ON THF LINKS

NZ Truth, Issue 878, 23 September 1922, Page 8

ON THF LINKS

WITH THE, GOLFERS

BY "SAMMY."

Arthur Duncan, amateur champion of New Zealand for the ninth time. A veteran.' of the golf world as far as this Dominion is concerned, but still no one is able to wrest the supremacy from him. Duncan is really a marvel, and he never plays so well as when he is right up against it. He is a wonderful match player, but nothing like as good as a card and pencil one. j He has marvellous powers of concenI tration, and thinks only of V- -• shot he is going to play. Talk could go on all round him but he would not hear it. and such a thing as a poor shot, at a critical time, is not known to him. Here's success to him m many more tourneysUnlike A. Duncan, the Hutt champion, .T. L. Black, is a better medal player than a match player. He can reel off round after round without turning a hair, but when he is up against it with a player of equal calibre the nerves come to the top. Black is only a boy as far as golfing is concerned, and both he and his West Coast rival, Alex. Syme, will see a great day as golfers. The Heretaunga pro., A. Ham. would seem to be another player that does better m a match than he will with a card and pencil. He finished up with some- great stuff at Palmerston North when he defeated Shaw. Here was another case of nerves with both men at different stages. It is wonderful how players, pros. and amateurs alike, will go out at practice and do scores that would make your hair stand on edge, but when the clay of the race comes they bust. Morpeth, Bell and Lusk, the Auckland star amateurs, are cases m point. The Gisborne pro., McCormack, started off well at, the Open, but when the weather came on bad it beat him and he could not get the usual length with his irons. The Heretaunga ladies a. r e holding their Provincial Championship on October 5, 6 and 7. Entries for all events close on September 28. v :: \ * :* The New Zealand Ladies' Championship is being held at Wanganui this week. There is a very big entry, and a lot of visitors have been practising on the links during the last couple of weeks. : : : : : : The Manawatu Club and its' energetic secretary, Mr. L. A. Abraham, are to be congratulated on the success of the championship gathering. The club met with a lot of bad luck m the matter of weather, but despite this handicap everything went off smoothly, and the management and Mr. Abraham and his assistants were perfect. Though backed by local knowledge and with a lead of 4 up and 17 to go, Eckstedt failed to beat Horton m the Amateur Championship. The Wairarapa boy got down to it and reeled off brilliant golf, winning a magnificent match by 2 and 1, One of the closest matches m the amateur was between Bidwell and Crosse. The former was 4 up at the 18th, but Crosse reduced this lead and they went to the last, tee all square. Crosse with his third was two feet off the hole. Bidwill was much too strong with his second and played a perfect chip Bhot back, finishing inches off the hole. Crosse Just missed for a half and lost 1 up. It was the closest game of the tournament. Considering that the Challenger match was such a great -success, doubtless the firm Avill make it an annual affair. All the pros, speak highly of the Challenger ball, and once they got the strength of it they succeeded well. Brooks, the Open champion, says he does not want to hit a better ball. At the long hole — nearly .600 yards — against a very strong wind and m rain he was on m 3. : : : t : t Duncan was right on his game against Dr. Williams. Fine goiter as the doctor is he had no chance against Duncan's mechanical golf. Seventythree m a match game is hot stuff. Sime blinded Black with •science, and won by a large margin. The Challenger Ball match was a great success. The handicaps worked out well and a draw resulted for first place. Harry Blair got the strength of the greens, and even though he 'made mistakes through the green he returned two good cards of 80-79. Moss started to hole some of his long putts tho second round, and, strange to say, missed three very short ones. His 76 m the wind and rain was splendid golf. In his match against Clements, Ham had a field day. He won the two last holes m the first round by fine golf. \ In the final 18 holes he went mad. A fine putt gave him a 3 at the first. Holing a chip shot at the second gave him another '6, then ; followed five holes where he holed out very • long putts on each green. Seven holes m three under fours was great going. Seven holes and only six putts — some golf. No wonder Clem, got defeated. For the 12 holes played m the final round Ham averaged fours. 1 1 : ! t ; Shaw created a surprise by defeat* ing Brooks. In the first 18 holes Shaw was 6 up on Brooks, Two of these were won by holing out chip mashie shots, The Open champion Played a great uphill game m -the final stages, but Shaw played sound and safe and won a great match 2 and 1. A. Duncan had a hard fight against D. C. Collins. Two stymies m the last nine holes greatly helped the Wellington crack. Collins had no possible chance of hqling them. , J. C. Bidwill struck a great patch whilst playing Morpeth. He holed out m 72, playing unbeatable golf- I O. J. Wilson had J. Black scratching m the first 18 and finished the first round 1 up. ;- Black, however, stayed too long for Wilson and , won comfortably. Dr. Williams had a great fight against C. Wright. The Doctor holed out a stymie on the fourth green m regular Kirkwood style. Butters defeated Moss by steady play and sinking some great puttsWhen Reg. is on. the job he can down those long uns. '> : j s : Blair found the greens to his liking, and returned a. 76 and 77 against McCormack, winning on the 17th. In the Challenger Ball match tha Open avinner, Brooks, disqualified himself by a lapse m grounding his club m a bunker. It was only carelessness, as he was watching another game while being held up, and then he had a couple of .trial swings, one of which hit the ground. Tn a. n instant he realised what he had done, and picked up. his ball. Watt (Auckland) also had a lapse on the opening day. He missed an eighteen-incher and the ball ringed the hole. Tapping it m carelessly with the back of the putter he again ringed and then unthinkingly flicked It into the hole with his finger, which meant dia-

