GOLF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18170, 16 August 1922, Page 5

GOLF.

NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL REPORT OF COUNCIL.

The report and annua* statement of accounts for the year .ended July 31. 1922, of the council of the New Zealand Golf.Association, which will be presented to the *nri» meeting of delegates at Palmerston North on September 12. has been iwraeeU The revenue account shows a loss for the -vesr of £173. the grant of i'loo to the Christchurch Golf Club and the extra prize monsy eh en at that- tournament harms absorbed Si the revenue After deducting the low there remains the sum of £194 at the credit of the accumulated fund. The council anticipates that the higher subscription rate payable this year will provide sufficient to pay working expenses if no extraordinary expenditure is necessary. As aotftKnsoo.Oy, the rule* adopted on October Id, 1921, the association has been Tegis'i-red under the Incorporated Societies Act. Since the date of last report 21 clubs have joined the association. The total number of clubs now ton the register is 91.

AUCKLAND LADIES' CLUB. ' Members of the Auckland Ladies' Golf Club played the monthly medal match on the Middlemore links yesterday afternoon. The best cards returned were:—Miss M. Macfarlane, 2 down; Miss M. Fayton. 4 down; Mrs. Macdonald, 4 down; *Mre. Rainger. 5 down; Mis 3E. M. Upton, 6 down Miss Orr returned the beat card for the" G grade match. MAUNGAKIEKIE CLUB. The first round for the Gardner Cup will bo played by members of the MauneaHonJ. Golf Club at the Titirangi links, SB®B en Saturday. Entries close to-day JJSaa ' A bo(,;ey handicap will bo played at the Moungakie-kie lmks on .Saturday, for which post entries wdl be received. Players mav choose- their partners. A further round for the match play tournament will also: £f WAITEMATA LADIES' CLUB, The monthly medal played last week bv members of the Waitamata Ladies' GcTf Club was won by Miss M. Harvey" 103-30?-The draw for the one-club match to be Played or, Thursday, is as follows:--Mrs. plays Mrs. Broughton, Mrs. Robert* Plays Mrs. Clouston. Mrs. Prime plays Mis* Harvey. Miss Blackburn plays Mrs. Bay?**-; Miss Benshaw plays Miss Marks, Miss plays Mrs. Anderson. Miss Fleming; PfSj* J i Mrs. Creagmile, Mrs. Budge ptay» «b« : ,'**;-; ',v::'■■:■■■ 1

i i m» hi ii ii—»" ", ..!.." 'rf ■ Evans, Miss Soylaa glays Mis* McGlashnn. Mrs. Brown plays Miss Houghton/ Mia» Goudie plays Miss Wyatt, Mian (tMomh plays Miss W. Eenshaw, Mrs. Cleiand-Potlie plays Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Gardner _play» Mrs. Nevill. Mies' Alison plays Ausa Evans, Miss Goldwater plays <Mr», Fraer.

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP.

EiJiKWOOD'S PLAY. [FKOH OUB OWN COHK.'ESFCN.DBNT.J LONDON, Juno 23. In the British open gcii championship meeting at Sandwich much interest nafcur* ally centres round J. H. Kirkwood and the American trio, Hutchison. Barnes and Hagen. did anything very starilintf in thei opening stages of the battle yesterday. It waa more like a skirmish, in whicn eacfi seemed anxious not to disclose his full strength until the fight had fully developed -Ineee." says the Daily Telegraph, "are dangerous tactics, inasmuch as some other fellow might take it into his head to get away with a commanding lead. Whatever else may be said, these golfers from overseas were very businesslike in their attire. i,!L WOI j thm woollen jerseys, some with sleeves and Bora© without, little belts in place L™ 1 ?' »?d lisht white canvas shoes with orown leather toe-caps- The whole roads a very picturesque costume, because it was bo different, from the tweed, of the English twl'u dis»DPointcd himhelf. for the initial effort in his bid for the championship left him sue strokes behind the leaders, a leeway which he may find it exceedingly difficult to make up. For some.unexplained reason, his wonderful conl.wif t an. lon ? . ea!ae «?eemed to have departed. Thii shots would not fly straight Bhe ln,ien d, ed them. He started shakily with a 5, finkd to get a 3 at the third— the babara—which is imperative if you are to make a Rood score, and took another 6 at the fourth, where he pulled his drive and was lucky to escape a deep, sandy pit bull, $fl fortune would have it, the ball was lying on the top of a concealed etoue, and as a result his iron shot only went hailway to the green. He sliced his iron shot to the Maiden, and altogether his play was ragged. Spectacular Shots.

