THE GAME OF GOLF

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 220, 13 June 1933, Page 6

THE GAME OF GOLF

American Open Title

WATT CUP FORM

(Notes" by

“Niblick.”)

The most important event in tbe world’s golfing programme last week was the American National Championship o n the Glenview course, Illinois, which was won 'by'an' amateur;' John Goodman, with the. brilliant, aggregate of 287 for the four rounds., Goodman started off with an'lndifferent 75. fOF the first round, but'then came to light with a sensational 66 in tbe second round, which placed him at the head of the field with 171. Maintaining his form, he finished up with 287, which works out at an average of Tit strokes a round. The cables did not give the name of the runner-up, but stated' that the professionals, Walter Hagen and T. D. Amour, .tied for third place with 292, live strokes behind tho winner. Amour recorded a brilliant 68 in tbe first round. . J. 11. Kirkwood,- the Australian, who was well ■up at the end of the second round with 143, dropped' strokes in the third and fourth rounds, and ended up by tieing for seventh place with 296.

It is seldom that an amateur carries off a national open championship iu America or .England, but Goodman has shown it.- can be. done. His 66 iu the second round must have been.an inspired effort. To finish a round six strokes under 4’s savours of wizardry, and golfers in this part of the world will eagerly await details of this sensational round. Gene Safazeti, who carried off both - the British' and American- open-cham-pionships'last year, was not in the picture at Glenview last week. He had to be content with a 74 in the first round, -but he may, prove to be the missing run-' ;lie it U is strange that J. H. Kirkwood, who is usually well up in the big events, has never-yet succeeded in annexing a national title. The Australian has cut out his freak shot exhibitions, and has been: confining himself to serious golf, ;but-- even then he could only finish nine Strokes behind the winner in the Ameri-. ■ can.open last week. '’-'V?/- ’ . S. East, of Melbourne, who accompanied Kirkwood when the. latter -set out some eleven years ago to conquer the golfing world, recently declared that golf ' had made such amazing strides in,(recent year's that players would be regularly breaking 70 before long. 1 .- ; The failure of the American -protes; sionals to shoot “eagles”- and ’ in the open championship'should-:gives.the British players heart of grace -for. the Ryder Cup competition. Form at golf, however, is a .most elusive thing; tbe hero'of to-day oftimes finely.none so poor ■as .th do him reverence tomorrow. ■

Paekakarilu’s Good Win. ..< . Most people were under the'dmpression. that Titahi would have no'difficulty nr retaining the Watt Cup this season,'blit this idea was upset during the week-end when I'aekakariki soundly defeated the Titahi chosen dozen in the ■ Wattl Cup match on the Paeuakariki links by seven games to five. ’ Paekakariki have a strong-,,asset in the three brothers Kember, who /are- able" ■players. F. Kember proved/his-wbrth bn -Saturday by defeating ex-Sydney player, by 2 and lin the .battle between the No. J’s. Neither"player’was' at his best, but the Paekakariki man proved the steadier, and thoroughly , deserved his win. . ,

Max Moore, who filled No. 1 position for Titahi against Shandon a month ago, when he defeated J. L, Black, was relegated to No. 2 place on Saturday, and played with his customary ability to de-' feat J. Kember by 3 and 1. R. Kember drove well, and irous capably to account for J. W. Gib-j: gon by 2 up. ' . ' Dr. R, F. Aitken (Titahi) has been; playing consistently well siuce he picked, up his form at the Nelson tournament last Easter. He played so steadily on Saturday t-hat E. Andrew had to acknowledge defeat by 4 and. 2. 13. Boon (Titahi) was right on form in putting K. Twiss down to the tune of 7.and 6, but-.this victory was nullified by C. Lahgbein"'(Titahi) going down to J. Bringans by one hole. F. B. Carr (Titahi) did some pretty mashie work in disposing of A. Murray by 6 and 4, and another victory was recorded for Titahi by the reliable captain, D. A. Crombie, who finished 5 up on F. McNeil. It is only inherent modesty on the Titahi captain’s part which causes him to place bis name so far down on the list in Watt Cup contests. It was Paekakariki’s tail-enders who won tbe match, as R. Stowe, A. Gollbp, H. Wehipeihana, and L. Smith defeated A. Moore, R. Lulham, Dr. W. Shirer, and C. Stowe respectively. Wehipeihana had a. regular field day, accounting for Dr/ Shirer by the wide margin of 7 and 6. This victory by Paekakariki over such a strong team as Titahi will increase interest in the Watt Cup contest. If Paekakariki can beat Titahi they are just as liable to rout other chibs. The “baby’’ of the Watt Cup competition is to be heartily congratulated upon having reached man’s estate. * Waiwetu to the Fore.

That the Waiwetu club numbers some able players in its ranks was proved by their defeat of Manor Park on the Manor Park links on Saturday by six games to four, with two games halved. Waiwetu has a worthy No. 1 jn A. T. Clelland, a handicap 3 player from the Ravens Park Club, Ayrshire, Scotland, who has only been in the Dominion about two years. In accounting for the youthful F. Page by 3 and 1, he handled his clubs in a manner to prove that with more regular practice he would have no difficulty in playing to a 3 handicap. Manor Park is a course where direction must be kept, as many natural bunkers lie in wait for the slice or pull. They had au even tussle going out, and were all square at the turn, Page taking 43 to the Scotsman's 46. Clelland struck trouble at tho second (455 yards) and the seventh (445 yards), which each cost him 7. How easy it is to miss the simplest of putts if a player does not concentrate was revealed on the sixth green. This is a 200-yard hole, and Clelland landed his tee shot on the green, while Page was short to the left. The Manor Park man approached on, and laid his approach putt about three feet from the hole. Clelland made a good putt to within a foot of the cup, hut not only missed the putt, but actually missed the return putt of about a foot in length, and the hole went to Page in 4 to 5. The Scotsman looked as if he had just come through a violent earthquake. Clelland played steadier golf on the run home, and took the game with a great No. 3 iron second at the “Pines” (420 yards), which nearly landed his ball on the green. He ran home in 41, which gave him 87 for the round. Page took 48 for the home journey, which made his round 91.- The youthful Manor Park player has plenty of golf in him, but at present is inclined to over-swing. Both drove great balls from the tees.

