GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 20172, 7 May 1927, Page 18 (Supplement)

GOLF

(By

“Cleek."

FORTHCOMING EVENTS. May 16—British Ladies’ Open Championship, Newcastle. May 23-28—British Amateur Championship, Hoylake. June 2 —French Open Amateur Championship, Wimeraux. June 4—N.S.W. Championship Foursomes, Sydney. June 8-9—Kirk-Windeyer Cup, Sydney. June 6—Qualifying rounds, U.S.A. Open Championship, Oakmont. June 8-9—Kirk-Windeyer Cup, Rose Bay, Sydney. June 11-18—N.S.W. Amateur Championship, Sydney. June 13 —U.S.A. Open Championship, Oakmont. June 20 —French Ladies’ Open Championship. Le Touquet. July 11—British Open Championship, St. Andrews. August 22-27—U.SA. Amateur Championship, Minnesota. August 23-27—Boys’ Amateur Championship, Barnton. Medal match at Otatara to-day. i A bogey match will be played by the j Queen's Park ladies on Monday. It is hoped to play the first match of the Queen's Park Clubs’ season on Wedj nesday. Members of the Invercargill Ladies’ Club i will play a bogey match at Otatara on : Thursday. A remarkable incident associated with I the Home hole at Woking golf course is recalled by an English writer. It was here, he says, that Hugh Allison, in an inter-’Varsity match, played a ball on to the roof of the clubhouse, climbed on to it with a ladder, played his shot off the roof on to the green, and halved the hole! An unusual feature of the L.G.U. medal match played by the Queen's Park Ladies Club members on Monday was the tying of four players for second position. Mrs Clow headed the list with a card reading 108 — 28—75. Then came Mrs Chartres 103—26 —77; Miss C. Hughes 106—29—77; Mrs Macfarlane 109—32—77 and Mrs Palmer 110—34—77. The Christchurch Golf Club sent a team of eight to Wellington last Saturday to play the Wellington Club for the Tuson Cup. The match was played at Heretaunga in dull, showery weather. The four-ball matches were played in the morning and Christchurch (holders of the Cup) won three out of the four. Ewen Macfarlane and C. A. Seymour beat A. D. S. Duncan and D. O. Whyte, 1 up. Macfarlane was playing beautiful golf, and despite the difference in conditions between Heretaunga, soaked by heavy rains, and Shirley, his home course, he was round in 70. R. A. Wilson and C. R. J. Ward beat J. B. Parker and K. D. Duncan 1 up. W. P. Anderson and E. J. Pumphrey beat J. B. McEwan and O. E. Hales 6 and 5. The only Wellington pair to win were lan McEwan and Morgan Duncan, who beat R. W. Morgan and L. A. Dougall 6 and 5. With a majority of two matches in the four-balls Christchurch appeared to have a good chance of retaining the Cup, but in the singles Wellington swept the board. Macfarlane continued to play well and halved his match with Arthur Duncan. W. P. Anderson also got a half with J. B. McEwan. The rest of the Christchurch team were beaten. D. O. Whyte beat the Canterbury provincial champion, C. A. Seymour 2 and 1; J. B. Parker beat R. A. Wilson 4 and 2; K. D. Duncan beat C. R. J. Ward 3 and 2; O. E. Hales beat E. J. Pumphrey 6 and 5; lan McEwan beat R. W. Morgan 5 and 4, and M. Duncan beat L. A. Dougall 3 and 2. Wellington thus won the Cup by 8 matches (six wins and two halves in the singles and one win in the fourball) to four (two halves in the singles and three wins in the four ball). The Wellington veterans also beat the Christchurch veterans for the C. W’ood Challenge Cup by seven and a half matches. The two clubs will play again for the trophies at Shirley later in the year. BOBBY JONES AGAIN WINS SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIP BRILLIANTLY. For the first time since he won the American Open Championship last year, Bobbie Jones, British as well as American open champion, stepped out against the field in the Southern open championship played on 24th and 25th March on the East Lake course at Atlanta, his “home town.” Bobbie is an idol of the public in Atlanta. They turn out the troops and the bands there when he returns from one of his golfing triumphs, and it was thought that in his anxiety to do well when playing in front of his own people, so to speak, he might fail to do his best. But the champion made no mistake, and with an aggregate of 281 beat the second man by no less than eight strokes. He opened with a 72, fine golf on a course 6580 yards in length with a par of 70 —bogey in New Zealand probably 76 to 78. But Emmet French had a 71. and there were quite a number of 72’s. It was a brilliant field, including A. Watrous, runner up to Jones in the British open, J. Turnesa, runner up to Jones in the American open, and J. Farrell, W. Mehlhorn, Gene Sarazen, Bobby Cruickshank, Leo. Diegel, Jock Hutchison, Walter Hagen, Cyril Walker, Jim Barnes and so on—practically the full strength of American professional golf. In the second round Jones put on a dazzling 66 reminiscent of his wonderful qualifying rounds at Sunningdale for the British open championship, and at the end of the second round had a lead of five strokes from the second man, Johnny Farrell, who had rounds of 73 and 70. Fnishing steady is a rock in 71 and 72 Jones played the four rounds in 281, seven strokes under level fours and only one over par for the 72 holes. The first twelves and their scores were:— R. T. Jones, Atlanta 72 66 71 72—281 J. Farrell Quaker Ridge 73 70 74 J. Golden North Jersey 74 71 74 70—289 Al Watrous, Grand

