provided the Waitikiri impetus by turning a likely losing position at the sixteenth against Phil Lindsay into a winning one. They were square after 15 and Lindsay put his approach to within Im at 16, Brownlee was just off the green. But the Waitikiri junior holed his putt. Lindsay missed his and lost 17 as well.

Steve Paterson, all square after 15 with Digby Briggs, birdied 16 and won 17, aided by some undistinguished golf by Briggs, to give Waitikiri its fourth win.

Gordon Smith, who had also birdied 16 to go 1 up on Philip Smith, lost 17 when the Waimairi Smith canned a big birdie putt from the back of the green. At the last, Gordon Smith hit two big shots to the par-5 green but a poor chip and hard-hit first putt left him with a putt of almost 2m to stay square and give Waitikiri the winning half point. The putt was never in the middle of the cup, but the ball only lightly caressed the right-hand side before falling in much to the relief of Gordon Smith and to the chagrin of Philip Smith.

Harewood scored its first win against Russley since 1982 with fortune favouring it better on the last green. Kerry Lake holed a 4.5 m putt at the eighteenth to remain ahead of Paul Hoffman and the Harewood No. 2, Stephen Street, retained his advantage in the crucial final match when his opponent, John Crawford-Smith, was too bold with his tee shot and eventually conceded the par-3 twelfth — their finishing

hole. Brent Paterson, held to a half by Karl Mariu in the Town v. Country fixture a week previously, made no mistake in their rematch. He led Coringa to a close win, backed by David Murphy, Russell Rodgers and Denis Cochrane, who won the last hole against Paul Mariu. Avondale won at the top (Lucky Starr) and the bottom (Peter Cunningham) but Templeton won the six matches in between against the home team.

Coringa 414, North Canterbury 3y 2

B. G. Paterson beat K. M. Mariu, 4 and 3; I. T. Carruthers lost to J. P. Sincock, 1 down; J. Louwman halved with D. Lavery; D. J. Murphy beat J. L. Allin, 4 and 3; M. J. Stanley lost to S. J. Hill, 1 down; D. Cochrane beat P. Mariu, 1 up; R. L. Rodgers beat C. H. Nairn, 5 and 3; P. E. Neal lost to H. J. Henderson, 5 and 4. Waitikiri 4y 2 , Waimairi Beach 3y 2 A. J. Christie beat S. W. Priest, 7 and 5; M. G. Brown lost to F. J. Poskitt, 5 and 3; L. J. Cron lost to S. L. Greenall, 3 and 2; W. J. Sherwood lost to G. Levy, 5 and 4; G. Smith halved with P. Smith; S. J. Paterson beat D. J. Briggs, 2 and 1; M. J. Brownlee beat P. J. Lindsay, 2 and 1; G. L. Maw beat C. Marlowe, 5 and 3.

Russley 3y 2 , Harewood 414

K. H. Mills beat M. E. Street, 3 and 2; J. M. Craw-ford-Smith lost to S. W. Street, 2 down; B. Smith beat R. H. McLeod, 4 and 3; P. Hoffman lost to K. A. Lake, 1 down; N.

Bromfield lost to A. Sidford, 5 and 4; I. McNish halved with B. K. Street; G. H. Turner beat I. D. Walsh, 2 and 1; J. Hazeldine lost to P. Maclachlan, 6 and 5. Templeton 6, Avondale 2 R. L. Jones lost to L. Starr, 4 and 3; J. R. Gantley beat W. M. Bowie, 3 and 2; A. J. McCall beat S. W. Sibley, 3 and 2; A. Bishop beat B. B. Trangmar, 3 and 2; R. N. Brightwell beat J. McMoore, 5 and 4; A. Hobbs beat C. D. Prebble, 3 and 1; R. McLauchlan beat R. J. Goodman, 4 and 3; J. W. Prebble lost to P. D. Cunningham, 2 and 1.

Christchurch 4y 2 , Central Canterbury 3y 2 J. N. Williamson beat M. E. Elley, 3 and 2; R. M. Vincent beat M. Williams, 3 and 2; K. L. Collett lost to M. Robertson, 1 down; B. T. Tucker beat J. Langan, 2 and 1; C. L. Mercer lost to T. J. Daly, 2 and 1; W. I. Tucker halved with A. Sisson; G. C. Saunders beat G. A. Stringer, 3 and 2; I. D. Dobson lost to J. Smith, 4 and 3.

Blank Cup

At Russley: Templeton 6, Russley 2; Waitikiri 6, Waimairi 2; Harewood 4, Rawhiti 4; Coringa 4/2, Avondale 314; Christchurch 5, Windsor 3.

Simon Cup

At Rawhiti: Christchurch 7, Windsor 1; Waitikiri 6 y 2 , McLeans Island A iy 2 ; Waimairi 5y 2 , Rawhiti 222;y 2 ; Templeton iy 2 , McLeans Island B y 2 ; Russley s‘/ 2 , Avondale 2«A; Hagley Harewood 3y 2 .