GOLF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21430, 3 September 1931, Page 4

GOLF

By Divot,

FIXTURES FOR SATURDAY Otago Club.—First round of the Club Championship and Balmaceweri Cup competition. , ... St. Clair ..Club—Flag Match (if the links are ;in suitable playing condition). | OTAGO CLUB | The semi-finals of the Knock-out Com- | petition at Balmacewen produced two ! sterling matches, each of which was car--1 ried to the eighteenth green to be decided by the minimum margin. T. B. Ferguson was inclined to be somewhat erratic in the first half of his match against Fraser Edmond. He did not fail to take advantage of the opportunities which came his way at this stage of the game, and, reaching the turn in | steady figures, commenced the homeward journey with a lead of 3 up. Ferguson, playing more to his usual form, gradually regained lost ground to square the match at the seventeenth. He won the eighteenth and the match I up. Ferguson has shown himself to be a steady match player, who will fight to the last stroke, | and the match in the final against E. A. | Reed will be well worth seeing. | E. A. Reed again played steady golt .on Saturday. His opponent, N. G. Hay, had to concede one stroke, and this, apparently, was just one stroke too much, as Reed finished 1 up on the eighteenth green. The match was very even, first one and then the other taking the lead. Hay had a slight advantage in the first nine holes, and was 1 up at the turn, but Reed soon recovered and gained the deciding lead. Reed has done very well to have reached the final round, as it usually happens that the low handicapper is put out by an improving player on a generous handicap. Ferguson also has been responsible for some very good rounds, and, if he continues to play up to his present standard, Reed will find the few strokes that he has to concede in the final a heavy handicap. ' The Otago Club has adopted a system new to Dunedin clubs for deciding the club championship. In previous years two qualifying rounds of stroke play were played, the leading 16 players being arranged to play off by match play acording to an automatic draw. This was considered to be a very fair way of ensuring that the final would be fought out between the best two players in the competition. The system now adopted may not have the same ideal result, but the best man should win, and every competitor will have at least one round of match play, which is the most popular form of golf competition. THE ST; CLAIR CLUB There were some remarkable results in the matches of the Knock-out Competitions which were played at the Corstorphine links on Saturday. H. A. Gamble and H. S Ross staged the closest battle l of the competition so far. They finished all square at the eighteenth, and an extra I five noles were played, _ at the _ end of which the match was still undecided, so that a further five holes were required. At the twenty-eighth Gamble holed a long putt, leaving Ross to hole his to keep the match alive. He just failed to do so, however, Gamble thus winning 1 up at the twenty-eighth. A. J. Aitken took 6. W. North to the twenty-fifth before he lowered his colours. W. Clayton, after having had several' wins by wide margins, was soundly beaten by A. J. H. Jeavons on Saturday. Jeavons is on the 21 mark, and is now playing well, within his handicap.' He has made remarkable progress of late, probably because he has developed a much easier swing. Against Clayton Jeavons reeled off a string of holes in’par figures, and, with a handicap of 16 strokes, was quite unbeatable, the match finishing at the eleventh, where Jeavons was 8 up. W. G. Melton after his fairly easy win of the previous week found a different kind of opponent on Saturday when he was defeated by H. Boock. Boock, although by no means a a long hitter, playe with an accuracy around the greens which would do credit to a scratch player, his style of play being of that disconcerting nature, which, by reason of its deadly accuracy in the snort game, converts what promises to be a loss into a half or even a win. Two long drivers, met when F. Drake and D. S. M'Lekn played their match. Drake was the steadier of the two, however, and won a speotacqlay-match > by. 3 up qnd, 2 to play.. - , THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN For the last two seasons Ivo Whitton had not been so successful in. Australian tournaments as was his wont, but apparetnly he is again playing the superlative golf of which he is capable. The Australian Open Championship should rank as the greatest golfing event in the Antipodes, and Ivo Whitton has been the win-, ner on five occasions, surely a remarkable achievement for an amateur. Whitton finished with a fine aggregate of 301 for 72 holes. The second and third placed were filled also by amateurs, J. Ferrier, the 16-year-old New South Wales champion, being second, only one stroke behind Whitton, and H. Williams, champion of Victoria, also 16 years of age, third, with 303. Both these young players played superb golf, and both in a way had bad luck not to have had better scores in the last round. Ferrier, indeed, seemed to have the title virtually within his grasp, but a bad shot from a good position at the fourteenth cost him a stroke; and at the last hole his drive and second shot went sadly astray. Even then he made a brilliant recovery, but his putt, to tie with Whitton, went in the hole and out again. Williams spoilt his chance early in the last round by a slice into a bunker, and he later lost strokes by over-anxiousness. The ex-New Zealand open and amateur champion, Sloan Morpeth, played good golf, his powerful hitting being a notable feature. He finished fourth with an aggregate of 304. REPLACE THE TURF ■ The long spell of wet weather has iriade the Corstorphine links very wet and soft, so that they may not be fit for the flag match which is on the programme for Saturday. It. has become increasingly evident that many members of the club do not fully appreciate the meaning of the rule to replace the turf, and many of the fairways at Corstorphine have been almost ruined in consequence. It is by no means unusual to encounter stretches of fairway dotted with unreplaced divots. Many clubs would not derate such a state of affairs, and it is generally held that a fitting penalty for a flagrant breach of this rule is expulsion. In order to protect the course many clubs make it a rule to tee up on the fairways during the winter months. Even if there is no rule to this effect, members should adopt the practice in friendly matches for the purpose of preserving their, course.