GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 19276, 21 June 1924, Page 12 (Supplement)

GOLF

“Cleek.”)

(By

June 26.—British open championship, Hoylake. September 1. —American women’s championship, Rhode Islam.. September S.—N.Z. open and amateur championships, Middlemore. September 20.—American amateur championship, Marion. Following is the draw for the four-ball bogey match to be played at Otatara this afternoon:—A A. Cramond (6) and A. W. Morgan (15) play C. A. Masters (2) and J. .McLeod (18); R. B. Caws (11) and B. Hewat (16) play Dr. Ewart (11) and J. E. Cuthill (11) ; R. J. Gilmour (2) and G. F. Ferguson (17) play E. Russell (5) and W. F. Handyside (3) ; J. F. Liilicrap (11) and K. De Castro (12) play C. M. Smith (6) and G. Cruickshank (14) ; F. A. Barclay (7) and Dr. Mac Gibbon (15) play E. C. Sare (11) and A. Dickens (12); N. E. Hubbard (18) and Rev. Thompson (18) play W. Satterthwaite (18) and R. W. Jack (18) ; A. Deaker (18) and C. B. Tapley (12) play D. McPherson (18) and J. D. Mitchell (17) ; J. B. Reid (14) and V. Raines (18) play C. C. Jennings (18) and EL. S. J. Wilson (18; A. B. Haggitt (17) and J. Hain (18) play A, E. Smith (14) and A. F. Grenfell (15); Dr. Johnstone (18) and B. Tangney (11) play P. C.

Clulee (18) and J. P. Butler (18); M. 11. Mitchell (17) and F. Hinton (18) play D. R. Campbell (15) and S. M. Macalister (18).

The story is told of a golfer from Aberdeen who was in another town, but owing to very bad weather golf was impossible. The traveller wanted to have a look round the town, but did not wish to carry his bag of clubs about all day. The charge at the railway station for looking after his clubs was 3d, which naturally alarmed the Aberdonian, so he went into a pawnbrokers and pledged his clubs for 2/6, and in the evening returned and paid the extra Id and redeemed them, thus saving 24d, says the Dundee Observer.

The latest in freak handicapping is reported by The Post’s special correspondent in London. lie writes: “Mr Harry Rountree, the well-known artist (formerly of Auckland), won a golf match played under novel conditions at Littlehampton. He was opposed, in a better ball match, by Ted Ray and George Duncan. Instead of the usual stroke start, the amateur was conceded an allowance of 150 yards, to be used as the amateur saw fit. In using this distance he was permitted to move his ball, say from a bunker on to the fairway, the distance between the two points being deducted from the 150 yards. That the professionals underestimated the value of such a concession was exemplified by the fact that Mr Rountree won by 6 to 5, having used, only 50 yards 2 feet of the allowance. An incident which showed the impotence of the professionals under the conditions occurred at a hole where a full wooden club shot is required to get on to the green. Duncan got a magnificent tee shot dead on; Ray was short, but he holed out in two. Mr Rountree was short too, but he took 20 yards off his allowance to halve the hole.” Another Gleneagles tournament is over. This tournament, for which prizes to the value of £lOOO are provided by the Glasgow Herald, is a sort of curtain-raiser to the open championship every year. Instead of being decided by stroke rounds, however, the tournament takes the form of qualifying rounds for sixteen places and then match play according to a draw for those who qualified. Gleneagles is a new course and the first tournament was played in 1920. George Duncan won, beating the famous Frenchman, Arnaud Massey, in the final. In 1921 and 1922 Abe Mitchell was the winner. The former year was marked by the appearance of J. H. Kirkwood, the Australian champion, among the Home cracks for the first time. He went right through to the final, beating Havers, present British open champion, in the second round. In the final Mitchell outplayed him and won 7 up and 6 to play. In 1922, the finalists were Mitchell and Ray, and Mitchell won 2 un and 1 to play. Last year’s tournament was a triumph for Arthur Havers, the open champion, who beat F. Ball (Longley Park) in the final 6 and 5. This year the contest in the final was between George Duncan and Abe Mitchell, and the brilliant Hanger Hill professional gave Mitchell a drubbing to the tune of 8 and 7. The cables merely gave the bald result, but it looks as if Duncan was in one of his most brilliant moods. There are very few better match players in the world than Abe Mitchell, and to beat him 8 and 7, Duncan must have given a' display of “fireworks.” _ Mr A. Jackson, a member of the Knott End Golf Club (Lancashire), had a curious experience when playing in a foursome recently. At the first hole he drove among five or six rooks, one of which picked up the ball in its beak and flew away with it. The player dropped another ball, but on arrival at the green feund his first ball quite close to the pin. Apparently the rook had circled round and dropped it there. Mr Jackson, however, did not profit by the abnormal shot, for the opposition would have it that this was not “a rub of the green,” and insisted on the second ball counting. Otherwise a 3 was a certainty, and a 2 quite possible. Golfing by moonlight is an innovation successfully inaugurated on the course of the. Berkeley Country Club, California. J. McHugh, the California champion, paired with F. ’Johnston, a San Francisco professional, defeated J. Novak, the Berkeley professional and his assistant, F. Johnston, 1 up in an 18 holes match. The match, began shortly after nine o’clock. The golfers had little difficulty in keeping the track of the balls in the illumination provided by the moon, says the New York Herald. The final round of the Eclectic Match for Mrs Gilmour’s prize was played at Otatara on Thursday, three players tying for first place, Mrs Carr 86 —10—76; Mrs Ferguson 89 —13—76 ; and Miss Pilcher 92—16—76. Mrs C. Jones came next with 92—14—78. The Wednesday players in the bogey match held on the Park last week struck the worst of weather. After about a dozen players had started out the rain came down in torrents, making judgment on the putting green very difficult, the conditions became so bad that only one pair finished the whole round. For the Saturday players the conditions overhead were good, but the ground was heavy. In the A Grade, J. K. Garrett won the prize with 2 down on bogey, then in order came J. Macleod 3 down, G. F. Ferguson, W. Smith and A. W. Morgan 4 down, R. Kidd and A. B. MacDougall 5 down. In the B Grade, J. Hain won with all square, G. Tapper was 3 down, L. W. Spencer 4 down, A. B. Caverhill and L. B. Hutton 5 down. The Challenge Shield won by the men at the recent Ladies’ v. Men Match on the Park, was handed over last Monday on the ladies’ match day, Mrs Cochrane, Ladies’ President, in handing over the Shield said she was sorry to have to hand it over, but trusted that next match they would win it back again. Mr W. S. Ayson in receiving the Shield on behalf of the men, apologised for the absence of their President (Mr J. J. w. Pollard), who had been detained by business at the last minute. Mr Ayson said that the ladies could depend that the men would do their best to retain the Shield next time, and he was glad that the matches were providing close finishes as it showed that the handicap of half a stroke per hole was a good handicap. The June monthly Medal Match will be played on the Park on Wednesday and Saturday of next