GOLF

Evening Star, Issue 21013, 29 January 1932, Page 4

GOLF

[By Slick.]

There were matches on the programme at both the Otago Club and St. Clair on Saturday, and a verypleasing feature was the number of competitors. It leads one to reflect that golf is at least as popular in the height of summer- as it is in winter. Unfortunately a westerly gale proved to be altogether too severe for most players, as is shown by the results of the matches; but nevertheless some j highly creditable scores were handed in. The St. Andrew’s Cross competition was played on Balmacewen Links last Saturday, and. those players who were fortunate enough to start early _ had much the better chances of returning a good card, as the wind, which intensified as the . afternoon wore on, made play most difficult. In the senior division H. Brasch returned the highly creditable score of 2 up on “bogey and was, in fact, the only player to better 1 the “ colonel.” T. Carr, off the seven mark, came in all square, and played good golf. J. Spence, off 1,-was a like number down on bogey, while a “wind cheating trio” in D. H. Butcher, J. A. Scouler, and W. G. Wight, all off the two mark, each returned a card of 2 down, and the efforts of J. H. M'Dougall (5) and J.. R. Callender (7) produced a like result. In the juniors A. Holland, playing off 12,, won with 1 down, and was closely followed by A. Todd (11) and H. A, Brabant (11) with 2 down. The playing at St. Clair were much more difficult than those at Balmacewen, and many a promising drive developed a wicked hook, oi; a ’ chronic slice, as the case may be. Putting also was difficult, but here; the excellence of the greens stood one in good stead. W. Wr Clayton won the senior division with a finely played 71, and his success from scratch was all the more popular on that accourit, and represents wonderfully good golf under the conditions. His score is well worth quoting. Holing a 4 at the first, aby no means easy thing to do with a strong following wind and hard, smooth, ground, he followed it up with a birdie 2 at the short second. At centre, a hole of 450 yards, he actually holed a 3, which would have been exceptional on the finest of days. The next hole, Dip, usually affords a player a chance of catching one on bogey, but, Clayton could not quite manage, and a. 5 was the result. The fifth was holed in bogey 4 and another birdie, this time a 3, was obtained at Stile, At this stage Clayton was four under bogey, but he , finished the outward journey m 33, his figures showing: 4,2, 3,5, 4,3, 5,4, 3 —33. Coming home he failed to keep to the standard of the first half—what player could? —and finished the nine pi one over bogey. Three bogeys. in 5, 4, 5 were followed by a slight lapse at Old Nick. Clayton’s drive almost found the green, and an exceedingly ticklish downhill approach left him still-shorty and he holed a 5. The fifteenth produced another u birdie,?* but was compensated by a 4 at the short seventeenth, where one might say that 4 s tVere the order of the day. The liomeward journey reijd: 5,4, 5,5, 4,3, 4,4, 4—38 plus 33 equal 71. , S. G. Field filled second place with 78—6—72, a badly played 7 at Old Nick spoiling the card. C. G. Davey holed 83—10—73, and H. Boock was a stroke behind with 88—14—74. C. B« Wight (scr) and .J. .E. Matheson (J) 6sch, returned 76, which is much higher than their usual. ' In the junior division .two very good cards were returned by limit handicap men, in A. P. Johnston and ,W. S.Trotter, who each returned the phenomenal score of 68 nett. J, Hart was third with 89—15—74, but on Saturday he certainly would not expect to be o strokes behind the winners. ■ .- One of the chief events of the golf season in the States is the - national open match-play tournament (quotes an exchange), which this year was held ou the Lake Merced Links, near Ban Francisco. Many “stars” were eliminated in the earlier rounds, and F. Morrison, who has since won the big prize ■ at Agua Caliente, Leo Diegel, W. Burke,• this year’s open champion, and J. Goldio, went out in the quarter finals, ine victors included two local professionals,; W. Goggin and B. Espinosa, but both were defeated in the semi-final by W, H Cox, of Brooklyn, and G. Von Elnij the self-styled “business man golfer • a former national champion. Ju the thirty-six hole final, played in a heavy downpour which made the greens almost Cox led from the fifth hdle onward, being two up at the turn and five up at the end of eighteen holes. At this stage the match was postponed, the course being quite unfit for play—at the eleventh. Von Elm; had had to pick up on the green because his ball was so deeply buried as to bo scarcely visible. Next day the match was completed, the going being still very heavy and the greens very holding. Von Elm recovered slightly on the outward journey, being 4 down at the turn in 39 to Cox’s 40. At the twenty-seventh Von Elm won by holing a twenty-yard chip over a bunker. He followed with a “birdie four at the next hole, and again at the thirteenth, but on each occasion Cox’s fine putting enabled him to halve Meanwhile the latter had regained his lead of five holes when Von Elm took three putts at the twenty-ninth. At the thirtyfirst Cox had another win, a stymie aiding, and the match ended—Cox o up and 5 to play.