HORNABROOK CHAMPION

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 96, 24 April 1935, Page 4

HORNABROOK CHAMPION

EXCITING FINAL

. The Wellington provincial championship meeting produced more than the usual thrills, provided, in no small degree, by. S. 31. "W'aUou, the New Zealand player who has just returned from Cambridge, where he was on the 3 mark. A former pupil dt AVangamii College, he learned the foundation of his golf in company with' Silk and other promising young JSew Zealand golfers, and it k significant that the Wellington Club' has placed him on his old Cambridge mark of 3 after trying him out on 0 and then 3. This player is a testimony of the ground work of Wnngamii College, plus the golfing experience he has gained in Knglaud, where a 3-handicap man is expected to behave accordingly. With J. i\ Hornabrook he provided the high lights of the final. B. 31. Silk, the compact swinger, who has won the New Zealand championship, was not quite in form, but helped to bring out the qualities o£ his opponents by good steady golf. The final of the Heretaunga handicap, which comprised those who failed to qualify for the championship, was won by M. R. Moore, who defeated a sterling player in J. P. Mortland. The rains of the morning gave place to sunshine' for the finals in the afteruoon. The following were the results:— CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL. ' J. P. Hornabrook beat S. M. Watson, 3 and 1. The play in this match was most, interesting, Watson putting up a great fight against assured, confident golf of national championship standard. Hornabrook hooked out of bounds at the first, which Watson won in 4. Hornabrook won the next in 4, and the third, where Watson hit the trees on the right, in 3. Watson pushed his drive out.at the fourth, and put his second in the Hutt River, Hornabrook taking the hole in 4 to 6. The fifth was sensatiorial. Watson hooked his tee shot into the river, and put his second just' short of tlie green' but although Hornabrook was well on the green in 1, holed his chip for a 3, Hornabrook taking 4. Hornabrook played a beautiful second shot at the sixth, and got his 3 to Watson's scheduled 4. The seventh was halved in s's. Watson was wide to the right with his second, and too strong with his approach at the eighth, about six feet past t£e pin. Hornabrook lipped with his approach putt and lay three feet away. Watson sank his putt, white Hornabrook missed hie, Watson winning 5 to' 6. Hornabrook took the ninth in 3 to Watson's 4, turning 2 up, having gone out in 37 to Watson's 40. Hornabrook took the tenth in 4 to Watson's 5, and was 3 up. The eleventh was halved in 4's. Both played well to .the twelfth green, but Hornabrook somehow did not appreciate the "borrow to the right he 'should have taken in his third and fourth shots, and Watson took tho hole in a clean 4. Hornabrook hooked his tee shot at the thirteenth, and put a long iron into the bunker on the right. A feature ot the game was the crisp, powerful irons of the Masterton player. Watson put his second from a well-placed drive on the back of the green. Hornabrook was too strong out of the bunker, and Watson took the hole in 4 to 6, Hornabrook s lead being reduced to 1 up. The fourteenth was halved in 3 s. Watson showed the first sign of uncertainty at the fifteenth, where his chip from just short of the green was wide and halfhearted, Hornabrook taking the hole in 3 to 4. The sixteenth was halved in 4s. The game ended at the seventeenth, where Watson, whose drive was emblematically under the leaf-shedding poplars, unaccountably sliced into'their branches, and found the bunker to the right of the green; ■He was too strong out, and Hornabrook, from a perfect second, took the hole in 4 and the match. Doubtless Watson's fight against J., L. Black m the morning exacted its toll. HERETAUNGA HANDICAP. . M. X, Moore beat J. P. Mortland, 2 and 1; . •.. • ■■ "' ' Bioore,,was 37 out and 3 up. .. t r mornlng bogey. The morning bogey. was won by P. Savage (2), all square. Next was G. N. Tustin (2), 2 down. The handicap foursome in the afternoon was won by J. L,,, Black and W. H. Lees, sen. Mr. S. Blackley welcomed the visitors, and said that it had proved a most successful tournament. The standard of play had proved exceptional. The exposition of the game by visitors had been enI lightening. The standard of play had ' been better than that of many previous years.. He referred to the fine, work of S. 31. Watson and J. P. Hornabrook. The trophies were presented by Mrs. | Blackley, amidst tlie applause of a large attendance in the lounge. , Mr. Eana Wagg replied on behalf of the visitors.