Run from back wins Alker S.I. golf title

Press, 27 February 1989, Page 26

Run from back wins Alker S.I. golf title

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

in Timaru

“It’s better being the hunter than the hunted,” said the New Zealand junior representative, Steven Alker, of Hamilton, as he assessed the leader board situation before the start of the final round of the South Island amateur golf championship at the Levels course yesterday.

At that point Alker was in third equal place, four shots behind the pacemaker, Lyndon Cron, of Canterbury, and one in arrears of the stocky little Timaru player, Mark Sandri. It took some time for Alker to close in on his prey, but when he did he pounced swiftly. Still four shots behind with eight holes to play, Alker was level with Cron four holes later and went one ahead two holes from the finish. And that was the difference at the end of the 72 holes of stroke play. Alker, who had won the Canterbury stroke championship at Waitikiri a fortnight ago, had made his second successful raid on a major South Island tournament, taking the title by one shot from Cron, with an aggregate of 290, two under par. Cron, desperately unlucky to have a downhill putt at the penultimate hole lip the cup and nestle behind the back, was runner-up on 291, with Sandri on 293 and the 1988 and 1987 South Island champion, Brent Paterson, of Canterbury, five strokes behind Alker in fourth place. On a day absolutely tailormade for good scoring, Cron almost stole the championship in the third round. The New Zealand representative, Owen

Kendall, of Mount Maunganui, Alker, Sandri and Robbie Bell, of Ashburton, were all in front of Cron starting yesterday’s third round, but they were left in his wake as he carded a scintillating outward nine of 29, seven under par. Cron was the Miandad of Levels as he maintained his concentration, his control, his co-ordination in a masterful display. Playing the back nine first, Cron birdied the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth holes and there was only one putt of considerable length. He had a two, five threes and three fours on his card. After 13 holes he was eight under par and needed a par finish to equal the course record of 64 held by the veteran Aorangi player, Graeme Brown. But the pressures of trying to protect such a brilliant score told on Cron, who perhaps became a little defensively minded in his club selection, and he dropped strokes on three successive holes. His five-under-par 67 was his best tournament round, however. Cron and Alker both matched par on the front nine in the final round and neither Alker nor Sandri had eaten into the lead. When Cron bravely got up-and-down for pars at 10 and 11, it seemed that he had weathered the rough patch. Then came a hole of sheer

trauma, four putts at the short twelfth, and Sandri, with a 4m birdie at 10 and another from 6m at 12, and Alker, with a birdie at 11, had both got within one shot. All three birdied the thirteenth but Cron missed the green at 14 and his par to fall back with his two pursuers. A three-putt at 16 was to be Cron’s last mistake but it proved decisive as Alker, a model of concentration with a wide repertoire of attacking shots, finished with three regulation pars. “One four-putt, one threeputt" lamented Cron as he watched Alker put his No. 5 iron approach to within 4m at the last hole. Although Cron played the three holes which trapped him in the morning four strokes better in the afternoon, he had 39 on the outward half as opposed to his 29 in the third round. Alker could scarcely believe his good fortune when he enquired about the state of the tournament with two holes to play and learnt he was one ahead. “I was just cruising alone, playing for second place — I didn’t know what had happened to Lyndon ahead,” said Alker, the world schoolboy champion last year. For Alker, it was his fourth 72-hole tournament in six weeks, but he was purposefully intent from start to finish —

“having learnt to concentrate through competing in so many tournaments.” “My only lapse was a double bogey on the last hole of the third round, but I calmed down over lunch and thought that four behind was not a great deal over 18 holes.” Leading scores:— Championship 290— S. Alker (Waikato), 75, 71, 74, 70. 291— L. J. Cron (Canterbury), 74, 75, 67, 75. 293—M. Sandri (Aorangi), 76, 72, 71, 74. 295—8. G. Paterson (Canterbury), 73, 76, 76, 70. 297— R. C. Murray (Aorangi), 81, 70, 73, 73; S. C. Thompson (Wellington), 73, 79, 71, 74. 298— R. P. Bell (Aorangi), 75, 73, 75, 75; O. J. Kendall (Bay of Plenty), 71, 75, 74, 78. 299— A. J. Christie (Canterbury), 73, 78, 73, 75. 300— M. Pettigrew (Wellington), 76. 75, 76, 73. 301— C. Alexander (Aorangi), 72, 77, 76, 76. ■3O2—S. Keen (Aorangi), 73, 78, 74, 77; a. E. sidford (Canterbury), 78, 78, 71, 75. 303— P. Brinsden (Southland), 85, 71, 77, 70. 304— M. E. Barltrop (Auckland), 77, 79, 72, 76. 306—K. M. Mariu (Canterbury), 76, 78, 72, 80. 306—R. Watt (Tasman), 76, 78, 72, 80.