P.B. CLUB TITLE: MRS. R. HUTCHINSON WINS AT THE 18th

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23343, 28 August 1950, Page 6

P.B. CLUB TITLE: MRS. R. HUTCHINSON WINS AT THE 18th

WOMEN’S GOLF

The 1950 season has produced some excellent performances by members of the P.B. Ladies’ Golf Club, but few have equalled the interest which attached to Friday’s final in the dub championshin tournament, when Mrs. R. Hutchinson defeated Mrs. R. G. Robb. 1 up. 4 was a dour struggle all tlie way, and the issue was in doubt right up to the last stroke played. This was Mrs, Hutchinson’s second success of the season, the open, title having fallen to her in an equallyMense deciding match with Mrs. C. O’Connor. Hamilton, a fortnight ago. Yesterday's game reproduced some < f the best features of the open final, and Mrs. Robb proved herself as redoubtable an opponent as was Mrs. O’Connor. Both the finalists were driving beautifully yesterday, and getting great length and good direction. Mrs. Hutchinson's anprnach shots were extremeIv well judged, and her resource and nerve enabled h-r to make some remarkable recoveries. .Mrs. Robb played a solid straight game throughout, and was unshaken bv the occasional brilliance of her opponent Mrs. Hutchinson scored on the first hole, taking par five to her opponent's six. but she found the bunker with her tee-shot at ihe short second and was four to Mrs. Robb’s three. At the third. Mrs. Robb was straight down the fairway. but Mrs. • Hucthinson's lons drive went into the rough. A soecfacular second put th" lifter on the green, however, and she downed her third for a birdie against Mrs. Robb’s nar four. Thev hrl'-ed the fourth in par fours, and the fifth in s'xes. one over par. Mrs. Robb got back on to par at the sixth and won it against Mrs. Hutchinson’s four: and she went ahead, at the seventh with a five against a six. Both were one stroke over mr scores at the eighth and ninth, and Mrs. Robb was one uo at the turn. She could have been two uo. but she took three putts on the ninth green. Both cot off fine drives at the tenth, and Mrs. Hutchinson took the hole in four to five. The short eleventh of 144 vards. found both on the green w'th their tee-shots, and here Mrs. Hutchinson brought off a coup which would have shaken any but the most Imnerturbable onponent. After their seconds, she faced a stymie, but with complete anlomb she eliinned over her opnonen*’s hall into the hole, to halve it in threes. The long twelfth saw Mrs. Robb reestablish her one-up lead, with a par five against Mrs. Hutchinson’s six. but the match was again squared at the thirteenth, where Mrs. Robb had treetrouble while her opponent went straight down to get a four. Thev halved the fourteenth in fives, and on the fifteenth Mrs. Hutchinson possibly remembering that this was one of the tougher spots, in her tussle for the open title —got off a magnificent drive and followed it with an equally superb second to the green, downing her third from a distance of several feet. Mrs. Robb's par five was two strokes too manv. and she was one down for the first time since the fifth hole, with three to go. Both were on the sixteenth green in three, and in the roll-up Mrs. Hutchinson stymied her opponent, who in an effort to chip over cannoned Mrs. Hutchinson into the cup, losing the hole Mrs. Hutchinson was now dormle two. and when Mrs. Robb found one of the bunkers round the second gre«n with her drive off the seventeenth tee it looked as though the match would finish on that hole. Mrs. Robb played a perfect second, nowever, and was down in five to her opponent’s six. Mrs Hutchinson’s approach shot going astray for once. The eighteenth is a 400yds. hole, -with a par of four strokes. In the open final a fortnight ago Mrs. Hutchinson put her third so close to the pin that her opponent conceded the putt, giving her a par four. Yesterday she was again on for three, but took two putts. Mrs. Robb lost her opportunity to. take the hole and keen the match alive, however both scoring fives and the decision resting with Mrs. Hutchinson. During the morning, both finalists had had tough matches and the form they showed in the afternoon round was excellent in the. circumstances. In the semi-final round Mrs. Robb had defeated Mrs. P Kaua. and had had the unnerving experience of having her opoonent recover from a five-down position to miss onlv on the eighteenth hole. Mrs, Hutchinson had been taken to the sixteenth bv Mrs. P- H. Sherratt. whose driving was exceptionally long and who had onlv one or two lapses throughout the round. , In the final of the championship flight, played concurrently with the champmn*'hiD match. Miss S. Pritchard defeated Mrs. E. A. Smith, three and one.