NATIONAL GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 11

NATIONAL GOLF

EPIC SEMI-FINALS BOTH GO BEYOND TWENTIETH MOKPETH AND SIME OUT An almost unique position in semifinal golf was seen to-day in tlie KirkWindeyer tournament championship instill, sultry weather, when both semifinalists went well beyond the eighteenth, and four dour fighters delighted the gallery with golf which, whatever it might have been in the early stages of their games, was thoroughly championship Btuff over the last dozen holes. Grant won at the twenty-third and Eoss at the twenty-second. The result is that for the first time in many years two South Island men will fight out the finish at a golf tournam'iit played in the North Island. Both are Scots, and the struggle this afternoon should be a classic one, as both players are matched as regards sentiment and technique. The game between Mospeth and Grant was rough in the earlier stages, each being unable to take full advantage of the other's mistakes. The first was halved in s's, Grant sinking his long putt for a 3 wnile Morpeth missed a slightly longer one, the second, in 3-4. Grant tacked about a bit at the third, finding the rough with his drive, and slicing his second into thick grass, but he got well out, and Morpeth, missing a three-foot putt, the hole was halved in 5 's. Morpeth sank a twenty-foot-er for a 2 at the fourth, squaring the game. Morpeth's / ive at the fifth was hooked into the long grass amongst the flax, and from a straddled stance over a ditch ho put the nest behind a flax bush, through which he played his third out on to the fairway. Grant, who had kept good direction, winning the hole in 4-5. Grant was r rt with his mashie shot at the short liule, which Morpeth took in 3, squaring the match again. The seventh was exciting. From a good drive Grant took a spoon to a shot which he could well have played with his iron, and duffed it. Morpeth's second, as on the, preceding day, was pushed out to the right, and finished in the bunker, while his third was short. Grant's third was too strong. Morpeth's fourth overran the hole, and Grant's approach stymied him, Morpeth's ball striking Grant's. The hole was halved in 6's. Both wero off the line to the left at the eighth, which was halved in 4's. Both got good drives at the ninth, but Morpeth was bunkered from a Jong tee shot and- short of the green with his second, and his third over-ran the green, Grant taking the hole in 5-6. Grant played a spoon shot out to the right at the tenth, and' Morpeth took the hole in 5-6, Grant having fluffed his mashie .shot. With the game square again, the golf of both players improved from this on. Morpeth was on the green with his' second at the eleventh, a beautiful shot over the shoulder of the hill, while Grant was in the rough past the bunker to the right. He got well out,, but was too strong. Morpeth missed a two-foot putt and stymied Grant, who knocked in his opponent's ball for a 4. Grant was through the green with his tee shot at the twelfth, which Morpeth took in a perfect 3, making him 2 up. Both were short with their seconds at the thirteenth. Grant played a fine approach putt, but Morpeth over-ran, the hole, stymieing himself. He mashed over, a lovely eightfoot shot, which stopped three inches from the hole. Grant's putt was decidedly unlucky, the ball disappearing in the hole, only to climb lazily out and recline on the edge. The hole was halved in s's. The fourteenth was halved in 3's, and the fifteenth, where both played seconds from the rough, Morpeth on the right and Grant on the left, in 4's. Morpeth missed a long putt for a 3 at the sixteenth, which was halved in 4's. Donnie 2. It looked like Morpeth's game, but Grant hit a very fine drive. Morpeth's second, a driving iron, finished to the right of the green in the bunker. Grant's second, a push shot iron, never deviated from the line of the pin, and finished a yard away from it. Morpeth, trying for a 3, hit the pin with his third, while Grant sunk his putt for a 3 (Morpeth 1 up). Morpeth was in trouble from his second shot at the eighteenth, which Grant took in 5, after Morpeth, in trying to sink a ten-yard putt, had struck his ball, which was near the line. As the game moved on to the nineteenth, the excitement became intense. Morpeth unaccountably duffed his second, but his third was within a few feet of the pin. Grant, whose second was nicely on the green, was robbed of a win by Morpeth sinking his putt for a half in 4. Grant was a trifle oft the line at the twentieth, but halved by means of a magnificent chip shot. Grant was in the bunker at the noxt, but got well out, and Morpeth, missing a sevenfoot putt for a 4, the hole was halved in s's. The next was halved in 3'g, and the end came/at the twenty-third, where Grant had a raking drive, while Morpeth's besetting sin of occasional want of direction led him to slice into the rough, Grant holing in 3 to win 1 up. The best game of the tournament, counting first-class golf as well as a dour fight, was between Boss and Sime. It was a hole and hole struggle, never more than two holes separating them. The first half was halved in s's. Eoss took the next two in bogey figures. Sime retaliated by taking the fourth and fifth, winning the latter hole by a brilliant mashie shot out of trouble in 4. Dr. Ross, as on a former occasion, took the short hole in a perfect 2. length with his drive and the sinking of a long putt gave Sime the seventh, where Eoss was in the rough, although he made a splendid recovery. Both encountered trouble at the eighth, Si,me making an excursion to the rough and Eoss going into the bunker guarding the green. Eoss, however, made the better recovery, and won in 3 to 5. Eoss turned, 2 up, halves being carded at the tenth. Ross was bunkered at the eleventh, and after he had taken four shots to get to the green and handy to the pin he gave the hole to Sime. The twelfth was halved, while at the thirteenth both got away good shots from the tee and were on in 2, Boss having the advantage which enabled him to win in 3 to 4. Sime recovered a hole at the fourteenth, leaving him 1 down. Sime played two fine gallery shots at the fifteenth. His tee shot landed in the rough of the hillside obscuring the green from view. With his mashie he played to within eight feet of the pin, and with his next stroke sank the up-hill putt to win in 3. Boss obtained slightly greater length with his drive at the sixteenth, which he won. Sime won the seventeenth in 3 ' and squared the game. Well-played ' fours halved the eighteenth and nine--1 teenth, Sime just missing a 3 at the latter. The twentieth and twenty-first ! were halved in 4 and 5. The end came at the twenty-second, where Bobs took j the hole in 3t04, to win, 1 up. It was ■ a dramatic hole, because Sime was be--1 hind about the only stone in a bunker | on the links, and Boss had to sink a nine-foot putt to win.