GOLF.

Southland Times, Issue 19900, 19 June 1926, Page 18 (Supplement)

GOLF.

(By “Cleek.”) June 21.—British Open Championship, Lytham and St. Annes. June 21.—British Ladies’ open championship, Harlech, Wales. July 8 10.—American Open Championship, Scioto Club, Columbus, Ohio. September.—America Amateur Championship, Baltusrol. October 15, 23.—N.Z. Open and Amateur Championships, Miramar. - —Local Games— June 19.—Invercargill Club four-ball match. June 21.—Queen’s Park ladies’ match. June 23.—Queen’s Park medal match. June 24.—Invercargill ladies match. June 26.—Queen’s Park medal match. Queen’s Park ladies commence week with match for President’s prize. Medal matches on the Park on Wednesday and Saturday next. The Incercargill Ladies Club members will play a match at Otatara on Thursday for Mrs Handyside’s Trophy. Seven new members were put through at the last committee mooting of the Queen’s Park Club. B. C. Haggitt won the final of the Bairn ace wan Cup by defeating J. Evans 2 up and 1 to play. British open championship on Monday. Can the Americans pull off the third and last important event and win the amateur, open and Walker Cup? British professionals had a runaway victory in the Ryder Cup matches. Surely a heartening performance with the “open” in view on Monday! For the four-ball bogey handicap at Otatara this afternoon a large number of pairs have arranged to play but all of them have not sent in their names. The match sheet will be posted in blank and players will enter up their names before going out. K. D. Duncan got the fifteenth at Heretaunga in one recently. Not long before he had holed out at the fourteenth with his tee shot. Two ones within a few months is good going—but expensive. The final round of an eclectic match was played by members of the Invercargill Ladies’ Club at Otatara on Thursday and resulted in a tie for first place between Mrs Carr 88-4-84 and Miss Pilcher 89-5-84, Mrs Pottinger being next with 93-6-87. The four-ball match, A and B grade partners, played at Otatara last season, though marred by boisterous weather conditions during the latter part of the round, proved one of the most popular events featured on the club’s programme, there is every reason to believe the match to be played to-day at Otatara will receive enthusiastic support. Some doubt as to the rules governing eclectic matches appears to have been in evidence locally. The usual procedure is for half the handicap to be taken in the case of eighteen-hole matches and a quarter if the handicap when the nine-hole games are being played. Owing to the teeing up rule being still in vogue at Otatara the Invercargill Ladies’ Club has decided to postpone its championships till the middle of August or later. The committee has decided that handicaps will be revised on the 1924-25 scores and these will be announced as soon as possible. During the last few weeks a knock-out foursomes tournament has been played by the members of the Invercargill Ladies’ Club, Mrs Macleod and Mrs Gilmour and Mrs Hall-Jones and Miss Pilcher being the finalists. For the seventh time Dr Kenneth Ross has won the Balmacewan championship, his last victory being gained over D. H. Butcher to the tune of 7 up and 5 to play, the match being played over 36 holes. The doctor has won the championship every time he has contested it since 1914, seven in all. Queen's Park Club has decided to challenge the Invercargill Golf Club for the* Laing Shield. Possibly some inter-club matches could be arranged in addition to the actual shield matches. At the last committee meeting of the Park Club the machines were decided on for dealing with the fairways and greens and orders for their delivery were placed. It is expected they will be on hand to deal with the spring growth of grass when it makes its appearance. The extraordinarily wet season so far experienced has no>t been to the advantage of the new greens on the Park and it has been decided in order to give the grass every chance of becoming well established, to continue with the temporary greens until the spring season is well advanced. It was reported to the committee of the Park Club that one young player who had brought off a hole-in-one had not as yet carried out his obligations in this matter and it was decided on the motion of the chairman that unless something is done very soon the player in question will be called upon to fulfil a dual obligation at the next meeting of the committee.