BRILLIANT RECOVERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26608, 3 November 1947, Page 6

BRILLIANT RECOVERY

Australian Players Superior In Singles

GOLF TEST HONOURS EVEN P.A. WELLINGTON, Nov. 2. After having lost both foursomes on Friday, the Australian golfers played brilliantly on the Heretaunga course on Saturday to square the match against the New Zealand team by winning three out of the four singles. The Australian quartet proved themselves even superior in ability to the British team which toured the Dominion in 1935. It was an outstanding performance on their part on a course on which they had only had two days’ play to outplay convincingly three of New Zealand’s leading players who might be said to know every blade of grass on the course. The course was in excellent order, the greens being first-class, but sharp showers about midday kept the course long. Interest in the first visit of ,an amateur team from overseas for 12 years attracted an attendance of about 1700 spectators. The results were as follows, the Australians being named first:—

A. H. Colledge lost to R. H. Glading 4 and 3. R. S. Brown beat W. G. Horn© 5 and 4. W. A. Edgar beat B. M. Silk 2 up. K. D. Pix beat D. L. Woon 2 and 1.

A large gallery followed the No. 1 players, R. H. Glading, the New Zea- , land Open champion, and A. H. Colledge, the Queensland champion. Qlading started off sensationally by holing his approach shot to take the first hole with a birdie 3 to his opponent’s 4. Colledge retaliated with a birdie 4 at the second (404 yards) to square the game. Glading drew ahead again with a 3 to a 4 at the short third, where he stymied his opponent. The New Zealander halved the fifth hole after laying the Queenslander another

at the fourth, Horne’s putt for a half missing by a few inches. The next two holes were halved. Brown sank a 10-foot putt for a birdie 4 at the seventh (475 yards) and was 5 up at the turn, winning the ninth with a 3. From this desperate position Horne rallied splendidly at the tenth (324 yards), where he holed a lengthy putt for a birdie 3. His second at the next caught a bunker on the right of the .green. Be played a magnificent shot from the wet sand, stopping the ball 4 feet from the cup, but was unablq to sink the putt. Brown took the hole with a comfortable bogey 4. Both were on the green in two at the twelfth (410 yards). Horne, putting first, over-ran the hole by more than a yard. Brown, after sinking a 5-foot putt for a 4, generously conceded his opponent a-half. The visitor’s action v/as warmly applauded. At the thirteenth he played a fine third to the middle of the green, and his putt stopped 6 inches from the cup. Brown halved the hole with a 5 and went to the fourteenth tee with a dormie lead. This hole was almost an exact repetition of what had happened at it in the mornfng half. • Fours gave the match to the visitor by 5 and 4. * Silk’s Good Beginning Some good golf was. seen in the match between Silk and Edgar, plus 2 Victorian. Silk played steadily to do the round in 75 to his opponent’s 78, and be 3 up at the turn. Silk, as in the Foursomes on Friday, did some accurate putting. It was the Victorian, however, who called the tune in the afternoon, taking the twentieth with a birdie 4, the twenty-second with a bogey 4, and the twenty-third with a bogey 3. Edgar squared the game and drew ahead for the first time by taking the long twenty-sixth in 5 to, Silk’s 6. They halved the short twenty-seventh in 3 and Edgar headed for home 1 up. The Victorian did the outward journey in even four’s to Silk’s 40.

stymie. Faulty work through the fairway by Colledge enabled the New Zealander to draw 2 up with a 5 to a 6 at the sixth hole. Glading drew 3 up with a 5 to a 6 at the long eighth, where Colledge missed a three-foot putt for a half. A clever approach enabled Colledge to take the short ninth in 3 to his opponent’s 4 after Glading had missed a three-foot putt, and the New Zealander headed for home 2 up. Glading took 38 for the outward'journey to Colledge’s 40. The Queenslander visited no fewer than four bunkers on the home journey. while Glading kept him company at the short fourteenth. Playing steady golf and rarely failing to find the green with his effortlessly-made second shots, Glading forged steadily ahead, to go to lunch with a commanding lead of 5 up. Glading did the home journey in 37, which gave him 75 for the round, while Colledge took 40 both ways. -'V • i Glading maintained his steadiness in the afternoon, to,go out in'37 to the Queenslander’s 38 and still retain his lead of 5 up. Colledge got one back with a birdie 4 at the thirtieth, where Glading found a bunker with his second. Both played slackly to halve the thii«y-flrst in 6. Colledge then reduced his leeway to 3 down by taking the short thirty-second in 3 to Glading’s 4. The end came when Glading landed his ball two feet from the pin at the short thirty-third and a win in 2 to Colledge’s 4 gave, him the match by 4 and 3. Both took 26 for the six holes played on the return journey.

