GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 83, 10 April 1939, Page 9

GOLF

PROVINCIAL TOURNEY

HORNABROOK TROUBLED

A CLOSE CALL

A close call for J. P. Hornabrook was a feature of the first round of match play in the Wellington provincial golf championship at Hutt this morning. Hornabrook won an exciting game with G. Tustin on the last green.

Other matches went as expected and there were no surprises. H. A. Black, of Miramar, at the bottom of the draw, played his usual steady game to defeat H. E. H. Aplin by 4 and 3, and the possibility of Black and Hornabrook meeting in the final became strong.

Hornabrook was never more than one hole ahead of Tustin and he had the greatest difficulty in winning. Tustin has taken to the game again this season after a four-years' spell, but in spite of a comparative lack of practice he showed uncommonly good form. He was out in 38 to be one down, but he squared the match with-a birdie 2 at the eleventh. He drew one up at the fourteenth with a par 4, and though at the fifteenth it seemed he would lose the lead again, Hornabrook missed a simple putt of a foot to halve the hole. Hornabrook played a magnificent shot from the bunker at the sixteenth to get his 3 and square the match. They halved the seventeenth in good 4's. The eighteenth was dramatically fought, when Tustin played a poor second to the right of the green. His brilliant chip just missed the hole and ran past about a yard. Hornabrook was safe for his 4, when Tustin lined up for the putt. Apparently, however, the excitement had caught Tustin and he was two inches short with a putt which would. have given him the chance to carry the match on. H. M. Elliott, in spite of an air shot at the fifteenth, was just a little too strong for J. S. Park, and J. Shelly scored a 77 to defeat F. W. Page. F. H. Kember, who had performed well on Saturday, was a little fortunate against H. L. Perry when he holed a chip from outside the green at the eighteenth to win the hole in 3. Results are as follows:—

WELLINGTON HANDICAP. First Round.

J. P. Hornabrook beat G. Tustin, 1 up. H. M. Elliott beat J. S. Park, 1 up. J. Shelly beat F. W. Page, 3 and 1. F. H. Kember beat H. L. Perry, 2 up. D. J. Oliver beat J. B. Crawford, 6 and 4.

L. Quinn beat F. W. Huggins, 1 up. J. B. Tunnell beat E. S. Thomson, 4 and 3.

H. A. Black beat H. E. H. Aplin, 4 and 3.