GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 19777, 30 January 1928, Page 11

GOLF

KIRK-WINDEYER CUP TOURNEY DR ROSS WINS CHAMPIONSHIP [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, January 28. The semi-finals and finals in the championship tournament arranged in connection with the contest for the Kirk-Windeyer Cup were completed today, * the championship being won by Dr Kenneth Ross (Otago), who defeated another South Islander, Donald Grant (Shirley), by 4 and 3. The semi-finals were remarkable in the the two games went well beyond the eighteenth. Dr Ross defeated A. G. Sime (Westport) at the twenty-second, and Donald Grant accounted for the holder of the amateur title, Sloan Morpeth, at the twenty-third green. Conditions for golfing were excellent, there being a complete absence of wind. Following the completion of the championship it was announced that Dr Ross and Donald Grant would be the other two members of the New Zealand team to meet the Australians in the contest for the Kirk-Windeyer Cup on Monday. Sloan Morpeth, and T. H. Horton were selected some considerable time ago. The order of the team is as follows:—Sloan Morpeth, Dr Ross, T H. Horton, and Donald Grant. W. R. Dobson (Concord), who is first emergency for the Australian team, will replace Dr Sydney Jones in the team to meet New Zealand.

SEMI-FINALS BOSS v. SIME

By far the best golf seen in the semi-finals was that played by the two South Islanders, Dr Kenneth Ross and A. G. Sime (Westport), the game going to the twenty-second green before a derision was reached. From start to finish these two provided a, hole-and-hole struggle, and at no time during the match were the players separated by more than two holes. At the short sixth Ross holed out for a beautifullyplayed two to his opponent’s three. Ross turned two up. Sime recovered a hole at the fourteenth, leaving him one down. Sime played two fine gallery shots at the fifteenth. His tee shot lauded in the rough of the hillside, obscuring the green from view. With his mashie he played to within Sft of the pin, and with his next stroke sank an up-hill putt to win with a three. Sime won the seventeenth in throe, and squared the game. Wellplayed fours halved the eighteenth and the" nineteenth, Sime just lipping the hole for a three at the latter. The twentieth and twenty-first were halved for four and five respectively. The end came in the twenty-second, where Dr Ross took the hole in three to four to win the hole, and with it the matchone up. It was at this hole that Sime pushed his iron shot into a hunker, and experienced difficulty in getting out owing to the ball landing behind a stone, the only stone in the bunker. Ross overran the hole with his second, but more than redeemed himself by sinking a 9ft putt, thus winning the match. MORPETH v. GRANT. The game between Morpeth and Grant was rough in the earlier stages, neither player being able to take full advantage of the other’s mistakes. Morpeth sank a twenty-footer for a two at the fourth, squaring the game. The seventh was exciting. From a good drive Grant took a spoon to a shot which he could well have played with his iron, and duffed it. Morpeth’s second, as on the preceding day, was pushed out to the right and finished in the hunker, while his third was short. Grant’s third was' too strong. Morpeth’s fourth overran the hole, and Grant’s approach stymied him, Morpeth’s hall striking Grant’s. The hole was halved in six. Both were off the line to the left in the eighth, which was halved in four. Both got good drives at the ninth, but Morpeth was bunkered and short of the green with his second. His third overran the green, and Grant took the hole in live to six. Grant played a spoon shot out to the right at the tenth, and Morpeth took the hole in five to six, Grant having fluffed his mashie shot. With the game square again, the golf of both players improved, hut at the eleventh Morpeth missed a, 2ft putt and stymied Grant, who knocked in his opponent’s hall for a four. Grant was through the green with his tee shot at the twelfth, which Morpeth took in a perfect' three, making him two up. Both were short with their second at the thirteenth. Grant played a fine approach putt, but Morpeth overran the hole, stymieing himself. He mashied a lovely Sft shot, which stopped three inches from the hole. Grant’s putt was decidedly unlucky, the ball disappearing in the hole only to climb lazily out and recline on the edge. The hole was halved in five. The fourteenth was halved in three, and t}ie fifteenth in four. Morpeth missed a long putt for a three at the sixteenth, which was halved in four—Morpeth dormie two. It looked like Morpeth’s game, but Grant hit a very fine drive. Morpeth’s second, a driving iron, finished to the right of the grebn in the bunker. Grant’s second, a push shot with his iron, never deviated from the line of the pin, and finished a yard away from it. Morpeth, trying for a three, hit the pin with his third, while Grant sunk his putt for a 3-Morpeth 1 up. Morpeth was introuble from his second shot at the eighteenth, which Grant took in 5, after Morpeth, in trying to sink a 10yds putt, had struck his ball, which was near the line. As the game moved on to the nineteenth the excitement became intense. Morpeth duffed his second, but his third was within a few feet of the pin. Grant, whose second was nicely on the green, was robbed of a win by Morpeth sinking his putt for a half in 4. Grant, was a trifle off the line at the twentieth, hut halved by means of a magnificent chip shot. Grant was in the bunker at the next,' blit got well out, and Morpeth missed a 7ft putt for a. 4. The hole was halved in 5 The next was halved in 3. and the end came at the twentythird, where Grant had a raking drive, while Morpeth’s besetting sin of occasional want of direction led.him to slice into the rough, Grant holing in 3 to win, 1 up.