' Kirkwood pulled his drive into an inhospitable spot at the ninth, and took yet another 5. A like figure seemed almost certain at the tenth, where his iron shot disappeared over the cliff at the back of the green. From the depths below a ball sprouted up, and. as it struck the ground it twisted and squirmed its way into the turf to come to » rest a yard or so from the hole. Several times, he eaved his neck by spectacular shots of this kind, but it must b«> heartbreaking to be continually struggling for tho figures instead of obtaining tnem in the orthodox fashion. He had two S's coming home. One. was at the fourteenth, but there was nothing' remarkable in this, as most people were taking 6's at this hole, where it was difficult to control the ball in a strong westerly wind. He was short of the green in three shots, and his run up. was very feeble. At the seventeenth he failed to get his brassie shot to rise quickly enough, with the result that the ball struck a hummock in front Oi him. His third shot was over the green \in the long grass, and another G crept in. He finished with a 5, because he- could not reach the last hole—434yds.—in two shots. A 79 was not good enough. But he improved in the afternoon, when he was round in 76. Ho was steering the ball better, although he was inclined to dig for it, both with wood and iron. His iron shot to the seventh was scurvily treated; the ballcovered the. flag the whole way, and on alighting took a violent kick _ and _disappcaren into the rough. This ia a hole of 490 yds, and Kirkwood. after a particularly vicious hit from ihe tee, had tried to get home in two shots. He seemed fated to take six at the canal hole. This time he was on in three, and then, took three absurd putts. He had failed to overhaul the leadens. , "Jock Hutchison, sweetly encouraging to his partner's shots, gesticulating them on when they were inclined to ctop short and appealing to them to 'whoa' when they were inclined to run on, took 79 in his firet round, with no 6 in it. But there was a . host of S's—eight altogether. He was not nutting well, and on the outward journey his drives were on tho hooked side of the course. At the third—247yds—over the impressive waste of sand from tee to green, he mis-hit hie drive and took five instead of the coveted three. At the next hole ha again topped his drive and took five. Hutchison was blessed with a piece of providential luck at the fourteenth, where he hole*], a putt for a 4 from the very edge of the green." _ . __ At the end of the first day, Walter Hawi, the sturdy. Btout-heartcd American goiter, who hits the ball with a resounding whip and' crack, heided the Hat, his score for the two rounds being 149—76 and V3—two strokes ahead of Duncan, J. H. Taylor, and Barnes, who tie for (second ix»ition. with 151 each. Jock Hutchison, the holder of the title, a Frenchman, and two Englishmen, tie for third place wiih 153. and then cr.me M>. Rnser W#the-rM. with on© stroke inore. With 79 and 76. Kirkwood ißtood at 155.

A Golfing Wizard. The Chronicle remarks: "J. H. EJrkwood is something more than a crack golfer; he is literally a wizard witn a golf ball. To drive a bail from the face of. a watch without touching the glass is easy to him. as also is driving the ball from the U 01 a man's boot, and also from beneath the boot toe. Among hi» other exhibition shots arc raising the ball from the ground with * niblick, and catching it m its fall, without moving from h:o original *tanc». while ftp will place a. ball near the lip of a hole and b»n other* at intervals. behind it. then, beginning with the outside ball, loft them on© after the other over the stymies into the hole. He was a crack folfer its * boy, and he was only 16 year© old when he received his as professional to the Brisbane Club.' He hoMs the onen chamnion-thip of Australia and New Zealand,,;*nd. there ore hopes that he will be the ftrui AustraliaTi to win the open championship of the [Walter Haeen won the British. Open Championship.?