GOLF

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 297, 14 September 1927, Page 8

GOLF

NEW ZEALAND TOURNEY

A REVIEW.

(By

"Niblick.”)

New Zealand has every cause to bo proud of its golfers who took part in the Dominion golf championshixis on St. Andrew’s links at Hamilton during the past fortnight. A high standard ot play was maintained throughout tho tourney, and thoso well qualified to express such an opinion considered that the form displayed was superior to that seen at Miramar twelve months ago, or, in fact, in this country at all in recent years. A most notable and exceedingly pleasing feature was the manner in which tho young players showed up, and on tho whole tho meeting boro striking testimony to the progress tho game is making and its increasing popularity in the Dominion. With play such as characterised the championship there need be no misgivings as to the future of golf in New Zealand, and tho Australians will have no easy task confronting them when they visit the Dominion early next year in an effort to reclaim tho Kirk-Windeyer Cup. Is the Tourney Too Cumbersome? With the introduction of ’the foursomes to the championship programme it is very questionable whether ihe annual tourney has not become too cumbersome. ' Owing to the time that it now takes to decide tho various events there are many players in tho front rank of New Zealand golf who cannot epare the time and tho expense of participation in a. tournament: which now runs into nearly a fortnight. The Outstanding Performer. The outstanding performer throughout the meeting was the winner of tho amateur championship, Sloan Morpeth, who also had tho best single round in the open. An American writer, when referring to the performance of Bobby Jones when he won the American southern open championship, said that “they simply wound up the mechanical man and sent him clicking around the course.” A similar application could be made to Morpeth, for ho “clicked” off a 71 in tho third round of the open and won for himself tho Jellicoo Cup. Consistency was the dominant feature of Jlorpeth’s plav throughout tho eliminating rounds, and tho final of tho amateur championship. Any deficiency in his long game, however, was more than atoned for bv his brilliant work in and around tho greens. Never at any time in tho final did ho allow a holeable putt to bo missed. B.y his performance on Saturday Jlorpeth greatly enhanced his reputation as a golfer, and his present victory is the second time that he haß annexed the “blue riband” o.f amateur golf in the Dominion. Leaving behind him a trail of champions of the past— A. D. S. Duncan, A. G. Sime, H. B. Lusk, T. H. Horton, J. Goss, and Leo Quin —Morpeth has emerged from what has probably been the most select company that every ‘contested tho amateur title. Ho decisively outplayed Dr. K. Ross on St. Andrew’s links in the final of tho amateur championship in 1920, and again outplayed his opponent on Saturday. Since 1921 ho has played little or practically no golf until less than twelve monfj»i ago, and his performance at this year’s championships gives ample evidence that he has again struck that brilliant form which marked his play i nthe past. Ho might not be the stylist that Horton is, but he gets there all the same, and further, he is not troubled by nerves liko the Masterton player. Horton Putts Weakly. Horton’s iron shots wore again executed with convincing crispness, but his weak club, was his putter, and this defect in his game no doubt was largely responsible for his downfall. Time after time on' Saturday ho lost opportunities to sink holeable putts. He has not that easy, care-free temperament of Sime, so conducive to success in representative golf. Nerves are his trouble, but it is only fair to mention, that he has had hard Kames in the eliminating rounds of the amateur, having such men to fight as Jack Goss and Norrie Bell. While he holds the uoner band. Horton can always muster purple patches of golf, but wlien down, particularly, if his opponent is at all aggressive, the debit against him on the card seems-to demoralise his nlav to a marked degree. He was ninth in the open, with an aggregate of 310. maejo up of a 77. two 79’s. and a i 7. Norrie Bell. The aggregate of 304 (76, 76, 75, 77) put up by Norrie Bell in the open would in many cases be good enough fo win that event. Tho Hamilton amateur is still a young man, and his performance fully justified tho opinion that he is among'the front rank golfers ot to-day. To finish up so close to a pro-