—Carried. with one dissentient. The advice received that Russell, Balcombe and Armstrong may be competing at Miramar in August will be received with cossiderable interest throughout the Dominion and should they take their places in the field it should further stimulate interest in the premier contest of the year. Russell has already placed the Australian open championship to his credit, while Balcombe and Armstrong are both plus 3 men. At the recent meeting of the Queen’s Park committee it was suggested that a ladies’ tee should be provided twenty or thirty yards further forward than the men’s at Tipperary*. At present both ladies and men drive from the same tee and many of the ladies find difficulty in negotiating the rushes and this applies especially to the junior grade players who time after time find themselves in trouble when driving from the men’s tee. This involves a lot of wasted time in searching for balls and on match days consequent holding up; therefore the suggestion as outlined is deserving of closer attention if for no other reason than to ensure a minimum of obstruction, a very important matter with the number of players participating increasing each week and new members joining the ranks. The heavy rain which set in during the early hours of Saturday morning continued throughout the day and, as a consequence, all but two of the competitors listed in the draw scratched for the event. Not so R. N. Todd and H. P. Fougere, who, with commendable enthusiasm, set out under the most atrocious conditions. They were not, however, quite able to hold their own with the Wednesday players, who went round under ideal conditions. A. Thom won in the senior division, being one up on the “Colonel,” while A. Masters, one down, was runner-up. In the junior division D. French proved to be the winner five down, while A. Y. Smith, six down, filled second place. The difference in all respects between the playing conditions on the two days was another case of the unfairness of the two-day matches. The Invercargill Club has decided on Saturday matches only and if some arrangement could be come to on the Park in regard to a similar course it would undoubtedly be more satisfactory ■

I than the system at present in vogue. Up till recent times the opportunities afforded players for reducing their handicaps have been limited, both at Otatara and on the Park, to the six med.al matches played during the season. It was recognised that a player might -easily, through no fault of his own, be prevented from putting in a card fulfilling the required conditions for the desired handicap reduction, with the result that he could not reduce again before next season’s matches. With a view to overcoming the difficulty and providing players with every facility for reducing, the Invercargill Club decided to issue a special card which a plaver may take out at any time and through which he may reduce his handicap provided he fulfils the conditions stipulated for medal play. It has been decided to adopt a similar course on the Park and in the future any player may take out a card, price six-pence, and reduce on it, provided it is marked and signed by a club member and handed to a member of the Match Committee. It is hoped many players will take this opportunity of knocking a few strokes off their handicap. The venue of this year’s open championship will be the Lytham and St Annes (Lancashire) course, commonly known as St Annes-on-the-Sea. This club has a membership of 550 and supports two professionals. The amateur course record is held by Dr T. W. Johnson with a 70, while the honour in the professional division was secured by H. A. Gaudin, 67. In the last, four matches played by the Queen's Park Ladies’ Club members Mrs Willett has been three times first and once third, a performance which suggests a decided diminution in the handicap before the close of the season. A rule which seems to be imperfectly understood is that which requires players who are not holding their places through the green to give way to players coming up behind. Players who find it necessary to let others through must do so in the proper way. They must stand aside until those who have gone through have played clear, if on the fairway, or have holed out, if on the green. The Queen’s Park ladies played a bogey match last Monday, ‘the winner being Mrs Willett, who finished 1 up on the “Colonel,” with Mrs Chartres and Mrs Clow 3 down, tieing for second place,. Considering the heavy state of the course after the weekend’s rain the performance of the winner was a very meritorious one. Some time ago “Golf Illustrated” issued a challenge on behalf of Abe Mitchell to play any American professional a match over 72 holes for £5OO a side. The challenge was accepted last month by Walter Hagen and the match was timed to begin yesterday. We should hear something about it in the cables on Monday. J. H. Kirkwood, who is again in England, as a competitor for the British open championship, recently accepted an appointment as professional to Mr George Colliers, a millionaire, of the Skywater Club, Georgia. His salary is second only to that of Walter Hagen, who receives £6500 a year from the Pasadena Club. To an interviewer in London