EXHIBITION GOLF

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 17

EXHIBITION GOLF

FINE PLAY IN RAIN

NEW ZEALANDERS WIN

YON NIDA ROUND IN 70

Only a small gallery turned out to see some fine golf in unpleasant weather at Miramar yesterday afternoon, when Yon Nida and Cremin, the visiting Australian professionals, played Butters and Mclntosh, both well known locally, in a most interesting fourball. The New Zealanders won their match .by 2 and 1, but the best golf was played by Yon Nida, who did the 6150-yard course in 70, 34 out and 36 in, as follows:—Out, 444343624; in, 553454343. None of the players had seen rain for months, and it rairied steadily all the afternoon, making grips slippery and the course, if not heavy, much heavier than any of them had seen since last winter. The change from Masterton, where the greens were fiery, and shots ran far on the fairways, must have been great for the visitors, and puzzled even the two local professionals. The wind was a light but gusty northerly. The grass on the greens was laden with moisture, and putts had to be hit hard. Distances on the fairways evidently puzzled the visitors on the strange course. High lights in the game were the holing of a sixty-yard chip from a long drive at the 330-yard eighth by Yon Nida, the sinking of a thirteenfoot putt at the thirteenth by Butters for a 3, after Cremin had missed one of the same length by a whisker, and a fine 4 from a beautiful iron second and a neat approach by Mclntosh at the fourteenth. The two latter holes gave the local professionals a lead which -they held for the remainder of the match. Teeing up was allowed through the fairways. IMPRESSIVE PLAYERS. Both the Australians impressed. Neither is a heavyweight; in fact, it is surprising the length such lightweights get. Yon Nida has a lightning swing, going back very fast when on the tee; Cremin goes back very cautiously, without appearing slow. Yon Nida stands more over his ball than Cremin, but both have a wide stance for such short-legged men. Cremin is particularly good at recoveries, as are most golfers who are not always on the line, and his long approach putts are' marvels. Many of them looked at the hole, but it was not his day. Chips from the rough suit him. Yon Nida gets into less trouble, and plays a magnificent iron. On his day he would puzzle the best of players. Both are worth copying in the way they go through the ball. Neither got the pace of the greens. The first three holes were halved in 5, 4, 4. At the fourth Yon Nida was through the green from the tee, but within four feet of the pin with his next and was down in 3, Butters missing an eight-footer for a half; This gave the visitors a lead of 1 up. At the fifth, into the wind, Cremin, who was troubled by errors in direction occasionally, pushed, his ball out into the rough, and only just reached the fairway . getting out, but shared a 4 with the others, Butters making a good recovery from a bunkered second to within four feet of the cup. (All square). Cremin hooked his tee shot at the short hole, and trying a high pitch over the bunk§r, with the face of his niblick laid well back, put the ball in. Yon Nida was short, from the tee, but then got well on. Butters putted up dead from a nice shot to the back of the green and Mclntosh sank a five-footer for a 2 and-the half. (All square.) "HILLSIDE" TESTS STRANGERS. "Hillside," the trouble-flariiked seventh, provided Yon Nida wijth his worst hole of the day, a 6. He found the hillside with a sliced second. Cremin, after also slicing twice^through the fairway, narrowly missed-a-thirty-footer for a 4. Mclntosh had hooked his drive into the rough over the ridge, and finished up with a 5. It was left to Butters,, playing steadily down the middle, to get his 4, and put his side 1 up again. LONG HOLED CHIP SHOT. Cremin put a slightly-hooked drive into a bunker at the eighth, but wa3 15ft from the pin with his next. Yon Nida played a long drive down the wind to the right of the green, and from a good lie hit the pin with a sixtyyard chip, the ball on the bounce striking about a foot above the ground. It dropped into the hole, settling the issue there, where the* local professionals were looking for a 3 and the half. (All square.) All were round the green in 2, though none were on, at the 410-yard ninth, and all secured 4's. All square at the turn, the match became interesting. The tenth was halved in 4's and the eleventh in s's. Yon Nida was through the green by 50 yards at the twelfth but made a fine chip back to within 2ft of the pin. Butters was short with his approach. Mclntosh played a beautiful tee shot to within four feet of the cup, but missed the putt for a win in 2, and the hole was halved in 3's. TWO WINS RUNNING. Cremin, from a long hooked drive at the thirteenth, was only twelve feet away with his second, but his ball hit the cup and hopped over, giving him a 4. Butters sank a longish. putt for 3, and the local men were 1 up again. Mclntosh won the fourteenth for his partnership with= a 4, though Cremin made a workmanlike attempt to sink a fortyyard chip. The fifteenth was halved in 4's. When the sixteenth was halved in 3's, Butters and Mclntosh were dormie 2, and when all got 4's at "The Gap," the match was over. The Miramar Club captain, Mr. D. R. Richmond, refereed the match. Yon Nida'g 70 was fine golf on a strange course under the conditions. Other cards were:— Cremin.—Out: 454344544—37; in, 453454344—36; 73. Mclntosh.—Out: 445442554—37; in, 453444444—36; 73. Butters.—Out: 554443444—37; to 654354434—38; 75. Bogey for the course is 74.