PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 9

PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS

PLAY IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP

SHAW ESTABLISHES A EEOORD.

(BI TIIEGMPB.—BPJOIAI TO THI POST.)

, (By " Bafty.") NEW PLYMOUTH, 13th April

Bogey was treated with scant respect, and par for the Ngamotu links was run within one stroke when the professionals got to work in the first round of the championship this morning. Prior to this morning there were two unofficial records for the course, as mentioned in my previous message. Kirkwood is credited with 71, and this 'score also is given Butters in a practice match on Wednesday. When Kirkwood did his score the course was. rougher than now, but was unbunkered. Moreover, he did not actually putt out, and the record was unofficial. A surprise was in store to-day, however^ for Shaw, whose previous rounds gave no special promise, went round in 71, and duly handed in a card which officially established the score as a record. This afternoon no one approached it, and it is a matter of doubt whether it will be bettered to-morrow, though almost anything might be expected. The weather to-day was again ideal, with good fight and barely a breath of wind. As was the case on the first day, almost without ex-, ception the players produced wonderful golf through the fairways, and their experiences in the rough have been so few that they do not know much of its qualities." To-day's story was the sama as that of yesterday. Though the greens ware slow and punching was required, the approaches were "decidedly slower than the greens, and efforts to solve the exact difference have not proved successful. Without exception, perfect play through the greens has been marred by the work on and around the greens. Rolling round the greens will make a difference, but the club is unable to make arrangements for this up to the moment. To-day's two rounds resulted as follow:— ' ' ,

Out. lii. T'l. Shaw (Hagley P»rk) 71 76 - 147 Hood (Miramar) 76 77 — 153 Ham (Heretaunga) 77 79 — 156 Clements (Avoridale) 79 77 - 156 Brooks (Hutt) 75-?l~~}II Blair (Maungakiekie) 82.78-160 Moss. (Auckland) 82 78-160 Butters (Shirley) 80 80 160 Greig (Hawera) 38 88 — 176 Shaw therefore takes the cup presented by the Hon. A. M. Myers, held by Clements " since 1914, since which date it has not been competed for owing to the war intervening. The cup was competed for to-day over thirty-six holes in conjunction with the two first rounds of the championship. In making the bid he did Shaw played magnificent golf in the jnoming, though not so "good in the afternoon. His 71, after a poor display yesterday, showed the changing fortunes cf the game. This morning he took a 6 at.the eighth, bogey 6, but vent out in 38 and came in with a re-ar-arkabie score of 33. His card read— £53544364353345334. For the first four holes he halved with, bogey, but after.that he was usually under it, except kt four holes, where bogey is 3. At the thirteenth ;md seventeenth, where bogey is 5, he did 3's. At the long; eights, where ..bogey is 6, he was alongside the greeri in two, and. then took' four more, his approach getting a nasty kick and being followed by three putts. He got a brilliant 3 at the thirteenth of 346 yards, then missed a twofoot putt at the next green. This was followed by bogey 5, and at the seventeenth he holed liis mashie approach for 3 against bogey 5; and he nearly repeated this at the eighteenth, where his approach hit the pin and laid within two inches of the edge of the hole. His only mistakes were at fourteenth and eighth. His fight was really against par, which is 70 for the course. Par is calculated on the number of perfect strokes through the fairway it would take to reach the greens, plus two putts. On the way out he was two over par, and on the way in one under—a. firstclass performance. On the afternoon's play his mistakes cost him a few more strokes. He went out in 40 and came back in 36, quite a good performance, against 79 bogey. To-day he has the useful lead of six strokes. No one can foretell the morrow.

Playing consistently and above the form of. some competitors, Hood is in second place on the two rounds. Hig wooden play during the day was without fault. His mistakes were on the greens, and the mistakes were few. There is every prospect of him gaining one or two strokes in this department, and a couple of four holes by Shaw can put him in.a good position, His average for. the four rounds so far played is a fraction under 76's, "and he had every chance of reducing this by several strokes. Ham and Clements ate level for third place. Clements played extremely poor :olf, the first nine holes taking 43 —still ■mother case of difficulty at the greens. Then he improved, and came home two ibove par and three under bogey. In ;he afternoon he took 40 out, playing

•• patchy game still) and returned in 37. lam continued to play the same mag:ificent long game as he did yesterday, ■ut on the greens his ball refused, to go !own. He actually took four putts on the eighth—the most difficult of all. This .■ost him six, and he again failed to break bogey at the eighteenth, where 5 is bogey, but 6's are more frequent. The fairway is flat, then moves along the side of the hill to the green,, which is built out from the hill, and is hard to play. His card in the morning totalled 77,' and he could not improve this in the afternoon, taking the usual 6 to finish. This morning Brooks cut nine strokes off yesterday afternoon's round, and started very well in the afternoon as far as-scoring went. His drives were frequently anywhere- but on the fairway. When he got to the finish after taking three strokes less than his partner, Shaw, he turned his ball while clearing the green, this costing a stroke, the hole taking six and the first nine 40. This incident apparently upset him, and he played a ragged game over the remaining holes, though he fought his hardest to maintain the advantage gained. He got into trouble at nearly every hole, and made magnificent recoveries. Theso recoveries made up for the strokes which caused them, and he!> really lost a good score on the greens. A dozen times durthe day his putts, going straight for the hole, stopped inches short, and Brooks could not have been more sorry about them than were the spectators.

Blair and Moss both did 82 in the morning and 78 in the afternoon, .while Butters was far from his earlier form, but played two consistent rounds of 80. the two rounds showing exactly the same scoring. Mos3 has not yet produced ■what was expected of him, and he has little chance of being in the final running now. His only hope is to put up record scoring, and if he does it will not be unexpected. In fact, it is anticipates ho will do something special to-morrow. This morning he had till'se 6's and a 7 in his score. Blair scored fairly welJ gxcept for a couple of bad, holes in tb.9'

morning. He and Moss both came homo in 36's in the afternoon.

A rather extraordinary feature of ths morning was that the best ball score did not show one 2, though there were several yesterday morning. The best ball worked out at 33 out and 31 in. This afternoon Moßs had two 2's in the last nine holes. During the round he missed several ea-y putts, and it is this, considered with other features of his game, which leads me to expect a good round to-morrow, when the final two round? will be played in conjunction with the competition for the amateur prize. " The arrangements are good, and tht> tournament is being thoroughly enjoyed by competitors and visitors.