WINTER CUP TOURNEY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1938, Page 25

WINTER CUP TOURNEY

WOMEN'S TOURNEY

SECOND DAY AT HERETAUNGA

The 'defeat of the New Zealan< champion in the first round, sustaine* excitement in other matches an< notable performances by some of thi competitors marked the first day' match play of the Wellington women' provincial golf championship a Heretaungai yesterday. Miss J. Horna brook, surprise winner of the day, ft the first round defeat of Miss S. Col lins, New Zealand champion, hersel slumped to decisive defeat by Mrs. D A. Crombie in the afternoon. Mis: V. Fleming, defending titleholder won easly in the first rounc vsnd held off the determined chal i«nge of Miss J. Duncan in th< second. Miss H. Buchanan, the long est hitter in the tournament, revealec enough skill in departments wher< length does not count to defeat Mis! C. Smith in a battle of turning for tunes. Miss P. Bell, almost complete ly inexperienced in tournament play passed the first milestone of a promis ing future by defeating Miss J. Hor well, who has been ranked for severa years in the first half dozen o± Nevi Zealand's women golfers. The conditions were perfect, whicl" means, in Wellington, that the wine was feathery light, giving little assistance from behind or resistance ir front. Though the best score of the bogey competition for players not in the championship was all square, in the championships themselves some patches of scoring were brilliant and others were better than is usual in the strain of tournament play. Miss Fleming in the morning scored an outward half of 35, two strokes below par, and in the afternoon she needed two fives for an approximate 76 when her .roatch. finished. Mrs. Crombie and Miss Hbrnabrook in the afternoon each went out in 39; Mrs. Crombie holed a long putt for a four on the 4S(B-yard eighth hole, the most difficult par five on the course. MISS BEL.L IN TROUBLE. Miss Bell's two holes margin in her defeat of Miss Horwell indicated that courage is riot the least of her golfing assets. At the fifteenth hole the Xgreen is separated from the tee by a runnig creek, and is given greater malignance by a 20-foot bank dropping to the stream. Miss Bell, after standing two up from the tenth, had just lost the fourteenth in 3 to 4. Her tee sbot to the fifteenth hit the bank and rolled down. She made two or three attempts to, reach the green; failing, she conceded the hcle. There were three more holes to piajr against an opponent celebrated both in Australia and New Zealand &Sf imperturbable steadiness, an opponent, moreover, vastly more experienced than Miss Bell in taking advantage of such fortune However, Mfcs Horwell's second to tne sixteenth -was too strong and Miss Bell played aa accurate approach to win the hole. She halved the seventeenth and on this eighteenth just missed a putt for a ftrar. The scoring, incidentally, was not good. Miss Bell went out in 44 to Miss. Horwell's 45; the figures coining in were a little better. Sa spite of Mrs. Crombie's fours at tbe seventh, a 444-yard hole, and the e^hfh, Miss Hornabrook held her lefcei at the turn. Miss Hornabrook •was showing glimpses of the form wfckh brought her victory against Mfcs Collins, but she lapsed in her concentration occasionally, and Mrs. Crombie was quick to seize the openings. Poor putting turned the tide against Miss Hornabrook on the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth. Mrs. Crombie sank a 9-footer for a four at the twelfth and Miss Hornabrook massed her iliree-footer for a half. At the fourteenth Miss Hornabrook had another chance ■when Mrs. Crom- > hie missed her third but another lapse by Miss Hornabrook produced a half. At the fifteenth she topped her tee shot into the bank and Mrs. Crombie won the hole with a 3. •MRS. CROMBIE'S IMPROVEMENT. Mrs. Crombie played some of her finest golf during the match. At its end. she was two over bogey for the 15 holes, a performance demonstrating both the immense, improvement in her game in recent weeks and the effect of her Tasman Cup experience in Australia. She was swinging soundly and putting frequently for . birdie figures. Once or twice she secured them, and they were effective in reducing the potential threat of Miss Hornabrook's challenge. The fact that Miss Fleming was out iii 38 and one down demonstrated the quality of , Miss Duncan's golf. Miss Fleming won the tenth to square the match, and at the thirteenth began a series of four wins which gave her victory, but she had to produce even 4's for the inward journey to do so. Miss Duncan three or four times sank long putts; Miss Fleming, though not quite as fortunate, made short work of putts of ordinary distance. Through the green both were accurate until the closing stages, when Miss Duncan lost! a little touch. But she battled pluckily against the champion. Miss Buchanan began by playing her first ball out of bounds. Three holes later, another shot zoomed over the fence. At the eighth, she was 2 down.. At the twelfth—where her enormous second reached the green—she was square. As she herself remarked, sparks were beginning. to fly as she,and Miss Smith settled to the task of bringing defeat to each other, both being players of all-round competence. Miss Buchanan succeeded and she was hitting the ball great distances and so was able to relax between shots. A missed putt of a couple of feet at the fourteenth and a drive into the river just below the tee at the sixteenth ended Miss Smith's hopes. j Scores:— j WELLINGTON CHAMPIONSHIP. Second Round. Miss V. Fleming beat Miss J. Duncan 4 and 2. Miss H. Buchanan beat Miss C. Smith, 2 and 1. Miss P. Bell beat Miss J. Horwell, 2J Hip, Mrs. D. A. Crombie beat Miss J. Hornabrook, 4 and 3. j i HERETAUNGA HANDICAP. ' Second Hound. Miss M. Pearce beat Mrs. Lewis at the nineteenth. Miss E. Nutt beat Mrs. Hunt, 2 up. Mrs. MacHae beat Mrs. R.. Whyte, 3 arid 1. Mrs. Pearce beat Miss Wheeler, 1 up. BOGEY MATCH. ■ Senior.—Miss D. Tddd, all square. \ B Cirade.—Mrs. Dykes,,! down.

