GOLF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22058, 14 September 1933, Page 4

GOLF

By Diyot. FIXTURE FOR SATURDAY Otago.—First Round, Bruntsfield Medal. Macandrew Bay.—Men’s medal match. ST. CLAIR CLUB The Mixed Foursomes competition in aid of the Sports Queen Fund proved a successful fixture and attracted a large entry. The scoring generally was not as good as it has been in previous fixtures of this kind, but the winners—Miss James and F. N. Drake —had a very good round to finish all square, the runners-up—Mrs Gilbert and J. Delbridge—being 2 down. This week-end a team of members of the St. Clair Club will visit Invercargill to play against an Otatara team. ST. CLAIR LADIES’ CLUB The conditions were good on Tuesday at Corstorphinc when a L.G.U. medal match was played.' The scores returned were of a nigh standard. Mrs Taylor, with a card of ,85 —10 —75, won the senior event, and Mrs Field was the winner of the junior section with an excellent score of 105 —35 —70. This score entitles Mrs Field to a handicap reduction of two strokes. Next Tuesday the annual teams’ match Captain versus Deputy Captain, will be held, when members will be entertained to afternoon tea by the captain (Mrs Paterson) and the deputy captain (Mrs Gilbert) MACANDREW BAY CLUB The final of the knock-out competition for the Aitchoson Cup was played on Saturday last between E. Swinton and D. Morris. Conditions were unfavourable on' account of a strong cross wind, and the cards suffered in consequence. The match resolved itself into a battle of irons,- as neither player took his wood from the bag. Morris squared the match at the ninth and won the next hole; but from then on Swinton played much better golf and clinched matters on the sixteenth green. Some of the. new greens w r ere in use for the first time, and players were unanimous in their praise of the improvement. OTAGO CLUB The Bruntsfield Medal competition, the first round of which was set down for last Saturday, was postponed for a week, and will be commenced on Saturday, wdien it is expected that a large field will take part in the event. AUSTRALIAN OPEN . M. L. Kelly, a young professional from Goulburn, New South Wales, the 1933 Open Champion of Australia, played brilliant golf to lead the field by three clear strokes, Kelly, who is only 20 years of age, was pitted against strong opposition in the leading professionals and amateurs in Australia, including men who by a long list of success in tournament play could be relied upon to play sound and consistent golf. The report states that Kelly’s display," notwithstanding a last round of 80, was brilliant, and that he well deserved his success. He led the field on the first day with a round of 73. On this day the conditions were bad, but Kelly played magnificently to be three strokes ahead of the next best scorer. In the second round, with a score of 76, which was equalled by a number of bettered by at least two, Kelly retained his lead of three strokes, his nearest challengers being Naismith and Jackson, each with 152. On the last day Kelly had a brilliant 73 in. the morning which placed him in a commanding position, and his final round of 80, although by no means brilliant, was good enough to retain his initial lead of three strokes. It is indeed a feat to commence with a lead of three strokes in an open championship, but when it is done by a youth of 20, who also retains the lead to the end of the fourth round, it becomes truly an outstanding performance. BRITISH OPEN. 1933 Hogan’s fine performance in qualifying for the British Open with 138 met with great praise, and even Hasten expressed gratitude that these rounds could not count iti the final aggregate.; He himself played easily, and was obviously not extending him Self, being content to qualify and save his “fireworks ” for the crucial test of the 72 holes of championship proper. That he had something m reserve was evident on the" first day’s, play. _ “He began,” writes George Greenwood, in the Daily Telegraph, “ by holing a three-yard putt for a 3, another of seven feet at the third for another 3, but his crowning eflfort was at the fifth, a hole of 530 yards, with the green perched on a great plateau. Following a long and well-placed drive, Hagen banged a No. 1 iron, shot eight yards past the pin,' and ran down the putt for a 3. • , , “ At each of the.next two holes Hagens ■putts looked in at the hole and then stayed out in' most tantalising fashion. At the' seventh, as the ball hovered on the very edge, Hagen raised his putter .above his head, and said, ‘Drop, you scoundrel.’ • v . “ It didn’t, and so Hagen had perforce to tap the ball into the hole. As he could not drive the ninth green Hagen took an iron for purposes of safety, and got, his 4. He was out in 32, his figures being 3,4, 3,4, 3,4, 4, 3. 4. “ Though he got a 4 at the tenth it was a somewhat scrambling affair, a slightly pushed drive, and a pitch which fell short. After this escape Hagen proceeded to roll off the correct figures, a 3 at the short eleventh, followed by two 4’s. “His only 5 of the round was at the fourteenth (530 yards), wbere he toox a brassie for the second shot, and "was short on the right. The most impressively played hole, with the exception of the fifth, was the dreaded seventeenth, the road hole. ... , , “After driving over the railway sheds Hagen hit a mashie shot to-the middle of the narrow green, shutting the face of the club on the shot, thus drawing the ball from right to left. The putt for a 3 slipped past the edge of the.hole. _ “Twenty yards past the hole, with his second shot to the eighteenth, Hagen ■ran the ball to the hole-side for a 4. His figures for the homeward half were 4, 3. 4,4, 5. 4,4, 4,4, 36, the total for the round being 68. .... “Hagen was generously cheered as he Strolled smiling from the green. I» m well satisfied,’ lie said, ‘though or two might easily have dropped. Another American was reported to be burning up the course, and the crowd who had been following Hagen rushed to watch Ed. Dudley, who had reached the turn in the phenouomal score of 31, the lowest score ever accomplished over the nist nine. His figures were 4,5, 3,4, 3,4, 2, 3, 3. Dudley got his 3at the long fifth by hitting a spoon shot a couple of yards from the flag and holing the putt. ‘ But, writes Greenwood, “ this was a trifle compared with the 2 at the seventh (352 yards), where he holed a three-quarter mashie shot which carried the great Cockle bunker, ran up the slope towards the green, and trickled into the hole, much to the amusement of the spectators and the delight of Dudley. “With five holes to play, he was one stroke better than Hagen, but this knowledge was Dudley’s undoing. With visions of a miraculous score, Dudley became a little frightened of himself. He crashed two shots on to the fourteenth green and then missed a yard putt for a 4, which would have made him two strokes better than Hagen. “ The real tragedy came at the fifteenth, where he cut Ida second shot on to the sixteenth teeing ground, and, electing to take his putter, took four more shots. He was lucky to escape with a 5 at the seventeenth after hooking an iron shot in and out of a bunker. A round that promised to be a 66 or a 67 ended in a 70.” Tolley played magnificent golf for Ins 70, driving such distances that the second shots became mere formalities, but he took three putts on three occasions. Sarazen was somewhat unlucky with his putts going out, and on the return he had one or two adventures which cost him a few strokes. He finished with 72. ' W. Nolan, who played so sensationally in the qualifying rounds, finished with 71. Cotton had a bad start, experiencing an attack of hooking. He,_ however, pulled himself together and finished with 73. Compston, who missed his chance of finishing level with Hagen, was out in 34, having missed an 18iu putt at the ninth. lie started back with a three at the tenth and a two at the short eleventh, and at this stage was five under fours. He missed a short putt at the twelfth, and then got into all manner of trouble at the thirteenth, taking a six. In this and other ways valuable strokes were dissipated, and he finished in 72.