GOLF. NOTES BY BULGER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 66

GOLF.

NOTES BY BULGER.

Saturday afternoon could not have been j improved on from a golfing aspect, and the Otago Club members were singularly lucky to get such a day for the playing off the monthly competitions. About 12 o'clock it looked as though the sun would be troublesome, but as the afternoon wore on it became overcast with a light southerly breeze, and a more pleasant day for golfing could not be imagined. Uijd«r such favourable conditions it is not to be wondered at that the Colonel had 1 not everything hie own way. No less than four of the handicap men finished 2 up. It remained for Hamilton Smith, the hero of many a good fight aY Balmaoewen and elsewhere, to give the redoubtable mythical gentleman a good trouncing- on level terms. Starting from the eleventh tee, his score for the first 14 ■ holes was 56 — an average of four, — which ,J is surely a record. He was thei: 8 up on , the Colonel, with 4 holes to go, and it looked odds on his coming in with a pheno- ' raenkl score, but whereas all through the

match up to this stage his putting wa«B faultless, he now fell away sadly, and could not even halve a hole with Bogey, thus finishing 4 up. This in itself was a magnificent performance, but I am voicing the sentiments of the club when I say that it would have been most gratifying to everyone had this popular young player succeeded in winning or halving some of those last four holes. Smith is not one to make excuses for bad play, but it is thought that the sun, which was obscured most of the afternoon and came out- strongly towards

4.30, was responsible for his downfall on the greens. His cards reads a-s follows, starting from the first -hole, and the Bogey score equals that of Harman (Christchurch)

and Alick Roberts for the same course 1 from scratch : —Out, 64343465 6—41 ;

in, 55554334 3—37; total, 78. The I Bogey score is as folows : — Out, 5 5 4 5 4I 5 5 4 &— 42; in, 46455445 3—40; , total, 82, 1 The ' Silver Cross was won by H. C. Bilton with the good score of 3 up on the Colonel. He must have played steadily, and do.serves his win. He will probably find himself playing for the Gold Cross next medal day. I The best carcjjs handed in were : — Gold Cross.

jH. C. Bilton . 13 3up j Mr G. Holdship, a prominent member of ' the Royal Sydney Club, spent Saturday afternoon at Balmacewen— renewing old acquaintances. Mr Holdship, who competed i at our New Year tournament two years ago, • i 6 tripping for the benefit of his health, and could not be persuaded to stay and do battle at the forthcoming tournament. The St. Clair Club held driving and approaching and putting competitions on Saturday. There was a large entry. The winner of thft driving was W. Petre, a j young player who shows jjromiM?, and the I approaching and putting was annexed by I Forbes. The American Amateur Championship has just been concluded, and for the second time in succession Jerome D. Travere has won the title. The Americans ■ do not follow the Enghah system of play- ! ing match-play throughout, as they have ! adopted a system very like our own, by which they eliminate the inefficient, bring- ' ing- the field down to the moderate numI ber of 32, by 36 holes of preliminary score ; play. These tournament matches begin, j but, insteal of matches of 18 holes right jup until the final, as in England, they only decide the first round of matches by 18 holes, as all subsequent matches cons.et of 36 holes. The favourites for the event were Jerome D. Travers and Walter J. Tiavis. and the tipsters were not far j out in their reckonings, as T ravers won all | hie matohes with ea6e, until he met Travis (in the 6emi-final. Walter Travis, playing | somewhat as he did when he won the , BritisJi Amateur Championship, headed the , field very easily in the qualifying 6troke j rounds. The championship was played on

his own home course of Garden City, which is a difficult course; and he did a remarkably fine second round of 74. In the ( match-play, however, he had a very narrow | escape of being vanquiehed by H. Wilder, j a player not much known to fame before thie. Wilder was 4 up at the end of the first round, but, luckily for Travis, thie was the eeoond match-play heat, of 36 holes. In the second round Wilder insquared the match on the thirty-sixth green, then he was suddenly taken ill. The match was suspended, for some time, aaid -when it was resumed Wilder played weakly, and lost the next four hoke. Travis eventually squared the atch on the thirty-eixth green. Four holes were halved in the play-off, and the fifth went to Tra-vis, and with it the match. Travis secured a pluck\, though lucky, win. Of course, the great act of the piece was the ante-finaJ, that in which Travens and Travis were the chief players. Messrs Behr and Herreshoff in the other penultimate heat were crenerally regarded as subordinate characters, and the winner of the former as likely to be the ultimate he.ro of the triumph. Travers is but 21 yeara of age now, though he 'iad already won the American Amateur Championship once before, besides several minor championships. Mr Travis is, of course, a true veteran,. and the contrast between the respective methods of the men, which are those of the steady-going kind on the one side, and the slashing on the other, made their great match all the more interesting. It wat not only a great match in the sense of being so well fought, for it was only decided on the thirty-sixth green, but also because of the high quality of the golf. Halfway the players were all e\en, both round in 76, and at the end of 34 holes they were even again, bu-t the joung man won the iaet two holes, and therewith the match. In the final ' Travers easily defeated Max Behr by 8 -up and 7 to play.

The new rules of golf have now been finally adopted and passed, a,nd they will come into force in the* Old Country on January next. After all the outcry, the alterations in the rules are not of a voiy revolutionary kind. In future jou certainly will not have to put^ through ca.sual water on the putting green, and there are a number of important alterations in the wording of the rules so as to make some more clearly conform to the various decisions given by the rules of Golf Committee, but those important alterations in the matters of "out of bounds" and '' lo^t ball in match play," whioh were approved at the preliminary meeting, were thrown out at the final meeting. So in the future, a*- in the past, when a player loses his ball in match play, he will lose tbe hole ; and whenever he plays his ball out of bounds ho will simply lose the distance. And the ■new rule i« the eajne as the old one, 6avo that when a baH is played out of bounds " from the tee," instead of having to drop a, ball, the player may again tee hh bail.

The estate of a blind barrel-organist, at one time a familiar figure in Wellington streets, is being administered by the Public Trustee. It is stated thafc his earnings were very large, and a sum .of £2500 has been invested in city real estate. The testator's wife and family, from whom he had been separated for the past 20 a ears, are reiidine: in Sydney. It is not long . c ince another street musician was found to have accumulated £4-700 during his lifetime.

tldp. Score. H. C. Smith J. H. Gale C Hold* worth Geo. Williams H. R. Law H. D. Stronach L. E. Rarnett H. A. Salmon T. BrydoiKW. R. Darlin? . ... W. J. Wratt Errol Smith R. P. Ward I. Milne B. .1. Smith H. Braseh P. Y. Waks 8 9 9 12 2 1] A 11 4 4 11 4 4 4 up 2 up 2 up 2 up 2 up 1 up all squar 1 do\m 1 down 1 down 1 down 2 down 2 down 2 down 3 down 3 down 3 down SILVLR C'ROriS.