SHAW CHAMPION

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 17, 14 October 1933, Page 8

SHAW CHAMPION

Professional Golfers

PLAY AT TITIRANGI

Amateur Finalists Found

H. A. BLACK & B. V. WR6GHT

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, October 13,

Considering that there were a final, two semi-finals, and a play-off of a tie, it was only natural that there should be a record’ attendance for the 1933 New Zealand golf tournament at Titirangi links to-day. A. J. Shaw retained the professional title, and B. V. Wright, and H. A. Black reached the amateur final.

There was little excitement in two of the matches, A. J. Shaw having a comfortable win over A. H. Dyke in the final of the professional championship, while one of the semi-finals in the amateur championship, that between two Dunedin players, B. V. Wright and K. Ross, proved a runaway victory for the first-named. A large throng of spectators, however, obtained all the thrills they required in the other amateur semi-final between H. A.-Black, Miramar, and J. 11. Young, the sixteen-year-old Titirangi player. The match went to the thirty-sixth hole, where Black won 1 up. Spectators swarmed on to the course after Young won the ‘seventeenth, and the few officials had a difficult task in clearing the way for the players The weather in the morning was like midsummer, but it clouded and was dull in the afternoon. Results are: — Professional Championship. Final.

A. J. Shaw, unattached, beat A. H. Dyke, Lower Hutt, 6 and 5.

Amateur Championship. Semi-Finals.

H. A. Black, Miramar, beat J. H. Young. Titirangi, 1 up. B. V. Wright, Dunedin, beat K. Ross, Dunedin, 10 and 9,

Professional Foursomes Play-off.

N. C. Bell, North Shore, and C. C. Clements, Christchurch, 72, beat H. R. Blair, Christchurch, and E. J. Moss, Auckland, 74.

Long Driving Competition.

Longest drive: A. E. Guy, Palmerston North, 301 yards 2 feet, 1; B. M. Silk, Wanganui, 300 yards, 2.

Best aggregate: Silk (293 yards 1 foot and 300 yards), 593 yards 1 foot, 1; Guy (301 yards' 2 feet and 280 yards), SSI yards 2 feet, 2.

Shaw Wins Comfortably.

Shaw took the lead from Dyke at the fifth, and was 2 up at the turn, which he reached in 37. Coming home Dyke holed a 20ft. putt at the fourteenth. Shaw retaliated at the fifteenth, where he holed one of 25 feet and was 3 up again. Dyke had bad luck at the sixteenth, where, after playing the better second, his putt for a 3 stopped on the lip. At the seventeenth Shaw just reached the edge of the green with a full brassie for his second shot. Dyke pulled his second and just missed the rough. He had to approach over the bunkers and took 6 for the hole, which Shaw won in 5. At the last hole Shaw missed a 3 by a fraction, but finished in 73 with a substantial lead of 5 up. Dyke played better in the afternoon, but was unable to make up the leeway, as Shaw continued to give a first-class exhibition, Shaw won the title for the third successive year, and for the fifth time since 1928. ,

Match of the Day.

Black gained a useful lead of 4 up on Young in the first nine holes, but Young made a great fight coming home. Black had slightly the better of the luck, but illustrated his ability to retrieve a difficult situation. The tenth was halved and Young, retrieving his tee shot from a bunker, won the eleventh in 3. The, next was halved in 5. At “The Wrecker” Black found the ditch with his tee shot, and eventually picked up. Young was now 2 down, but lost the fourteenth when he failed to hole a four-foot putt. Both were astray .with their drives at the fifteenth, but Young's ball luckily bounced on to the fairway, and lie won the hole in 4. The next was halved in 4's, but Black won the seventeenth with a better approach. However, at the eighteenth Young scored 4 to his opponent’s 5, to stand 2 down.

In the afternoon Black was dormy 2 over Young leaving the thirty-fourth green and a dozen or so spectators came back to the clubhouse, remarking that it was al! over. They had not reckoned on the Titirangi youth’s tenacity, however. Young had a chance of squaring the match at the thirty-sixth after he had won the previous hole. The spectators scattered all over the course ahead of the players and the umpire was compelled to send them off before Young could drive. The scene round the final green after both players had placed their approach shots on was one lojig to be remembered. Young approached first and was just off the ent grass on the top terrace. Black's second lauded near the same spot, but his ball rolled down three or four yards toward the pin. There was a breathless silence when Young stood for his ten-yard putt. Shrieks from the fair sex announced the fact that he had hit the ball straight for the hole, but there were many sighs it stopped a foot short. Black was almost stymied, but he only required to play safely for a half, and he putted a little to the left to be only the same distance from the hole as his youthful opponent. Gallant Uphill Fight.

The pair shook hands to the accompaniment of loud cheering and applause. The crowd had become thoroughly worked up over Young's gallant uphill fight, and the merit of his performance was obviously fully appreciated. The loser had created a record for New Zealand in that he is the first player of such tender golfing years to reach the semi-finals of the Dominion championship. Ross pulled and hooked a lot of his shots in the first round, and this was mainly responsible for Wright being 9 up at the interval. With a round of 73. Wright, however, had played sound golf. Ross was hitting his seconds very badly, and his putting was indifferent. He was npt the shadow of the Ross who eliminated Hornabrook yesterday. He won only one hole, the sixth, where Wright had a bad lie and took 6.

Some very fine golf was witnessed in the play-off of the tie in the professional foursomes. All four players putted splendidly. Blair missed a short one at the fourteenth, this being the only blemish in an otherwise excellent round. Bell never missed* anything on the greens, while Blair and Clements were responsible for remarkable putts at the sixteenth and seventeenth of 30 feet and 60 feet respectively. Bell and Clements did 36 each way for a 72. while Blair and Moss took one stroke more each way. A. J. Shaw won the New Zealand Professional Golf Championship and the winner of the Long Driving Competition played the Dunlop Bali—the choice of Champions—the ball that wins championships.—Advt.