GOLF TOPICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19781, 31 October 1927, Page 7

GOLF TOPICS.

KfRK-WItfOEYER CUP. NEW ZEALAND'S NEXT TEAM. NEW CANDIDATES TO CONSIDER. BY FAIRWAY. Golfers and others in New Zealand have already begun to think about the international match for the Kirk-Windeyer Cup, which has been scheduled for the third week of January next. That will be the second contest for the cup, the first having been held at Rose Bay, Sydney, last June, when *he New Zealand team, consisting of Arthur Duncan, T. H. Horton, Dr. Kenneth Ross and Leo Quin, defeated in the final the strong team which represented the premier Australian State, Victoria. Preliminary to that final encounter, New South Wales bad defeated Queensland, and Victoria, by ousting New South Wales, had earned the right to meet New Zealand in the final. In that last struggle against redoubtable opponents like Ivo Whitton and Alec Russell, the Dominion representatives, one and all* did themselves justice as golfers. Tha result was that the Victorian team —a wellbalanced team, led by two of the outstanding amateurs in Australia—went down before the New Zealanders, and tha first big international golf match of tha Southern Hemisphere was won by the Dominion. - A great effort is now to be made by our Australian friends to turn the tables upon us by winning the Kirk-Windeyer Cup, this time on New Zealand soil There is sore to be a large company of visiting golfers coming over the Tasman Sea early in the New Year, just as a considerable group , went last June from New Zealand. So far as State teams are concerned, w& may take it as certain that New South Wales and Victoria will be represented f and we hope that Tasmania and Queensland will also enter teams. South Australia is somewhat further away, and may consider hei prospects of victory insufficient to warrant her having a sporting; shot at the cup. In any case, a first-class-international event is assured, and golfers; from all over New Zealand will do their utmost to be present in Wellington during: the tournament. The Hew Zealand Team. It is not too soon to discuss the question of New Zealand's team, a question which is more complicated now than it was early thisvear, when the 1927 lieam was chosen. The first new factor affecting tha Suestion emerged during the championlips at Hamilton. It is thia: Dr. Ross was not present there, and we have no means of estimating his form and his quality as compared with hi 3 peers at the present time Duncan was not so prominent at Hamilton as he was at Miramar in October, 1926, and at Rose Bay last June; ; moreover, he was, by a good decade, the oldest member of the 1927 team. Leo Quin is in the same position as Arthur Duncan; runner-up in the 1926 championship, be played fine golf at Rose Bay> when it was called for, but he was not quite the same Leo Quin at Hamilton. He qualified about the middle of the thirty-two and went out in the first round. It is practically certain that this factor will influence the New Zealand Golf Council in the direction of change so far as the members of the 1927 team are concerned. At the same time I would point out several qualifying facts. Nothing has happened to the golf of Dr, Ross since last June. He produces the ;same quality of golf still In his case there are two facts to be considered; he was absent from Hamilton, and others there showed themselves to be certainly the equals of the four who won the Cup last June. Further, Duncan, although driving poorly at Hamilton, the same champion exponent as ever in other departments of the game, and his combination with Horton is well-established and effective. About Horton there is little to say, save that he is a certainty for the 1928 team. At Hamilton he played beautiful and accurate golf throughout, and enhanced his already great reputation New Candidates Available. | That leads me to the next important ' factor, and it starts with Sloan Morpeth. I What I wrote a few lines back about Hor- ' ton is established. 'x et Sloan Morpeth • beat Horton quite decisively at" Hamilton, and he was fourth in the open championship. Further, he established a new record for the Hamilton course with a brilliant 71. He has won and deserved his position as the leading amateur golfer in New Zealand, and as such' walks into the Kirk-Windeyer team. This second influential factor, introduced by Sioan Morpeth, is the forward movement of a number of younger amateurs into tha very front rank of New Zealand golf. Of these the amateur champion is the most distinguished, but, in my opinion, three others kept company with him at Hamilton and must be reckoned to-day among the leading half-dozen amateur players in the Dominion. These are Norris BeK, J L. Black and Alick Sime. They are in no wise new arrivals in New Zealand golf, but have, all of them, a long list of achievements to their credit prior to the 1927 championship. Sime has been Dominion champion, and has on other occasions been close to the honour; Black has for several years been one of the most formidable challengers in the championship; and last year Bell laid tha basis at Miramar of a strong reputation, which he has this year definitely established. The last has also a long list of provincial championships to his credit. Admitting this meritorious record in the case of all three, it is their showing in the recent championships at Hamilton that gives each of them a strong claim to consideration when the 1928 team for the Kirk-Windeyer Cup is chosen. - Tha Prospects of Bell. Bell was in the running all the time for the open title at Hamilton, and ha finished in second place, equal with last year's open chamnion. A. J.' Shaw. Their aggregate was 304. Bell's four round* were 76—76—75—77. He continued the same kind of golf throughout hi* matches, showing the greatest corsiSfcency. and his ability to finish strongly • was shown m his match with Colbeck, •*'. , when he won after being 1 down and Say to go. In the South Auckland chatof t pionship Bell had to meet a sterling l , golfer who had a snell of miraculous b putting; he put on a 71 over the Hnmil- S ton course, precisely when it was calleds for. W S. Ralph needed onlv 27 put* in the round which he completed in v strokes. T supoose thare has not be a keener m-itch nor a more thorougl 2s2s deserved victorv this year than th achieved bv Bell a£*a?nst Ralph's chnrme.Jll i putting. Jack Black, too. was a challenger all the time for the open chammonjhm Tn/ i his last round he was 2 below fours at the fourteenth, and four fours to finish would have given him a 70. which, at i the time had a real chance of putting Hm in first place. However, he took ; 76. and his aggregate was 7-Wt, which enj him to share fnn'rth xri+h Morpeth The o'over nw"-' h<s attack iu the match with a fine 73. and ' onTv went down to Rtrme latter was nlaving par eolf. Sime was • not so prominent in the open, hut came awav in the matches with a series . of fine ronnr'=*. characterised Viv a crisn. confident that made his erolf vwv ronvmciucr Sim** took TVT«vrnet'> to the thirtv-fifth hole, and bv 2 and 1. All three. Bell. Sime and Black, are verv good match pi3vers, and , can be relied upon to nhv a difficult shot r nronerlv when it is called for. Tt is the advance nf these four piavers, Morpeth. Bell. Sime and BW* which makes the choice- of the 19P3 T>*irkWmdever Cup team more Haw- > ever, we are grateful for the, difficulty, > and we sympathise with the New Zealand Golf Council in it® task.