GOLF

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 225, 11 June 1923, Page 9

GOLF

J.OWER HUTT TEAM VISITS OTAKI SA PLEASANT DAY IN THE SUN 'Pho Lower Hutt Golf Club sent a tes.m of ten middle and long-handicap players to Otaki on Saturday. The weather was delightful. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the links were flooded with hot sunshine. The Otaki links are regarded as one of jthe most picturesque and sporting in the Dominion. Situated on the sea coast, the soil is of that sandy nature {which absorbs rain as soon as it falls, while one can take a piece of turf with, the club, no matter how close the lie. The links are dotted with good sized hillocks, which lend pleasing variety to play, and provide excellent natural bunkers. Arthur Brooks, the Lower Hutt professional, recently redesigned the course,' and he has provided many holes which compel players to get distance, to keep the line, and .to plav due attention to strength of »hot. The match resulted in a win for Lower Hutt by eight games to two. {The veteran player, Gray, who is champion of the. Otaki Club, scored a good win over 0. Heketa, while Dr. Shs.ro defeated W. E. Leicester by 2 up and 1. These were the only wins Registered by the country club. A feature of the match was the close finishes in nearly every game. The following are the results of the match, Hutt players being mentioned first in each instance:— L. Carter beat S. T. Sievers, 5 up tend 4 to play. L. 0. Hemery beat C. C. Holmes, 3 and 1. O ' Heketa lost to Gray, 1 down. R. C.Kirk beat W. H. Wills, 3 and • Rathbone beat J. B. D’ath, 2 and 1. • H. V. Scott beat T. O’Rourke, 1 up. W. G. Hughes beat C. F. Atmore. B and.!'. | I. Hart beat G. M. Lethbridge. 1 up. C. Robieson beat N. C. Blackburne, 5 and 3. < W. E. Leicester lost to Dr. G. S. Sharp, 2 and 1. How Matches were Won. L. Carter, who won the Nelson Championship in 1921, proved too good for S. T. Sievers, in the contest between the N 6. I’s. .'The latter is a tall left-hander, who drives a long ball, but he struck a bad patch on Saturday. and could do nothing right. Carter. though inclined to duff occasionally thrdugh the fairways, played very steady golf on the out journey, and pccassionally came to light' with brilliant shots, which incline one to imag-. ine that he will be amongst the short handicap men when he settles down to his true form. At the third, Sievers laid Carter a dead stymie, but the latter, by burrowing cleverly' op the sloping green, negotiated the stymie by running down s a 9ft. putt for a half. ‘At the next hole. Carter duffed his drive, foozled his brassie second, but then came to light with a magnificent iron, shot of 160yds., which‘laid his hall six inches from the pin. He ran down a 15ft. putt for a half in 4 at the fifth, after Seivers had laid his third dead. It was, however, at the seventh (460yds.) that .Carter gave a real taste of his. quality. A _ splendid drive was followed by a Beautiful brassio second, which laid his bajl' on the centre of thee green.' -u-The , -' ! Htrtt' marl was 4 up at tfte turn, and 6 up at the eleventh. He topped his drive at the twelfth into the sheep pens, and played • three off the tee. Seivers took the hole in 5 to 6, and also captured. the next hole in the same figures. thus reducing the leeway to 4 down again. Both played good golf at the “Crow’s Nest” (330yds.), which is one of the most searching tests of golf to he found anywhere in New Zealand. j

i Che green is situated in a cup near 'the top of a steep hillside, and if players do not find the green with their approaches they are in serious trouble. Both got good drives, and also found the green with their seconds,. Carter’s ball being only a foot from the pin. Sievers missed his downhill putt of three feet,' and his ball ran so far •past that he missed the return putt. Carter mads no mistake, and finding the cup in a brilliant 3 took the match by 5 up and 4 to Hemerv (Hutt) winT 4 down at the sixth in his match with _ Holmes, but then camo right on to his game, and won the next six holes in bogey scores, eventually taking a hard fight by 2 and 1. . ’ , Heketa (Hutt) jumped off l in brilliant style in his game against Gray. The Hutt man was 4 up at the eighth and 3 up at the turn. The Otaki champion, however, who is an experienced match player, then settled down to a stern chase, and,' playing solid golf, gradually worked off the deficit until they were all square at the seventeenth.. Gray scored a sensational win by holei'ng out his approach from outside the green at the homo hole.

T. O’Rourke (Otaki) made a good recovery in his game with Scott. The latter was 5 up with 8 to play, but the Otaki man reduced Scott’s lead to 1 up at the finish. I The veteran, R. C. Kirk, who captained the Hutt team, proved too steady for W. H. Wills. Kirk went out in 41 to his opponent’s 44, and was 3 up at the turn. They had an even fight coming in, both taking 48 for the run home.