Other Battles. G. F. Hogg (Waiwetu) and I. V. O. Duncan had a great tussle in No. 2 position. Both took about: 84 for the round, and all square was a fitting result. J. Ogilvie (Manor Park) defeated J. J. Gilbertson by 2 and 1 in a hard-fought contest. There was little between them at any stage of the journey, but Ogilvie's steadiness round about the greens turned the scales.

11. Mehaffey (Manor Park) is a good match player, who is never perturbed by the barbs and arrows of outrageous fortune. He played well in downing the youthful G. B. Ward by 4 and 2. Victories were recorded for Waiwetu. by A. J. Gwilliam, E. F. Warnes, It. G. Holland, L. Marsden, and N. O. Maitland, while C. McKinney and A. Radford registered wins for Manor Park. J. A. McKay (Waiwetu) and E. A. Rodgers (Manor Park) had a regular battle royal, and finished up all square, after Rodgers had been 4 down after the first four holes. ' There will be another Watt Cup en-

gageinent on the Manor Park course on Saturday next, when Shandon will be the visitors.

How the Clubs Stand. The positions ,of the teams competing in tbe Watt Cup matches at the conclusion of tbe matches last Saturday are as

A Bolt from the Blue.. Freak happenings on golf courses are by no means uncommon, and Wellington is helping to make history. As H. Wall was preparing to play a dainty mashie pitch of about twenty yards to the 11th green on tbe municipal links recently, to his amazement the'club played the shot of its own volition; the ball landed on the edge of the green, and he was left with a part of the club in each hand.- What had happened was that a friend of his, W. E. Trott, who was playing behind him, had lofted over the hill, and his ball had struck the shaft of Wall’s mashie just as he was about to play the shot, with the result that the shaft, was snapped like a clay pipe-stem. Wall is wondering now whether Trott played a better mashie chip for him than he would have done himself.

Mary Alward Cup. Waiwetu won a double on Saturday when the ladies of the club defeated Manor Park ou the Waiwetu links by six games to four. Miss Stevens (Manor Park) defeated Mrs. Evison in the game between the No. I’s, and Miss Fail-brother placed Manor Park 2 up by beating Miss Robinson by 1 up in the No. 2 argument. Sirs. Ryan (Waiwetu) played so brilliantly that she defeated Mrs. Sherwood by the wide margin of 10 up. Victories were scored for Waiwetu by Mrs. Clemmens, Mrs. Wilson. Miss Davidson, Miss Findlay, and Mrs. Hatfield, while Miss Bray and Miss Kerr were the only pair to record wins for Manor Park. Short - Putts. Aucklanders were iu form on Saturday,H. B. Lusk recording a 72 at Middlemore and H. B. Brinsden a 72 at Titirangi. CLUB GOLF Week-end Activities ' ■ The fourbair best-ball competition,-for ti e Williams Cup, played by the Mornr in'gton -Club during the week-end waswon by T. O’Kelly, and. A. Clark, with the good score of 9( up. The next best cards, were: T. Davis and F. Well, 6 up; F. Laycock and- L., Evans, 5 up ; J. Henn.essey and M; Hennessey 5 up; Welsford and Davidge, 4 up; T. MeElligott and M.i : JicE'lligott, 4 up. In the fourth round, bi the-two-life competition, Knudson.beat Evans,'.tj/i- aiid Dayis- beat Jacobi; 6/5; Next'w'eek‘ ; end.> Knudson (two. lives), meets-T.,' DaVis (one life).' Tbe second. iQUiid/bf the Rawlings Cup will be played next week-end. -' \ .Manor Park Club ' iln.: the Jackson Cup qualifying round on the Manor Park, links. during the week-end, G. “McLure headed the list with'7l net? ■ A. bogey competition was won by ~-8,. •Rage, ?with' 2-r.p. . k/The; team to-play Shandon in the Watt Cup'match at "Manor Park on Saturday will be published later in the week. ...

Mornington Ladies’ Club

In tbe third round of the Dentice Cup played by -the Mornington Ladies’ Club during the week-end, Miss McGrath won by default, Mis? Hollis beat Miss Beckett, Miss Harris beat Miss Wallace, a and 3, and Miss Simpson beat Mrs. Stratmore, 2 up. ' , . . The best cards returned in the bogey competition were: Miss E. Robinson, 2 up and Miss McGrath, all square. .

Wellington Ladies’ Club

The flag competition for prizes presented by Miss Duncan, postponed from last Wednesday, will be played by tbe Wellington' Ladies’ Chib ■ to-morrow, the ; draw remaining the same as last week.

under: —• Matches played. Pts. 19$ Paekakariki ... 3 1G Manor Park 12$ 12 ‘ Tita hi 2 12