Masterton murdered Wanganui 12 and 11. Help! In the semi-final of the pro. match Blair and Ham concluded the first half all square with" ordinary golf. In the afternoon round Ham produced great stuff. He started by running down long putts, and went one better at the. fifth by holing his approach. He ,played par golf for the 12 holes m the /afternoon. Blair could not strike his usual, x form on the green m the afternoon. i: :: it The final was a match of big hitting on one side and very accurate short approaching on the otljer— short stuff won/ To give" an idea ; of Shaw's hitting, the eighth is 337 yards and Shaw was m the bunker just short of the green. One day, at the long thirteenth, 563 yards, with two shots, against a slight wind, he was m the dip m front of the green. He outdrove Ham many yards, and Ham was hitting a good ball off the tee. Ham won his match by his . superior niblick approaches. Time after time he had to play an approach with his opponent on the green' in the like, but he planked them •up to- the pin with great accuracy. ' The putting- was not brilliant. It was a hard match on tricky greens, and the players were not trying any of the gobble stuff one tries and usually gets on the third. Both players were called upon to hole stymies and both holed them beautifully. Ham had to play hard for his win, and by holing' an ap-pi-oach at the first he scored a rather lucky hole. The luck of the game was with him, as was demonstrated at the sixteenth, where his ball sizzed round a deep pot bunker like a fizzing drink and jumped out. Shaw had many golden opportunities, but his bold approaches kept running over the hole, and> too often he missed the return. Considering this was Shaw's first, tournament as pro., he fought a great match against his more experienced opponent. His . final round was 75. •" "Sammy"' would" like to see how far he could drive a ball, say, at Heretaunga about Christmas time. Equal the ones we read about m the Home cables? Yes, easily. One can't say very much about the golf of A. D. Duncan, who won the cup for the ninth time. It was all par golf. He struck his best form, and was handing out some brijliant stuff. He played a great shot out of a bunker and another over some high trees, which were master shots. He missed a few -short putts, but everyone was doing the same." "Te easily equalised the missed ones by some pretty solid long ories. He seemed to judge the keener greens later m the week better than he did the wet greens played on m the Open. Seventythrees m the semi-final and final denote very excellent golf. : : : : • t A word of praise must be given to Mr. L. Abraham for the smooth way the tourney was run. Everything went like clockwork. It's just a thousand pities the M.G.C. had bad luck m such weather. All golfers were satisfied that the best was done under the circumstances, and the meeting was a huge success, x: :: s» "Sammy" congratulates the M.G-C. on the original idea 7in presenting silver medals to the 'qualifiers m the Amateur Championship. Another good idea would have been bronze medals to the defeated semi-final players. :! :: n The youngest competitor of the meeting, W. X- Cook, of the Hutt Club, got a hearty round of applause when he went up to receive his handsome prize for winning the, Medal Competition. The game between the lady and gentlemen amateur /champions was, well', worth seeing. Mrs. Williams played grand golf, and at the thirteenth she had an average of 4. ADuncan had not much chance against his opponent, . who was out m 37 and completed the'"' round m SO. Form says Mrs. Williams will hang another championship m her belt this week. Miss Payton also showed good golf and fighting abilities. S. Morpeth came home m 36, yet he had to acknowledge defeat by 2 and 1. It seemed out of place that last year's champion and this year's semihnalist, A. Sime, did not have a game m this match. One would have thought the-Jast eight m the match play stages' of the Amateur Championship were the strongest players ta play against the ladies. Golfers throughout the Dominion are pleased that the .next championships are to be held at .Wanganui, where the links are ideal. Secretary Yerrey and the local club and the committee are already going into the matter of enlarging some of the holes. A. Duncan had a hard fight against Dick Wright, and completed the course m 74. Nobody succeeded m placing the three leading competitors m the Open Golf Championship m their antloipatory selection,