SEVERAL GREAT ROUNDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19736, 8 September 1927, Page 14

SEVERAL GREAT ROUNDS

TWO BRILLIANT PLAYERS. MORPETH AND T. H. HORTON. COMMENTS ON THE CONTESTS. BY FAIRWAY. HAMILTON, Wednesday. Rain fell all night but the weather cleared in the early forenoon and conditions were favourable for good golf today, when the Dominion tournament was continued. Grey skies and the absence of wind combined with the relief at the cessation of the rain to inspire several fine rounds. The golf produced by Sloan Morpeth and T. H. Horton in the third round of the amateur contest would have carried them through victorious in golfing company anywhere. The par for the Hamilton course is a stiff 70. Judged by the highest standard, Horton was only two over par figures for 32 holes to-dnv, while Morpeth was exactly par for 24 holes. The best round that J. H. Kirkwood played on the ' Hamilton course in the 1920 open championship was 72, or even fours for 18 holes. Morpeth was ono stroke below that for 17 hoies in the morning, and again one below fours in the afternoon at the eighth hole, where the match ended. He did not play out the sixth hole in the afternoon, nor the 16th in the morning. Horton, however, played out every hole and was level fours for the 32 holes played. High Standard Maintained.

I wrote last June that the winning of the Kirk-Windeyer Cup in Australia put New Zealand on the map in tho sphere of international golf. The quality of the golf which has been played in the amateur and in the open championship here confirms that statement.

Two Hamilton representatives, Norrie Bell and G. F. Colbeck, met to-day. Neither played as well as on the day before. It is enough to say that both players took 41 for the first nine holes, where they were all square. Bell improved coming in and was cheered by the exhilarating experience of holing from a dead stymie on the 12th green. He was able to make the ball curl in toward the hole after it passed his opponent's ball. He came home in 39, and was 3 up on Colbeck. In the afternoon round Bell increased his lead to 4 at the 19th, and had that advantage up to the eighth, but lost the ninth. The 10th, 11th and 12th holes were halved in good figures and then Colbeck put on a spurt. He won the next four holes in 5, 3, 4, 4, and was one up with two to go. Bell won the 17th after Colbeck had failed with a long putt. All square and one to go. A Dramatic Conclusion. The match had suddenly become dramatic. Silence fell upon the interested crowd as each man prepared to hit and good drives at the last hole, 440 yards long, left the balls together, 240 yards up the fairway. Colbeck really underclubbed. but he hit a fine driving iron to the bank on the right of the green and short. Bell took a spoon and played a beautiful shot to the edge of the heavy green. Colbeck played a good, firm running pitch along the bank, the ball coming in toward the hole, but he was still six yards short in 3. Bell, from 20 yards, played one of his freauent fine run-up shots and the ball really looked like going in. Cfolheck had the six yards putt for a half to keep the match alive. Again silence fell upon the crowd as he prepared to putt He played and missed. Bell won this tense struggle hy one hole. To-morrow he meets T. H. Horton. After losing the first three holes, Morgan Duncan managed to keep more or less close to the ex-champion, Horton. for the remaining six holes to the turn, and that was a creditable performance, for Horton reached the turn .in 34 strokes. He was then 5 up. Cominp in, Horton took three putts at the 10th. sliced his shot to the short 14th a"d over-ran the 17th with his second. He rame home in 39 and was still 4 up at lunch time. Beaten by Faultless Golf.

Although he was stymied at the 28th, he yet managed a half in 4. Duncan put rm e good fight and was only beaten by 5 and 4 by faultless par golf. Here are Horton's figures for the 18 holes in the morning Out: 3 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 4—34'. In: 44454446 5—39. Total: 73. In the afternoon his card read: — Out ;34444454 4—36. In: 444 43.

His score was thus one below fours for 14 holes in the afternoon and one above fours for the 18 holes in the morning, and level fours for the 32 holes. Sloan Morpeth will need all his brilliance to emerge successful from an encounter with golf of this quality. It seems that the power and accuracy of Morpeth's golf has made a great impression, for Morpeth overwhelmed by 11 and 10 Grey, a golfer whose handicap is plus 2, and whose morning round today was 79. The match was a procession in spite of the steady golf of the Taranaki player. Morpeth's figures were: Out :3 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4—36. In: 3 4 4 5 3 5 4 3. This was a total of 67 for 17 holes. The seven holes he played out in the afternoon were as follows: —3, 4, 4, 4, 4, —, 5, 3, equal to one below fours and gave a total of two below fours for the 24 holes. Sime 1 Up In Morning. Alick Sime, of Westport, meets Sloan Morpeth to-morrow. To-day he defeated Arthur Duncan, last year's amateur champion, by 3 and 2. The first hole went to Duncan, the second to Sime and the third was halved in 4. Sime holed from a stymie at the fifth with his niblick. Both reached the turn in 39 and were all square A fine 3 at the 12th hole made Sime 1 up. He lost the short 14th, where Duncan had a 2 and took three putts on the 17th and lost it in 6 to 5, which left the match square. , Sime won - the 18th with a good 4 and was one up at half-time. A change came over this match in the early part of the afternoon round. With the help of a "birdie" three at the fifth Duncan was 3 up at the 24th hole and he turned 2 up. From that point Sime became more confident, while the older player began to show signs of weariness. Sime played a fine brassie shot to the 11th green, where Duncan failed to get on in 3. At the 12th Sime had to play from beside a ditch with one foot on the plank which spanned the ditch. He got away another great brassie shot and won the hole in a par 4, squaring the match. At the 13th, Duncan's slack second found a rough patch and his third was short. He lost the hole to Sime, who was now 1 up. The short 14tli was halved and Sime put a fine, full brassie shot up by the pin at the 15th. winning that hole in 4 to be 2 up. He won tlie 16th, the 34th hole of the match, and ran out winner bv 3 and 2.