NATIONAL GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 99, 23 October 1936, Page 6

NATIONAL GOLF

FIRST ROUND OF OPEN

; SHAW HAS BEST CARD

J. L. BLACK SECOND

(Special from "Chip Shot.") • ■ r

NEW PLYMOUTH, October 22. The huge field which essayed the first " round of the Open Golf Championship "of New Zealand at the Ngamotu Links "'■• today had very varying experiences, r' c even amongst those who had been ■^ looked to with some certainty to fill ■■one of the leading ten places, and the ■^'•result can be best summed up as an -'•> amazing- day. A. J. Shaw was the -"only one who performed more or less '' as was expected. The others were either better or worse than anticipated. The weather conditions were ideal. ' "It was a close and heavy morning with ' a dense mist that early gave place to torrid sunlight. At first the fairways and greens, soaked by the mist all '"- night, were slow and heavy and in the early morning players found it hard ' to be up with either their seconds or . .their putts. Then it became so hot that even the local players spoke oi! it, and the southern visitors were • grilled and felt the enervating conditions so much that it undoubtedly af- , .fected the play of even the younger men. One out of every four players used chalk to keep their moist hands from slipping on the grips. The course was in beautiful condition, but the .grass was fairly long on the greens, and stiff to boot,-so that few ftlayers were up with their approach putts and more shots were lost through uncertainty on the greens than from any other cause. The course demands accurate placing of shots from tee to green and this is the more, difficult because a different, iron must be used at each hole, the distances coming naturally to -players only after a round or two. BUNKER SAND HEAVY. The iron-sand bunkers were blamed a good deal by visiting golfers but it " was chiefly because they tried the • heavy deep-seated explosion shot when the method local men have found best is a light explosion, if they explode at all. The sand is heavier ' than that of southern courses and so much force is needed with' the deep - explosion that anything may happen 'if the1 shot is not perfectly judged. The trueness 'of- the greens was indisputable but the best players found the pace hard to gauge. The course looks • easy but proves the reverse,, chiefly because the accurate placing necessary 1 as not perceived until after a round or -two. ' There was little wind today but on a true Wellington -day one vyould imagine that very high scoring would be seen. Off the line there arc many "tangles of tree and shrub with long ■ grass in between, and some of the fair-'-■ways are narrow, besides which some' of the carries needed over rough gullies are long. Nobody questioned the value of the course as a championship test, which is perhaps the best character golfers could give it. SHAW GETS BEST ROUND. A. J. Shaw turned in a 70 that might easily have been a 68 from the nature of his long game. He missed several short putts. He left himself a sixfooter for his 4 at the first which he missed but followed that by four 4's in a row, narrowly missing a 3 at the- / 395 yards fourth, where he was a shade short with his putt, a five-footer. After a beautiful iron shot dead on . the pin he sank a sixteen-footer for a 2 at the sixth, and took the 400 yards ' seventh, in a perfect 4. He missed a three-footer at the eighth and was ■off the green at the one-shot ninth, - taking 4 through missing a holeable " putt He was out in 36. He' sank ■" an. eighteen-footer for his 2 at the 'twelfth and missed a three-footer for •another 2 at the thirteenth. :■ Another "shortish putt was missed at the sixteenth1 but he. made up for that by ramming down a 21-footer with a rattle '.at the home hole. His card read:— Out ........... 544442454—36 In - 542434543-t34 " FINE ROUND BY J. L. BLACK. . ' Next came the redoubtable J. L. Black (Hutt) with a 71, compiled as ," follows:— [ Out 444444443—35 In ". 643414455—36 His 6 at the long hole was due to a tapped second and a third placed near i .- .the mound by the Ereen. The hole- -, in-one had been the subject of some v* speculation previously between Black - and a friend, and it was strange that -Black .should be the one to do a hole <'in one, and do it at the hole he had nominated it would be. done if done. T. S. Galloway (Maungakiekie) was out in 34 (443443543) and back in 38. -A. E. Guy. out in 37, came' back in 35 (543334544). L. Cathro's card of 73 had the nice run out of 455434452—36, and P. G. F. Smith (Akarana) had the 1 nice run home of 454333454—35. ' E. 1 • W. Thurgood (Wellington) did a ' con"sistent 74, 37 each way, and M. ~R. •Moore (Miramar),.with the same score, was put in 34. V Amongst the eight 75's were those -'of J. 'Jeffery (Tarurutangi), who is - only sixteen years old, and D. Sutherland (New Plymouth), who had to count an "air shot" in his. E. J. Moss (unattached), rather fancied for the Open, was 38 each way. H. D. Brinsden (Tltirangi) was 38 ' out and 87 in. MORTLAND'S BAD HOLE. J. P. Mortland (Taihape), who part- ' ' nered Shaw, was out in 36. He sank " an eighteen-footer from the back of the fifth green for a 3. He was lucky at - the next, where his tee shot ran through the bunker, and he got a 3. ' At the eighth he topped his drive, but "" was on in 3 and sank an eighteen"footer for a 4. The tenth cost him 8. ' ' A hooked drive put him in the rough, he topped his iron second, put his hooked third miraculously out of '" trouble on the edge of a road, put the "'."next into the bunker, and took two ' to get out, and then two putts. After that he ran home in 43445454. His 'long putt at the sixteenth hung on the lipso long that he started to walk up '■'' to knock it in when in it slipped. Altogether it was a remarkable return of ,—• 41. ■ '••■-■' ' ■-■■'' •'■ ■ '$' Duncan took an Bat the tenth also. Only four players did this hole in 4. ■'-•! One was G. T. Alley (RussleyJ, ' who IT carded a 4 for each of the last nine, Si after taking 44 out. Another was R.; C. ji;; Butters (Miramar). Murray, the holder of the title, ;« 'seemed to lack confidence, particularly •!.' on the greens. This and an occasional ,".i.i hook from the tee and failing to get '"" out of the fifth bunker at the first, atX: tempt cost him 40 to go out, but he ;:; ran back in a pretty. 36, using all his ■wi clubs in a masterly way. i-1 H. A. Black, who partnered Murray, £: took 77. B. M. Silk .went out in 36, '«: but took 40 back. J. P, Horhahrook 'three-putted on five greens and was V 38 each way. G. W. Ritchie was 34 '■"': out, but 42' back.. E. S. Douglas also »■ found the greiens unkindly to him. W. li J. Davidge (Shandon) took 43 out, but Ircame back in 35 (643434344). •; : •■■', Neither Rana Wagg (HuKJ ■ nor-C.J ■••- E. Hollis (Miramar); struck-iform, \