GOLF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12070, 13 September 1902, Page 7

GOLF.

Tho first round (18 bole) of the George Cup competition will be played to-day on tho Cornwall links. Players will take their handicaps from the handicap list at the clubhouse. The following are the entries and draw:M. A. Clark plays Macfarlane, 11. or ton plays W. R. Heather, Cilfillan plays R. ('. Horton, Bamford plays Coatcs, Peed plays Colbeck, Carr plays Anderson, H. T Gillies plays Roberfcon, Nathan plays P. Upton, Dargaville plays Sykes. ,1. L. U. Bloomfield plays Burness, Peel plays W. W. Bruce, C. Gillies plays Hull, Kirker plays W. K. Bruce, Hooper plays Pollen, J, C. Bt'.ruK plays Arnold, Hall plays Aitken. A prize has been presented to the Auckland Ladies' Golf Club by Mr. John Hall, for competition, and the match will bo played on Monday next. The course will lie the ninehole one, the same as used for the Nursery Handicap. The competition will be a handicap one. and will be played once only. Yesterday, despite* the bad weather, quite a number of the members of the ladies' club competed for Lady Ranftirly's prize. The winner proved to be .Mrs. Peel.

Golfers will be sorry to hear of the illness of Mr. A. B. Laurence, an enthusiastic member of the- Auckland Golf Club. Mi. Laurence was taken ill on Thursday last, and his complaint is presumed to be appendicitis. He was much easier last, evening. The New Zealand amateur golf championship tournament, will l>e held on the Hawkc's Bay Club's links at Napier next year. Southern papers, in referring to Mr. C. E. S. Gillies' defeat in the New Zealand championship, slate that he is capable of better golf than was shown by him in the final. It may not bo generally known that Mr. Gillies was handicapped by a- stiff neck during the tournament at Christchuroh.

Mr. Affleck, M.L.A. for Yass, has added lo the gaiety of nations by introducing a Bill to the New South Wales Parliament for

" the better observation of the Sabbath," which proposes, among other things, to prohibit the playing of golf on Sundays. Travis, the ex-Victorian, who has been considered in the United States to be in a class by himself, and was regarded as once more a certainty for the American amateur championship, was beaten in the final by E. M. Beyers, a comparatively unknown player, by one. hole. There were 154 entries for the championship, which took place at Chicago.

FINAL FOR THE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP.

The final round of 36 holes for tlie amateur golf championship of New Zealand, in which S. H. Gollan (Napier) beat C. E. S. Gillies (Auckland) by 3 up and 1 to play, is thus described by a Southern writer: — Friday (September 5) saw the decision of tho great event, but the match between Gollan and Gillies, though interesting, was certainly less exciting than the struggle of the previous day, which had rather spoiled the spectators for anything less thrilling.

Tho weather was lovely, and there was a. fine attendance of spectators, most of whom trudged round the full course both morning and afternoon. Considering how one-sided the match looked at the start, it was a good tussle. With Gollan 5 up on tlio first five holes the prospects of the Auckland crack looked decidedly gloomy, but a half, followed by three successive wins by Gillies, put a new complexion on affairs by the time the turn was reached. The tenth hole went to Gollan, the next, was halved, the twelfth was won by Gillies, the thirteenth was halved, and the fourteenth again made Gollan 3 up. Gillies reduced this to two at the next byone of those fine putts from the edge of the green which are hardly 1 * less surprising to the player than to his opponent. Another win to the Aucklander followed, and he was now only one down with two to play. It is not too much to say that he absolutely threw away the last two holes of the round by miserably poor putting. If he could have putted two feet straight at the seventeenth hole he would have made a win of it instead of a. half, while a putt of eighteen inches would have given him the eighteenth. As it was, this hole was also halved, and Gillies, instead of being one up at the end of tho first half, as he might have been, was one down.

About two o'clock the two competitors set out on the second round of the match. Tlie wind was now blowing- cool and moro strongly, but it was not enough to affect play. Gillies got all square by winning the twentieth hole, but the next two fell to Gollan. Alternate wins for the next four holes and a halved hole found Gollan two up at the turn. Giilies squared tho match again three holes later, winning the twenty-eighth and thirtieth, and halving the twenty-ninth. lie failed to got in front, however, and at Spion Kop the Napier player was two up with three to play. The Chasm being halved Gollan was clormy two, and a bad drive and short putting on Gillies' part gave Gollan the match and the championship by three up and one to play. There is no doubt that had Gillies' play on tho green been letter the result of the match might have been different. His putting was at times very poor, and in this respect Gollan was greatly superior to him. Taken all round, tho play was not up to championship standard, though at times it was very good, and Gollan throughout played with more confidence. His long iron shots were a. marked feature of his game, and now and then ho got away a beautiful drive. Gillies' style gives olio the idea, that he is careless, but he played good golf, and can play a better game- than ho allowed at Shirley.