L A. EWEN SHOWS BRILLIANCE

FINE FORM AT HUTT

The distractions of the Labour Day weekend tend to rob the annual Winter Cup golf fixture conducted by the Hutt Club of one or two of the outstanding players of the season in Wellington. The tournament this week, however, attracted an entry notably strong in talent. Some fine golf.resulted. And the rather unusual spectacle, in a tournament, of the standard culminating in brilliant patches in the final emphasised that the tournament can be a very good indication of golfing talent in the city. I. A. Ewen triumphed with his best display of the season. In inter-club matches, his record was not impressive and the famous occasion when J. H. Drake of Miramar calmly won the last six holes of his match from the parlous position of 5 down and six to play indicated that Ewen's -good swing was not enough, that there were qualities in his play imperatively demanding improvement. The lesson, perhaps, was a little raw. There are not many cases where players have lost from 5 up and 6 to play. But in its sharpness, it was probably beneficial to Ewen's game. Last weekend, his golf was undoubtedly of the first class. And his display in the final against J. B. Graham, marred by a couple of poor holes, generally demonstrated his unlimited qualities. Graham, at 21, is rated on 2. His swing is flat, well-controlled, with the left arm straight in the backswing and the pivoting clean and brisk. For a youngster, he does not clout the ball enormous distances, though an occasional drive has a Jimmy Thomson atmosphere. Apparently, he has already Learnt that length is not everything, that the fiercest clout is not always the finest; his control of the club is always strong and his direction' is immaculate, fa that, his skill is superior to many another promising young player in Wellington today. The insistent lesson of golfing experience is always "control." R. G. Holland and H. A. Black, the semi-finalists, are experienced tournament players. Holland suffered a letdown in his driving in the semi-final with Ewen and, he was seldom able to lit the ball cleanly. Nor could he find i worthwhile remedy quickly enough to hold Ewen. Black played well durng the tournament. As ever, his shots tvere down the middle and well calculated to give him the easiest approach for the next. He is in fine touch it the moment. . j An absentee from the tournament ,vas W. G. Home, the Wellington provincial champion. He appeared on the course at odd intervals as a relief to he grind of pre-examination "swot." L. B. Quinn, of the Manor Park Club, was one youngster who impressed. He gave Ewen a sturdy fight and suffered the mortification of a long putt on the 14th—apparently Ewen's favourite hole, because he scored many 3's there. Quinn seemed upset by the loss of the hole and a 6 at the long 15th finished him. But he showed good judgment! with all his clubs and needs only a little more experience to improve out of sight. ■*!"'■■ vf ■"■' '" ■■'■'•■ W. B. Reilly was defeated by J. F. Pym, but he was, if anything, the stylist of the tournament. He is one player going south for the championships at Dunedin; given the breaks,' he should do pretty well; he has the talent. The Hutt course was in fine condition for the tournament and if the weather on the first two days had been kinder some great scores would probably have been returned. Work will shortly be started on the eradication of the Onehunga weed which has attacked one or two of the greens. Though not in virulent form at the moment, the weed would soon become a pest without attention. The Hutt authorities are wise in their decision to uproot it at the first opportunity.