r tesslonul of Moss’s calibre and with a former open champion, A. J. Shaw, to share the honour of second place, Bell put up a performance which stamps him as a fine exponent of the game. His club mate and partner in the foursomes, G. F. Colbeck, gave 801 l a close go in the amateur third round, aud it was only on tho final green that Bell won. With his 'feet on nis native heath, Bell had the advantage of local knowledge on tho links. He reached the semi-final stage, where he went down to Horton, 3 and 2. A. G. Sime. Probably no golfer that took part in the open and the amateur event has bad so little opportunity for practice games as A. G. Sime, of Westport. The local links consist of nine holes, aud it is no exaggeration to say that the fairways arc in worse condition than the rough at St. Andrew's, and that the greens are correspondingly bad. There is not a hole of 200 yards on the links, and between championship tourneys the days that Sime spends on the links are few and far between, while weather conditions on tho Coast restricts the period of possible play to about four months in the year. If ho had facilities for practice such as the vast majority of golfers that took part at Hamilton havo there is no doubt that ho would bo equal to the best players in the land. He rarely obtains chances of a game with players on his own mark, and a week on St. Andrew’s before the commencement of the tourney was practically the only preliminary golf he had before taking part in this year’s championship meeting. In view of this it can be safely said that there was no more creditable performance than that of Sime, who fought his way to the semi-finals before he was eliminated from the amateur championship. From the day when he played . golf with manuka slicks to the time in 1921 when he won the amateur title at Shirley is a far cry, and his unique golfing history is a convincing answer to what one devoted to the game may achieve in the face of seemingly unsurniountablo difficulties and which would deter most pcoolo from over aspiring to premier golfing honours. But Sime is a fighter, and therein lies tho secret of his success. With it all ho is a fine golfer, with an abundance of confidence. In the open he did four consistent rounds—--82, 81, 77, 82—and this placed him in twenty-second place in the aggregate. He is a better match than stroke player, however, and his closest game in the amateur championship was in the first round with L. V. Bellingham, of Hamilton, whom Sime accounted for with 1 up after a holo and hole struggle. He met J. L. Black, of the Hutt club, and defeated him 7 and 6, and in the third round was able to triumph over last year’s amateur champion. A. D. S. Duncan, with 3 and 2. Sloan Morpeth, however, proved too formidable an opponent for tho Westport player in the semi-final. The Surprises. There are always a few surprises at a tournament, and this year was no exception to the rule. On tho first day of match play three golfers—two in the amateur section and one among the professionals —did the unexpected. The Christchurch player, Donald Grant accounted for the former amateur champion, Leo Quin, and after the former had established a two-up lead he refused to bo ousted from the leading position and won 3 and 2. Probably the greatest surprise of the tourney was the defeat of the redoubtable Hawke's Bay hitter, Kf.pi Tareha, at the hands ot the New Plymouth lefthander, P. Grey. Born of them were driving a long ball, but when it came to putting Grey proved the sounder, and won by 3 and 2. Among the professionals tho surprise was tho victory of J. R. Galloway, tho Manawatu professional, over last year’s open champion, A. J. tsnaw. Only once did Galloway give Shaw a temporary lead, and as in tho other two matches the game concluded 3 and 2. Galloway could not maintain his brilTancy when he met tho Miramar professional, R. C Blitters, while the winner of the open, E. J. Jloss, went down to J. D. Mclntosh. J, D. Mclntosh. In tho final Jlclntosh secured the honour of professional champion for the second year in succession, lie played brilliantly with his usual confidence and eagerness to win 5 and 4. J. L. Black and Rana Wagg. With the second round of ’ play in tho amateur event it was somewhat of a surprise that tho Hutt representative, J. L. Black, did not make a better showing, while tho elimination of Rana Wagg so early in tho match was not anticipated. G. W Melvin’s Golf School, Room 8 Swinson Chambers (next King’s Theatre). Private tuition. Repairs and copies. Accessories stocked. Country repairs at shortest notice—Advt.