GOLF

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8782, 11 July 1914, Page 14

GOLF

The Wellington Club team journey to Palmerston North to play their first match there this season. The team are not very strong, and they will have to put their best game forward to ward oli defeat.

Johnsonvillo Club are considering the question of lengthening their course to 18 holes. Negotiations are in progress to lease the adjoining land for the extension, and if successful the additional 9 holes will be laid down. The club intend, aided by sheep, to keep down the grass this summer and keep the course in good condition for summer golf. They also give members of clubs who cannot play in summer, a chance, for a small tee, to play golf during the summer months at Johnsonvilfe links.

Mr Jenkins is probably the smallest player who ever won the amateur championship. Ho is neat and dapper in all his movements, and was always as cool as a cucumber, in spite of the great heat which prevailed. This coolness is temperamental as well as physical, for even in tho tightest of corners he maintains a jauntiness of carriage which must have aided him much in the stress and strain of tho final. Ho is, in fact, a sort of cleanshaven Captain Kettle of links.

By way of contrast Mr Hozlet was almoit the tallest, and with ono exception tho most heavily-built player competing. He is a mighty driver with a curious way of lurching at the ball that is more effective than pretty, but he kept the ball very straight. He was taking part in his first championship, is twenty-three years cf age, a member of the famous Hezlet family. His sisters have won the ladies’ open in the past. His air of “bonhomie” never deserts him, whether in victory or in defeat, and probably his cheerfulness of heart helps him to maintain his form just as surely as Mr Jenkins’s self-confidence; at any rate, it was noticeable that neither of them seemed at any stage to suffer from those “championship nerves” which have spoiled the play in many a final; on the contrary, the scoring, particularly in the first half, was exceedingly good, and itself a proof of the worthiness of tho pair to figure there. Undoubtedly it was one of tho best finals played for «ome time.

The following umisualities were given in a golfing paper after the amateur championship at Sanchvich; — Ono bet of £IO,OOO to £30,000 was laid that either Mr Travers or Mr Ouimet would win the championship. It only took two rounds to decide in the negative. Next to tho layer of this bet the man most disappointed by Mr Travers’s defeat was probably his caddie. “If I win the championship,” the American had said, “there’ll be a.hundred pounds for you.” For the single disastrous round he gave his club-bearer £5. When the Hon. F. S. Jackson, England’s former cricket captain, was sevcal holes down to Mr C. Benwick, the Welsh ex-champion, his caddio thought it time to remonstrate. “Aint you go in’ to ’ave a try?” ho asked. Mr ■Jackson had a try and won at the nineteenth. Americanisms:—“A drive as long as a street]” “A putt which just gave tho hole "the glad eye and strolled on!” The heat was so great during the sixth round that it set fire to the course at one point, and the fire had to be beaten out. One of the keenest spectators of the final was James Braid, who came in to the press tent to say, “I have travelled all night from Scotland to see lI.S. win the championship.”* It is not generally known that Miss C. Leitch, tho lady champion, is the daughter of a Fifeshire doctor. In the international matches, she elected, under the residence qualifications, to play for England. It is understood that steel-shafted clubs will he -banned by tho rules of the Golf Committee as being a departure from accepted form and make. J. D. Edgar, the new French champion, is quite a young man, and is attached to the Northumberland G.C. His score of 288 is a record for a championship. Although Edgar has never won a big tournament, he has always held a good position in these events, and has been looked upon as a sound player. His victory will bring him into notice in future, as ho beat the cream of golf in winning his championship. Six players from the Herotaunga links are challenging the Hutt and Johnsonville clubs for a home-and-home match. This is a purely friendly combination, and it is to be commended, for the players will thus gain the experience in matches and play on different links, which is required to build up a player’s progress in tho game. Such a step is in the right direction for improvement, and the players will derive a great benefit from those matches. Some time ago Mr Hirshberg, while driving to the first hole at Johnsonville, killed a thrush with his hall. A few days later at the same hole he again repeated this performance. Unfortunately he did not keep the birds which were killed. The Johnsonville ladies have now fornied a club, and Mrs Bakewell was elected as captain, with bliss Cook secretary. They intend soon to play interclub matches, and have a lengthy programme of medal, bogey, and other matches to compete for. There is a possjbility of this club extending the links to 18 holes. Negotiations are in hand for the acquirement of adjoining property, and if successful tho remaining nine holes will be laid down. It is the club’s intention to use the links and keep them in order for summer play, and with sheep’ this will bo easily managed. The club intend to enrol members of other clubs for a small fee, for summer play only. A. Moore, with a return of 1 up (bogey), won the silver button last month. When the news of Travers’s defeat in the first round of the amateur championship was received in America, one of the leading papers gave forth the news under the headings of “Stunning Blow,” “Champion Defeated in First Round.”

They "were talking over the question of nerves one day round the smokingroom fire, when Smith, who had. just strolled in, was asked his views. “Well,” said Smith, “I don’t worry any more if I am 5 down than if I am 5 up; but I do like to play a man who can keep his temper. It’s no fun at all to go round with anyone with nerves. There’s old Grumptious, for instance; whatever I do makes him irritable. The other day X purposely kept behind him, so that he couldn’t complain of my ‘antics,’ as he calls them. But that didn’t answer. While standing behind him on the first green, ho stopped as ho was about to putt, and said savagely: ‘For goodness sake, Smith, stand still, your boots creak horribly.’ And it wasn’t mv hoots either; it was my chest, for I’ve got a touch of asthma.”