Kirkwood admitted that his earnings in U.S.A, had reached as high as £250 a week. Bobby Jones, the famous American amateur, was a conspicuous figure in the British amateur championship at Muirfield, in an aggressive blue pull-over, brown plus-fours and tartan stockings. On the second day he discarded the pull-over and played in a fluttering silk shirt. The American amateur pays a good deal of attention to his get-up, while the leading American pros, are dandies and leaders of fashion so far as their clothes are concerned. The average British golfer’s view is that any old togs are good enough for golf; in fact, the older and more comfortable they are the better he likes them, regardless of appearances. In reporting the result of the amateur championship of New South Wales the man announced simply that Hector Morrison had won 3 and 2. He did not even | give us the name of the other finalist. Files to hand by the mail show that Morrison headed the qualifying list with fine rounds of 73 and 76—excellent scores for the Kensington course, which is long and heavily bunkered. The highest qualifying score was 161. W. R. Dobson, the Concord (Sydney) player who won the Canterbury champion- • ship at Shirley at Easter time qualified ' tenth with two rounds pf 79. G. T. Balj combe, who is expected to compete for the ! New Zealand championship this year, qualil fiod second with 74 and 76. All the matches j in the play off were over 36 holes. Eric j Apperly was 10 up on Balcombe in the j morning round and Balcombe retired; Hec- ■ tor Morrison beat A. M. Thorn (ex-N.S.W. ! rugby rep.) 11 and 10; J. Denton beat D. ; Coon an 13 and 11; R. J. Withydombe beat ,A. L. Leone 8 and 7; W. C. Sturrock beat IG. E. Dennett 3 and 2; Keith Harrison beat W. R. Dobson 1 up; F. G. Murdock • beat B. C. J. Bettington 5 and 4; F. E. , Headlam beat G. W. Eastaway 1 up. In the second round Denton beat Harrison 3 and 2; Headlam beat Apperley 3 and 2; Murdoch beat Withycombe 9 and 7; Morrison beat Sturrock one up at the 37th. In the semi-finals Morrison beat Denton and Headlam beat Murdoch. Thus the two ends of the qualifying list came together in the final, for whereas Morrison’s aggregate of 149 was the best, Headlam’s total of 160 was only one stroke better than the highest qualifying score. In the final Morrison beat Headlam 3 and 2. Hector Morrison was amateur champion of Australia in 1912 and is one of the first half dozen players in Australia. The holder of the amateur championship of New South Wales, Harry Sinclair, was not in Sydney to defend his title this year. As a competitor in the British amateur championship he was after a bigger prize. THE BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES ON THE PLAY The cables published in the dominion in connection with the British amateur championship were somewhat meagre. For full information we shall have to wait for files of London newspapers, but some stray notes gleaned from cables published in Australia will be of interest to golfers. Bobby Jones, America’s bright particular star, played poor golf in his first match. He had several sevens, but his opponent was unable to take advantage of the openings and Jones won. It is not fair to say that Jones might have been beaten had he been up against it, because he might then have produced the game necessary to win. As it was he played well enough to win from an opponent who was engaged, “luridly engaged” the cable says, in bunkers most of the time. Jones went on to beat Aylmer 5 and 4, and Dickson 4 and 3. Then he met Robert Harris, the reigning amateur champion, and against him Jones went out in 35 was 3,4,4, for the next three holes, two under fours for the twelve holes played, and finished the match 8 up and 6 to play. In the. match Jones won 9 holes, halved 2 and lost one. In the next round Jones was beaten by Andrew Jamieson, a Glasgow baker, 21 years of age. Jamjeson was out in 37 to Jones’s 38 and was one up. Then he reeled off the next six holes in 4,4,4,3,4,4, —23 strokes, as compared with Jones’s 26, and the match went to the Scotchman 4 and 3. It was a great victory won by beautiful golf, but the Jones who was beaten by Jamieson was not the Jones who beat Harris. That, however, is the way of golf. In the match Jones was outdriving Jamieson every time, but Jamieson consistently beat his opponent at the short game. Speaking of Jones the Daily Mail said:—“Jones will not compete in the Open Championship, but will live in history as one of the world’s greatest golfers. His drive is one of the sights of golf. The ball, rising high, seems to gather velocity. His straightness is a byword.” Another feature of Jones's game freely commented on was the machine-like regularity of his swing, which never varied. Before his matches he slogged balls for half an hour, to get his swing working accurately.