Hughes (Hutt) had a little in hand against Atmore for the greater pare of the journey. The Hutt man was 3 up at the turn, but Atmoro succeeded in squaring the game at the fifteenth. Hughes then went ahead again, winning" the last three holes. Robieeon (Hutt).had all the best‘of his argument with Blackburne. The Hutt man, who is a promising colt, played so solidly that he was 4 up .at the turn, and then dormy 7. Blackburne made a spirited attempt to save the desperate situation, and won the next three holes. Robieson, who is a left-hander, won the next, and took the match by, 5 and 3. The other matches were very evenly contested, the issues being in doubc right up to the last few holes. The visitors were most hospitably entertained by the Otaki. Club, luncheon and afternoon tea being dispensed by the members of the Otaki Ladies’ Golf Club. KARORI V. WAIWETU An enjoyable match was played between the Karori and Waiwetu clubs, at Waiwetu, on Saturday afternoon. Twelve-a-sida took part, and the contest resulted in a win for for Waiwetu by nine games to two, with one game unfinished. The Karori men were nearly all at fault in their judgment of distances on the strange links, and could not pick up the pace of the greens. W. Morton (Karori). however, appeared to like the course, and was quite at home on it. Ha played steady golf, and outplayed Battersby by 5 up and 4. N. Smith, who scored the other victory for Karori. had a dose fight with Harker, which eventually went to the former by the narrowest possible margin. In the contest between the No. l.’s. Gwilliam nwt&L-ta- strong for McKenzie by G ap and 4 to go. The former drove a

long ball, kept excellent direction, and was very sound in his short game. The following are the details of the matches played, the Waiwetu players being mentioned first in each instance: Gwilliam beat McKenzie, 6 and 4. Bamfield beat Berry, 2 and 1. G. Cook beat W. D. Cook, 4 and 2. K. Cook beat Archibald, 4 and 3. , Macaskill beat H. Williams, 4 and 3. Hobbs and Porter, unfinished.

Walker beat Cody, 2 up. Taylor beat Bree, 4 and 3. Ramsden beat L. Williams, 5 and 4. Battersby lost to W. Morton, 5 and 4. Austin beat Taylor, 6 and 5. Harken lost to N. Smith, 1 up. The Visitors were most hospitably entertained by the members of tha home club. MIRAMAR CLUB Thirty pairs competed in the men’s foursome competition at Miramar on Saturday. H. E. Aplin and G. Magnus, who had a handicap of 9,/proved the winners, with a card showing all square. A BRILLIANT ROUND Playing round in a four-ball match at Miramar during the week-end, A. Duncan did a brilliant round of 72, finishing sup on bogey. The New Zealand amateur champion played well nigh faultless golf, no fewer than six 3’s figuring on his card, which read: Out —534433530 —35 1n—453434554—37 ■ - 72 RANUI CLUB The Ranui Club held a mixed foursome competition on Saturday for prizes presented by Mr. ,T. James. An interesting competition' resulted in Miss A. Wylie and A. I. Murray and Mr. and Mrs. W. Whitehead tieing for first place, and dividing first and second prizes. The first qualifying round for the captain’s trophy was also played. A further round will be played next weekend. , JOHNSONVILLE CLUB Playing in the handicap stroke comnetition of the Johnsonville. Club on Saturday afternoon, D. F. Stuart, whose nlav has reached a high level during the past few weeks, was the winner of the match, his score being 72 net. P. Innes-Jones, H. H. Turner. C. W. Grubb and R. L. Stewart also returned good cards. LOWER HUTT CLUB The senior and junior medal cdmpe--1 titions of the Lower Hutt Club, for trophies presented by Mr. J. C. Wagg, were played off during the week-end. J. H. Wagg secured the senior prize with a card reading 82—8—74, while the junior grade contest resulted in a tie between J. Hebb and W. S. Hughes, each of whom did 71 net. The links were very heavy, making low scoring difficult. . ■ MIRAMAR LADIES’ CLUB

The Miramar Ladies’ Golf Club on Friday held their monthly button competition, which resulted in Miss Gambrill winning in the senior grade and Miss D. Tanner in the junior.

A trophy presented for competition by Miss Stephens will be played for tomorrow. ", ’ >

The draw for the George Cup handicap competition is as follow:—Miss Fraser plays Mrs. Firth, Mrs. Watt plays Miss Vickerman, Mrs. Cromb plays Miss Tanner, Mrs. Nagle plays Mrs. Martin, Miss Brien plays Miss Williams, Miss Carter plays Miss J. Seed, Miss Duncan plays Mrs. Ruddock, Miss Plimmer plays Miss D. Woodman, Miss J. Hall plays Mrs. Beasley, Miss Wheeler plays Mrs. Hayman, Miss von Dadelszen plays Miss Gambrill, Mrs. Banks plays Miss Muir, Miss L. Hall plays Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Cooke plays Miss E. Conway, Miss N. Seed plays Miss Sidey, Miss E. Woodman plays Miss Taylor.

AMERICAN PLAYERS’ CLUBS SENSATION AT TROON (Rec. June 9, 5.5 p.m.) London, June 9. Something approaching a golfing sensation was caused over the nature of the clubs used by the Americans at the Troon championships, opening on Monday. The Americans, whose remarkable ability to put a “stop” on the balls has been marvelled at, have had large holes punched in the faces of their mashies. The mashie-niblicks have jagged , metal pushed out during the punching operation, and it remains, thus accounting for the stop. The question of the legality of those clubs has been raised. That an advantage is gained by their users is obvious. The general opiinon is that they contravene the regulations. The Championship Committee will consider the question before the matches begin.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

N.S.W. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP MURDOCH BEATS SINCLAIR (Rec. June 10, 5.5 p.m.) Sydney, June 10. F. G. Murdoch beat H. R. Sinclair for the State amateur golf championship by 2 up.—Press Assn.