GOLF

Otago Witness, Issue 3726, 11 August 1925, Page 7

GOLF

BY

DIVOT.

C. A. Quane, playing at Shirley, recently holed his tee shot at Old Nick," the seventeenth hole, 125 yards, and paid the usual penalty. Quane is (remarks "Jigger") the fourth member of the 1925 Ilole-in-one Club at Shirley. A familiar figure at the Shirley cham pionship meeting will be Kapi Tareha. of Napier. Playing over Miramar recently he was driving miraculous distances, as, for instance, he was well uj) in the rough with an all-carry iron shot from the fourth tee. He may always be relied on to contribute the spectacular from the tee, and if he would seriously set himself to play a restrained game everywhere except on the green he would ("Chip-shot" suggests; soon be in the first flight of New Zealand golfers. E. S. Douglas, open champion of New Zealand on various occasions, qualified well up in the list in the British Open Championship competition six weeks ago. His score for the two qualifying rounds was 151. The lowest score was 146. Twenty-one competitors qualified in 151 and under. Eighty-one players in all were admitted to the match play rounds. The highest qualifying score was 158. Only 12 amateurs competed in the Open British championship. Five of thesey-a creditable proportion—qualified, these being Robert Harris, w’ho won the amateur championship, only a few weeks previously, C. J. H. Tolley, C. H. Hayward ithe Air Force champion), J. T. C'ruickshank (the River Plate champion), and W. B. Torrance James Barnes, of Pelham (New York), the ultimate winner of the British open championship, finished fairly low down in the qualifying rounds. So did Macdonald Smith, of Lakeville, who was widely regarded as the American competitor— American by adoption, since he is a Scotsman by birth—most likely to carry off the coveted title. “What’s the use of finishing first ?’’ asked Macdonald Smith. “There's no prize for it as there is in the United States qualifying rounds.” And he and Barnes w'orked to a schedule, with ju*t about the results that they desired. Kirkwood, erroneously classed as an American —since he has not taken out naturalisation papers in the United States—qualified in one stroke fewer than Macdonald Smith. The best qualifying score in the British Open championship—l 46 strokes—was accomplished by Moses O'Neill, of Robin Hood (Dublin), who did the best score of 71 in tho first round on the Portland course and followed this with a good 75 on the Old course. He was a member of a record party of Leinster professionals who crossed the Channel for the championship, as a result of subscriptions organised in connection with competition held by Leinster clubs—an enterprise which thus secured an early reward. He has been Irish professional champion for two years, and is (the Daily Mail say 6) Irish to his finger tips and even to the tilted tip of his rougishly Irish noee. For second place Aubrey Boomer, the Jersey player who is attached to the St. Cloud Club, Paris; Archie Compston, of North Manchester; and Dick May, of Benton, Northumberland, were equal at 14/. For the first time in the history of the open championship a German competitor put in an appearance. He was Wilhelm Zimmer, of Berlin, who came uttired in a vivid green jumper, a very large cap, and grey-coloured knickers of ample proportions. It was only necessary (says the Daily Telegraph’s contributor) to see Wilhelm Zimmer play two holes to know that his score would do infinite credit to o county batsman. Zimmer’s saving is so exaggerated that at the top the olubhead is almost touching his left heel. It is tho same with the iron clubs, with the result that all sense of control is lost. The 36-holes final for the French women’s open championship at La Boulie ended in a win for Miss Glenna Collett (Rhode Island, U.S.A.), the present Canadian and former Amorican champion, over Mile. Simone Thion de la Chaume (St. Cloud. Paris), the Frenoh Native Championship holder, and the present holder of the British girls’ ohampionship, by 3 and 1. There arc (writes "Chip-shot" lu the Evening Post) only two courses In the world where the holer-out In one is paid therefor In coin of tho realm. 6ne is at the Easter, Whitsuntide, nnd autumn tournaments of the Royal Ashdown Forest Club, in Sussex, where the favoured hole Is the "Island Hole." It Is a charming hole, and a gentleman who fell In love wdth It

donated £5, the accrued interest upon which is to be paid to whomsoever may hole it in one. It is remarkable that ever since the endowment was made the interest has been steadily mounting, for nobody has since holed it in one. At the Druids’ Hill Club, in the United States, a similar endowment exists in respect of the eighth hole.

Mr Ross Gore, who for many years past has been the secretary of the Rose Bay Golf Club, Sydney, has had the misfortune to lose his left arm. lie developed a diseased hone in the upper part of his left arm, and the only remedy to prevent the trouble spreading was amputation of the entire limb. The great esteem in which Mr Gore is held by the golfing community of Sydney was evidenced a few days ago, when he was presented with a purse of a thousand sovereigns, and given seven months’ leave of absence in order to visit England. Mr Gore was to have left Sydney last week, but owing to his health not being sufficiently restored the trip has been postponed. He is a member of a New Zealand family. The Rules of Golf Committee considers that the method of handicapping by bisques in a four-ball match is contrary to tho customs and character of golf. The hole may be either won or halved, and it is therefore necessary during the play of the hole to know exactly in what relation tho player stands to his opponent. A mode of handicapping which deprives the opponent? of this mutual advantage seems to be foreign to the proper conduct of the game. The question whether the hole is lost by a player who took two clubs into a bunker, threw one dow r n, changed his mind, and played with the club (a maahie) at discarded, without having improved the lie, has been officially answered. The player does not lose the hole. A question standing to the name of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club concerned a player who made a stroke in a hazard but did not get the ball out. Before playing his next stroke he smoothed with his club the heel-marks made by his, stance without improving the lie of his ball. Was any penalty incurred? To this the Rules of Golf Committee replies: “No, provided that nothing was done to improve the lie of the ball or assist the player m his subsequent play at the hole.* “George,” 1 she sobbed, “I —I’ve got something terrible to tell you. . . . I—l’ve been unfaithful to you!” “There you go again, confound it,” he spluttered. ‘-Always doing something to put me off my game when you know I’m going golfing.”