THE FINAL ROSS v. GRANT.

In the final Grant and Ross both got good drives at the first, hut Grant got the blinker with his second, while Ross was just short. Ross missed a putt for a. win, and the hole was halved in 5. With their seconds both players were on the second green, and halved the hole in 4. Ross was in the rough at the side of the fairway with his tee shot at the third. Grant got away a splendid drive, and was well on in two. By missing a 3ft putt Grant lost a chance of keeping the game square, Ross winning in 4 to 5. Both missed short putts at the fourth, which was halved in 4. Ross played a nice second on to the green, while Grant was in the rough with his tee shot, and in the hunker beside the green with his second. Ross won the hole in 4, making him 1 np. They were both on the green from the tee at the short sixth, and sound 3’s halved the hole. They were abreast down the fairway at the seventh, -while a beautifully-played second saw Grant on the green From the edge of the green Ross reached within an inch of the tin with his third. Grant stymied with bis third. , With his fourth

he endeavored lo pitch over the intervening ball, but his ball hit the lip or the tin and bounced off again, thus losing the chance of a win for 4. The hole was halved in 5. The eighth saw Grant first in the rough and then in a bunker, Ross being on for two. Ross won the hole in 4. Ross won the ninth in 4, and turned 3 up, going out in thirtyeight to his opponent’s forty-two. Grant won his first hole at the tenth. Both were on opposite ends of the green for two. Gran; approached dead, and won in four, Ross missing a short putt for four. At the eleventh Ross was at the edge of the green in two. _ Grant approached to.within sft of the pin with his second stroke, but, as he overran his , putt, Ross won in 4 to 5. Grant was in. the rough at the side of the green with his tee shot at the twelfth, but Ross missed a short putt for a win, and 4’s halved the hole. Ross found the bunker from the tee at the thirteenth, and with his approach was in the rough. Grant also went through the green and. into the rough beyond with his second stroke. Grant sank a 4ft putt and took a hole from his opponent. who went to the fourteenth 2 up. Ross chipped out of the rough with his second to land about 3ft from the pin at the fourteenth, sinking with his next stroke, and he was again 3 up. Going to the fifteenth, which is a blind hole, both got good drives. With his second Grant hit the stick standing in the hole, and this reduced the momentum of the-ball, and saved it from going into the rough beyond the green. Ross stymied Grant, who putted into the hole for a half in 4’s. The end came at the sixteenth. Hero Ross sank in 4 to his opponent’s 5, and with the hole won the tournament championship, 4 and 2.

[The details of the scoring would make it appear that Ross was 5 up.]