REMARKABLE GOLF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21332, 5 November 1932, Page 14

REMARKABLE GOLF

CADDIE-MASTER'S' FINE PLAY ATTRIBUTES LIFE . '-.TO GAME Few of our publifc-course golfers in the > South of England' nurse the ambition to shine in the amateur, championship class. But among are little-known players, who might deyelpp such quality, granted opportunities, acquiring the appropriate polish and "atmosphere," says an English ' writer. This was indicated at Sunningdale recently when James Poulton, of Esher, the caddie-master of the Burhill Golf Club, won the 36 holes scratch medal-play competition for the public courses championship in runaway style with an aggregate ! of 151, 10 strokes ahead of J. S. Mur- / doch (Richmond), whose score was 83, 78—161. Exclusive Sunningdale, lent for the occasion, overtested most of the 100 competitors accustomed to less exacting playgrounds. Both courses were in use —18 holes on the old and 18 on the new—and many players ran into three figures, but Poulton played a consistently conquering gaino. Jlis returns were 75 for the old course bn a wet morning and 76 for the new on a fine afternoon, and in each round he beat the scratch score by one stroke. Poulton, a slightly-built man of 31, / found golf a life-saver when, by doctor s orders, he left school at the age of 13. He became a caddie at Burhill and has been emploved there ever since as a member of the staff. His opportunities for golf are restricted to early morning play at Burhill and occasional rounds on Esher Common, but he plays a. strong, straight game, and is / notably effective with his masliie. He plays fast, too—only two hours for each round yesterday, when, as a member of the first couple to drive off, he was practically a winner all the way. He began with a. wonderful 3 for the 492 yards first bolo on the old course. I; He reached the turn brilliantly in 33, made up as follows: 3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, and with a 3 at the tenth stood positively one stroke better to that point than was the great Bobby Jones when he played his'famous round of 66 at .Sunningdale in 1826: i' Poulton's figures were* marred by a 7 at thet 'l7th, where a bunkered second shot, gn over-strong recovery, and three putts denounced him as fallible, but the rest of the round was food 5 .' There > wqie occasional, "three-putt" errors in his second round, A strong finish atoned, however, and 3, 3, 4 . meant the . scratch score beaton at each of' the last three holes on the new course. So Poulton, tlio winner in 1330, ayd second in. 1931. proved his consistency by takiDg the championship for the second time in three years.