HAMILTON WINNER OF P.B. OPEN: MRS. C. F. O’CONNOR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23023, 13 August 1949, Page 6

HAMILTON WINNER OF P.B. OPEN: MRS. C. F. O’CONNOR

WOMEN’S GOLF

With only an occasional lapse, including a misadventure in the bunkers at the eighth, where she was forced to concede the hole to her opponent, Mrs. C. F. O’Connor, Hamilton, carried off the Poverty Bay women’s open goif championship yesterday with a flourish, defeating her ciub-mate Mrs. 11. Falwell 3 and 4.

At most of the holes played Mrs. O'Connor was on the bogey mark, and her consistency told heavily against her opponent, whose chief difficulty was in controlling her approach shots. There was nothing spectacular about the match, but both finalists stood up well to the strain after three days of solid competition, two of them spent in most unpleasant playing conditions. First Championship Success

This was Mrs. O’Connor's first championship success, and she received hearty congratulations on her exploit. She plays on a seven handicap, and in this tournament reached a standard which is likely to be reflected in a revision of her club handicap. Her wood shots were excellent and in her approaches she showed excellent judgment which offset in a large degree the occasional faults in her putting. She registered bogeys at the first, second, third, sixth and ninth, on the first half of the course, and at the eleventh and thirteenth on the portion of the second half completed. Mrs. Falwell plays on a handicap of 12, and throughout the tournament up to the final had showed consistent form. In the deciding match she was a shade off the groove, and after dropping the first hole, halving the next three, and winning the fifth she was a stroke outside her opponent on the next two, being two down coming to the eighth. Here she made a good recovery to take the hole in five, but Mrs. O'Connor reasserted herself at the ninth and turned the corner two up. Awapuni Cup Winner Consistent

They halved the tenth, but the next three went to Mrs. O’Connor, and Mrs. Falwell faced an almost impossible task. A half on the fourteenth sealed the victory for Mrs. O’Connor.

The Awapuni Cup handicap tournament was won in good style by Mrs. L. L. Winter, who carried through from the semi-final the excellent form which beat Mrs. E. A. Smith. The winner played some very fine strokes, and on the few occasions when she found herself in difficulties made good recoveries. In thp. No. 1 Handicap Touranment Mrs. C. W. Isaac accounted for Mrs. L. Ngata in the final by a good margin, and in No. 2 Handicap Tounrament Miss B. Langlands defeated Mrs. J. C. Hill in a tight match, incidentally notching the third match-play win for the Langlands’ family within a fortnight. Mrs.. E. Swainson won the No. 3 Handicap Tournament from Mrs. W. J. Mclldowie in another close match. Details of yesterday afternoon’s results were as under:— P.B. Women’s Open Championship Final. —Mrs. C. F. O’Connor d. Mrs. H. Falwell, 5 and 4. Awapuni Cup Handicap Tournament Final. —Mrs. L. L. Winter d. Mrs. E. Black, 3 and 1. No. I Handicap Tournament Final. —Mrs. C. W. Isaac d. Mrs. L. Ngata, 5 and 4. No. 2 Handicap Tournament Final. —Miss B. Langlands d. Mrs. J. C. Hill, 1 up. No. 3 Handicap Tournament Final. —Mrs. E. Swainson d. Mrs. W. J. Mclldowie, 2 up. Open Championship Flight Final. —Mrs. S. Bennett d. Mrs. E. R. Brown, 7 and 5. Awapuni Cup Flight Final. —Mrs. L. Eade d. Mrs. F. Wynne-Jones, 1 up. No. 1 Handicap Tourney Flight Final. —Mrs. E. Watts d. Mrs. J. A. Thomas, 3 and 2. No. 2 Handicap Tourney Flight Final. —Mrs. B. Kaua d. Mrs. J. Atkins, 5 and 4.

Warm congratulations to the championship winner were tendered by Mrs. R. U. Burke, president of the P.B. Ladies’ Golf Club, when conducting the presentation ceremony which followed the conclusion of play in the tournament. Mrs. Burke expressed the appreciation of her club regarding the attendance of a strong Waikato contingent at this year’s championship, and remarked that when Mrs. O'Connor defended her title next year it was to be hoped that the visiting team would be still stronger numerically. Mrs. W. D. Morley, club captain, expressed thanks to the members of her committee, to officers of the club and to the staff members for the co-operation received by the ladies’ committee in conducting the fixture. The club captain particularly mentioned the excellent work of Mrs. T. Corkery as club and tournament secretary, stating that much of the success of the fixture had been due to her well-organised activity. SEMI-FINAL MATCHES.

One of the Hamilton entries, Mrs. H. Fahvell, qualified ihis morning for the final of the championship by defeating Mrs. R. G. Robb in one semi-final: while her sister, Mrs. L. Chitty, suffered defeat in the other semi-final at the hands of Mrs. C- F. O’Connor, who represented the home players in the deciding match this afternoon. During the morning match Mrs. Robb got into arrears during the first six holes, and then managed to draw level, later taking a lead of one hole. Her oppoiwnt, however, played steady golf all through, and reasserted herself during the second half of the round. They came to the seventeenth with Mrs. Falwell two up, and a poor second by Mrs. Robb at this hole gave the Hamilton entry the opportunity to clinch the match, winning 3 and 1. The other semi-final found Mrs. O’Connor in excellent form and after contesting the first nine on fairly easy terms with Mrs. Chitty the district player romped awav to win 6 and 5. In the Awapuni Cup handicap tournament semi-finals during the morning Mrs. L. L- Winter defeated Mrs. E. A. Smith, 1 up, and Mrs. E. Black had a similar margin over Miss J. Dods. Semi-finals in the various other sections of the fixture were generally closely-fought. Results of the morning’s play in detail were:— Open Championship. Semi-Final: Mrs H. Falwell d. Mrs. R. Robb, 3 and 1; Mrs. C. F. O’Connor d. Mrs. L. Chitty, 6 and 5. AWAPUNI CUP HANDICAP.—SemiFinal: Mrs. L. L. Winter d. Mrs. E. A. Smith, 1 up; Mrs. E. Black d. Miss J. Dods, 1 up. No. 1 Handicap Tournament. —SemiFinal: Mrs. L. Ngata d. Miss A. Black, 3 and 2: Mrs. C. W. Isaac d. Miss M. Baxter. 2 up. No. 2 Handicap Tournament. —SemiFinal: Miss B. Langlands d. Mrs. R. Floris, 4 and 3; Mrs J. C. Hill d. Mrs. E. L. Adams. 3 and 1

Championship Flight. Semi-Final: Mrs. E. R. Brown d. Mrs. M. Carter, 6 and 5: Mrs. S. Bennett d. Mrs. F. Fenwick. 3 and 1

Awapuni Cup Flight.—Semi-Finai: Mrs. F. Wynne Jones d. Mrs. L. Mitchell, 7 and 6: Mrs. L. Eade d. Mrs. H. G. Ostler. 3 and 2. No. 1 Handicap Flight.—Semi-Final: Mrs. R. Watts d. Mrs. I. D. Bramwell, 2 and 1: Mrs. J. A. Thomas d Mrs. R. S. Greening, 2 and 1.

No 2 Handicap Flight.—Semi-Final: Mrs. B. Kaua d. Mrs. R. Hansen, 2 up; Mrs. J. Atkins d. Miss K. Beale, 1 up.