WOMEN'S GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 11

WOMEN'S GOLF

AUTUMN FOURSOMES

THE SEMI-FINAL MATCHES

Mrs. Ashe and Mrs. Norman, both of Hutt; and Miss White-Parsons and Mrs. Lewis are the finalists in the New Zealand women's golf autumn foursomes this afternoon. The semi-finals were decided this morning. The win of Mrs, Ashe and her partner over Mrs. Slater and Mrs. Chrisp was unexpected. The conditions on the Hutt course were atrocious today. A cold southerly met the players, and heavy overnight rain had left casual water on every green, and in every hollow of the fairways, where it formed lagoons of some extent in places. Hazards containing water demanded a penalty if the ball were picked out, and this, and the presence of so much water on the greens, robbed players of many strokes. Good golf under the conditions was impossible. A SURPRISING MATCH. The. most interesting match was between Mrs. Slater (Hutt) and Mrs. Chrisp (Poverty Bay), who were giving five strokes to Mrs. Ashe and Mrs. Norman. The match was all square at the fifth, but the Hutt pair were 2 up at the seventh, won the eighth, and halved the ninth, largely through a long approach putt by Mrs. Ashe. Turning 3 up their chances looked rosy. At the tenth Mrs. Norman, running up a long approach, found the, bunker to the left. Mrs. Slater went from one bunker into another across the green, and she and her partner repeatedly failed to get the ball out. The hole was conceded, making the Hutt pair 4 up. They had trouble at the eleventh, however, and when Mrs. Chrisp sank a long one from the back of the green for a 3 they were 3 up again. The twelfth was halved. The Hutt pair won the thirteenth, Mrs. Norman sinking a long putt. A.short approach by Mrs. Ashe^ at the fourteenth, where Mrs. Chrisp laid a long putt dead, reduced the lead, however, and when the Hutt pair conceded the fifteenth after playing badly through the fairway they were 2 up and three to go. Better work on the sixteenth green gave their opponents a chance to still further reduce the lead. At the seventeenth Mrs. Ashe found the matted rough 40 yards from the tee and it took them three to get out and five shots to reach their opponents' drive. They conceded the hole.

At the last hole Mrs. Slater's long drive was pushed out badly and Mrs. Norman was short. Mrs. Ashe hit a good second. Mrs. Ashe was on in.4. Mrs. Chrisp topped her firm chip into the bunker and Mrs: Slater dug out too strongly to the far side oi the green. To crown an inglorious hole Mrs. Slater missed a three-footer, and the Hutt pair won in 6 to 8, taking the match 1 up.

In the other semi-final Miss WhiteParsons, Christchurch, and Mrs. Lewis, Hutt, gave six strokes to Mrs. Munden and Mrs. Chapman, both of Hutt. Miss White-Parsons and her partner were 3 up at the turn and went on to win, 6 and 4.