EXHIBITION GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 11

EXHIBITION GOLF

FAMOUS .VISITORS

ONLY SMALL GALLERY

MATCH CLOSELY. CONTESTED

The 200-odd who turned but to"Miramax* yesterday afternoon, to see the fourball best-ball exhibition golf match between' Hagen and-Kirkwood and A. J. Shaw and N. H. Fuller could hardly have found pleasanter weather, though the air was keen'when the game finished. "If this is summer, what is winter like here?" asked Hagen when he pulled on two sweaters as he changed. The golf, with the exception of Hagen's and- that only in patches, was not remarkable, but if many of Hagen's and Kirkwood's long approach putts and short chips had not stopped just short of the hole, their scores would have been very good indeed, and they missed putts' of under ten feet by a whisker. Fuller reached the first green nicely in 2 and laid his approach putt well up but missed one under three feet for a half. Hagen was bunkered with his second, but looked like holing out with a masterly-third, and took the hole for his side, the others' all taking s's. America 1 up. - The next was halved in 4's, Kirkwood all but holing out from bristly sand behind the bun-, ker. Fuller was unlucky enough to put two out of bounds against the fresh northerly at this hole, but did not let it spoil the rest ,of his round. He and Hagen halved the long third in 4's. Here Shaw and Kirkwood found the rough on the left. Shaw reached the green with his next but Kirkwood's recovery for once did-not come off, and he stayed in rough a little further on. Hagen, from a magnificent drive, short apprdached, but only just missed holing out from off the green. Fuller, from the back of the green, left himself a four-footer for his-half but got it. The fourth was halved in 3's, Shaw and Fuller nearly holing 2's. Shaw, who was quite off his usual long game, missed serious trouble in the flax from a hooked drive, and hooked his second from a bad lie. He finished with a 5. The others all opened up the hole nicely, playing to the right of the fairway, and got 4's. Kirkwood, with a twenty-footer and Fuller with a fifteen-footer narrowly missed halving the. hole in 3's. Hagen and Fuller halved the short sixth in 3's, Kirkwood hooking his tee shot, and Shaw overrunning the green. "Hillside" again proved a tough hole to visitors.* Hagen hooked into the wind over the mound, and playing a great wood shot from the sand and lupins just missed another patch of lupin near the fence on the other side of the fairway, hole high. Fuller drove into the rough on the right, while Kirkwood was also in trouble from the tee. Shaw drove nicely down the middle, and got his 4 with a long putt, squaring the. match as all the others took s's. Kirkwood .almost reached the eighth green with a beautiful straight drive. He left himself a longish putt, but got his 3 putting America 1 up again. -■ Shaw just missed his putt for a 3. Hagen missed his, and Fuller, who was, short and off the line from Jhe.tee, took 5. . Kirkwood and Fuller halved the ninth in 4's, Hagen overrunning the green with, a No. 5 iron from, a spanking drive, as did Shaw. America was 1 up, Hagen having taken 36,: Kirkwood 3,7, Shaw 39 for the run out, and Fuller 33 for eight holes. : .'-.-.-., •:. -..-

Fuller won the : -tenth in. spectacular fashion. His, drive finished in rough to the left, his1 second was thirty, yards to the right off the line to the green in the rough, and short, and his third was well oil the green to the left. Then he holed his-, thirty-yard approach for a 4, all the others taking s's, Hagen missing a flfteen:footer for the 4. Kirkwood and Shaw halved the eleventh in 4's. Here Kirkwood just missed sinking a 40-fqoter. The twelfth was halved in,3's. All got 4's at the thirteenth, Fuller with a. long putt after pulling his short second into the rough. Shaw narrowly missed a 2 at the fourteenth, which was halved in 3's.

Fuller and Shaw were both down the bank to the right of the ■ green with their seconds at the fifteenth, the balls practically touching, and each took 5 to hole out, the Americans getting nice 4's, and standing 1 up again. Hagen, with a high, dead niblick pitch from, a fine drive, took the sixteenth, 325 yards, with a putt of under three' feet in 3, Kirkwood, who was bunkered,, taking 5, Shaw 4, and Fuller 5. This made America 2 up. Fuller won the seventeenth in 4, the Americans missing reasonable putts, and the match finished 1 up to America when Kirkwood and Shaw halved the eighteenth in 4's, Shaw nearly sinking a twentyfive footer for a win. Fuller, who was, ditched with his second, here played a magnificent recovery from a moss hag. - . ' ■■■'■■'. '.

Hagen was'the figure on which interest centred. His smooth, free swing from.the tee' was a lesson to all. It looked unhurried, but'the club' head came through at a tremendous pace. He goes well back in his wood shots, for a man of his build, but he is so perfectly balanced that' there 'is no question of over-swinging, and the plane of the swing is as regular as that of the fly-wheel of a watch. It is in his mashie shots and niblick shots to the green that he excels. Taking a short swing, pivoting as in all his shots, he hits a crisp, perfectly-timed shot that gives the results. Both he and Kirkwood excelled in running the ball up to the hole when once on the green. Kirkwood was not nearly so accurate' with his iron's to the green in the match as' when giving demonstrations. Shaw was not in form. Fuller showed up well in shots to the green. He *and Kirkwood took 38 back to Shaw's and Hagen's 37. The approximate cards (many putts being conceded) were: Hagen 73, Kirkwood 75, Shaw 76.

Following' the match, Kirkwood, after the briefest of rests, delighted the gallery for nearly an hour and a half with trick shots, nominated hooks and slices, burlesqued golf, 'and very sound advice that everyone present will remember as long as they live. Not the least pleasing feature of the demonstrations and clever patter was the enthusiasm and untiring effort of the great trick-shot artist to divert and entertain the crowd, though he was leaving himself only an hour to dine and catch the ferry south.