When Jess Sweetser was putting on the sixteenth green in his match against Robert Scott there was a terrific burst of applause from another part of the course. Word came that Bobby Jones was beaten and that the outburst was the ovation of the

crowd to Andrew Jamieson, the young Glasgow baker who had lowered the cob ours of the great American. Sweetser wiped his forehead. “Say,” he said, “it’s up to me now to keep the flag flying.” He won the next two holes and the match and went on to win the final and take the British amateur championship to America for the second time in its long history. The British amateur championship served to show that Britain has some young players coming on who may yet successfully challenge America’s claim to first place in amateur golf—a claim which it is very hard to dispute with the evidence of the Walker Cup matches all against British players. Andrew Jamieson, the conqueror of Bobby Jones, was one discovery. He was not even included in the Scottish team against England a lew weeks before the championship, but after his win over Bobby Jones was picked for the Walker Cup team and at St. Andrews he won his single against Gardner, the American captain, 6 and 4. In the foursomes he was coupled with Cyril Tolley and they were beaten by Bobby Jones and Watts Gunn 4 and 3. That, however, may have been more Tolley’s fault than Jamieson’s, for in the singles Jones gave Tolley the father of a hiding to the tune of 12 up and 11 to play—the heaviest defeat on record in Walker Cup matches. Another discovery was the finalist A. F. Simpson, a tall, strapping young Edinburgh player, 28 years of age, of whom nothing had previously been heard. In the semi-final he beat Andrew Jamieson 2 and 1. Then there is undoubtedly a great player in the making in Robert W. Peattie, British boy champion, seventeen years of age, who in the third round settled Sir E. W. Holderness, twice amateur champion, 2 up. Peattie was nicknamed the “Suzanne” of golf. He stands six feet in height and is broad in proportion. The Americans were greatly taken with his play and said he had nothing to learn in iron play. His long, lashing shots finished on the greens with plenty of backspin. He frequently outdrove Holderness by 20 yards. An enormous gallery cheered Peattie’s masterly approach at the 18th, leaving him a short putt to clinch the victory. In his match in the second round Harry Sinclair, amateur champion of Australia, beat Major W. F. C. McClure (St. Andrews) 4 and 2. Sinclair was out in 39, with one 6 and four s’s in jt and came home in 5,4,4,3,6,4,3, —where the match ended. But for for the 6 at the fourteenth the inward half was tiptop golf. In the third round he defeated Major R. Kennedy. Going out Sinclair hooked his drives badly. He had two 6’s and three s’s and was 43 strokes for the nine holes. Then he played perfect golf for 4,4,4,3,4,4,3. A glance at. a preceding paragraph will show that if Bobby Jones could have got these figures against Andrew Jamieson the result of that match might have been different. At any rate with par figures at every hole the Australian was altogether too hot for his opponent. In the fourth round Sinclair met his Waterloo in the person of Robert Scott, Glasgow, who had reached the semi-finals in 1922 and played for Britain against America in 1924. Though Sinclair took 43 to go out (with two 7’s in it) he was one up. He won the tenth in 4 to Scott’s 5 and halved the next in 4. Then Scott put on 4,3,4,4,3 and won them all and the match. The golf writer of the London Times said that “Sinclair, whose stance and address were reminiscent of Kirkwood’s, was a good trier, a good iron player, and an accomplished approacher. There was little difference between Robert Scott and himself.” To this it may be added that Australians had no reason to be disappointed with their champion’s showing. Sinclair is very young, he travelled alone to the other side of the world, and he entered into competition with the best players in the game. To get halfway through the championship tournament was a very good performance, reflecting credit on Sinclair and on Australian golf generally.