They halved the first three holes on the home journey and the Victorian

Victorian in Form

The match between Horne and Brown found New Zealand’s amateur champion ill at ease on the greens, and the 23-year-old Victorian champion came back to the winning form that had deserted him on the previous day. The first two holes were halved’ In 4’s. Brown went into the lead at the third, where a superb iron shot and a five-foot putt gave him a birdie 2. Horne’s tee shot finished 12 feet from the pin, but his putt made only a half-hearted bid for the hole. He won the . fourth, where Brown was short, with a bogey 4 that missed being a 3 by a matter of inches. The putt was one of Horne’s few good ones during the day. Brown became 1 up again at the sixth, where, after pushing his second shot, he carried the bunkers with a beautiful pitch that finished six feet from the pin, and holed his putt for a birdie 4. At the eighth Horne missed a yard putt, and repeated the performance at the ninth,

then drew 2 up by taking the thirtyfirst with a birdie 4 to Silk’s 5. The next three holes were halved, which made Edgar dormie two. Silk set the applause going by deftly vaulting over a stymie to take the thirty-fifth hole with a bogey 4 to his .opponent’s 5. Playing faultlessly, Edgar placed the issue beyond doubt by finding the home green with his second and taking the hole in 4 to Silk’s 5, which gave him the match by two holes. Edgar gave a taste of his quality by taking 36 both ways for a brilliant 72, one under bogey. Silk took 37 for the second nine, which made his full round 77. The Outstanding Single It was left to the West Australian Open and Amateur champion, Pix, to turn on the most brilliant golf of the day in his match against Woon in No. 4 position. Pix amazed the gallery by winning the first hole with a birdie 3 to Woon’s 4: They halved the second in birdie 4, but Pix drew 2 up with a 3 to the New Zealander’s 4 when Woon hit a tree with his 'tee shot.

Driving a long ball, keeping direction, and putting with telling accuracy, Pix drew away to take the fourth, eighth and ninth holes to be 5 up at the turn. The West Australian notched, a birdie 4 at the 536-yard eighth and ran down a 13-foot putt for a birdie 2 at the ninth. He did the outward journey in 33, four under bogey. They had a more even tussle on the home run, which both did in 38. Pix, playing brilliantly, maintained his' 5 up lead at the end of the round. Pix continued to amaze the big gallery in the' afternoon. At the twentieth hole (404 yards) he landed his iron second on the green and ran down a 20-foot putt for an eagle 3 to draw 6 up. Woon got one back at the short twenty-first with a 3 to Pix’s 4, and the next four holes were halved in bogey figures. Woon reduced his leeway to 4 down by taking the lpng twenty-sixth with a bogey 5 to Pix’s 6. They halved the short twentyseventh in 3, and Pix turned for horpe with a lead of 4 up. Woon did the outward journey in 36 to Pix’s 37. The next birdie 4 by Woon at the twenty-eighth reduced his deficit to 3 down, and he got another hole back at the thirtieth with a birdie 4 to the visitor’s 5. Pix drew 3up again by landing his ball 3ft. from the pin on the thirty-second green and running down his putt to take the hole with a birdie 2to a bogey 3. Woon was fighting well, and took the thirty-fourth (265 yards) with a birdie 3. The end came when the thirty-fifth hole was halved in 5, which gave Pix the match by 2 and 1. Woon took 32 for the eight holes played on the return journey to the West Australian’s 34.

to be 3 down on the first half. Brown completed the outward journey in 35. two under the scratch score, to Horne’s.

The tenth and the eleventh were halved. Brown made the New Zealander work verv hard for another half at the twelfth. Here Horne holed one of those troublesome four-footers for his birdie 4. Horne missed a good chance of a win at the fourteenth, where he had three putts. Brown being wide of the gredn from the tee, but he sank a five-foot putt at the sixteenth for a half in 4’s. His putting was also steady on the next two greens, and he went into lunch still 3 down. Each hole on the second half had been halved, Brown taking 72 for the round to Horne’s 75. The visitor began brilliantly in the afternoon with a birdie 3, sinking a 25 : f00t putt’ to be four in the lead. He struck trouble at the second, but picked up, and at the next Horne holed an eight-foot putt for a birdie 2. Brown again became 3 up with a birdie 3