Rapids 74 72 73 72—291 Leo. Diegel, Fenimore 77 73 70 72—292 W. Klein, Wheatley Hills 73 73 76 71—293 J. Turnesa, Fairview .. 75 74 72 73—294 R. Cruickshank, Progress 78 70 73 73—294 L. Nabholtz, unattached 72 73 78 71—294 J. Foulis, Chicago .. 74 74 72 75—295 J. Hutchison, Glen View 78 72 73 74—297 G. Voight, Washington 75 72 75 75—297 Walter Hagen was eighteenth on the list with 299, Gene Sarazen was 303, Willie

Macfarlane and Jim Barnes 308 —all four of them ex-open champions of America. The merit of Jones’s 66 in the second round may be judged from the fact that though the brilliant field played four rounds per man only one other broke 70, Eddie Towns, Washington, getting 69 in the second round. ,The length of the holes and par figures are worth giving in comparison with Jones’s card:—

On the day of the third and fourth rounds there was a stiff wind in the morning which many of the competitors found troublesome, and it increased in force in the afternoon, but Jones went on reeling off the par figures at hole after hole, and on the day’s play, 36 holes, only slipped three strokes on par. It almost looks from the figures as if Jones never made a mistake, but he was at fault sometimes. Still, when he increased his lead from the field from five strokes at the end of the second round to eight at the end of the third the pros, gave him up. It was simply a question of how many strokes he would win by, and as an amateur could not touch the prize money the real question of interest for the professionals was who could get second place. The prize money provided for the tournament was 12,000 dollars, with 4000 dollars for the first professional and 1750 for the second. The prizes provide the explanation of the attractiveness of the States to the golf professional, for this was only one of many tournaments with prize money running into thousands of pounds. The fourth man got £l6O, and even Walter Hagen, in eighteenth place, got one of the minor prizes. ,

The cards for Jones's four rounds showed the amazing consistency of the champion. At the short second, 150yds., he had a three in each round. At the long fifth, 590 yds., he had three s’s and a 4. At the sixth, 175yds., his scores were three 3’s and a2. At the ninth 525yd5., he had three s’s and a 4, and at the last hole, 185yds., played over water to a sloping green he had two 3’s and two 2’s. So far from showing nervousness at playing before a gallery of his “ain folk,” Jones played the East Lake course as he had been accustomed to play it for years. His normal round for the course is 69 to 71—one under to one over par, but he has had a 63. A pleasing feature of the tournament was the fine golf shown by Jess Sweetser. His first two rounds were 76 and 75, and in the third round he got a par 70—giving him a total of 221. This was 12 strokes behind Jones but only 4 behind the second man, Johnny Farrell. At the end of the third round Sweetser, who still feels the effects of his long illness, cried enough, but he had done enough to show that his golf has not deserted him, and his friends were delighted, particularly with his 70 in the wind on the morning of the last day. The G. Voight who is shown in twelfth place in the list given above is a young Washington amateur who evidently has a sound game at his command, and of whom further news may be expected as this year’s big fixtures come round. OTAGO LADIES’ CHAMPIONSHIP When the ladies taking part in the Otago open championship assembled at the Balmacewan club-house on Wednesday they found the worst possible golfing conditions in evidence. So heavy was the rain that the committee decided to postpone the commencement of the qualifying rounds till after luncheon. Instead of improving, however, the weather became steadily worse so a further postponement until the next morning was necessary. Even then, the weather was cold and boisterous and it was not till the next day that any noticeable improvement took place. THE QUALIFYING ROUNDS. The first qualifying round found Mrs Dodgshun (Otago) at the head of the list, with Miss O. Kay (St. Clair) in second place. These positions were maintained at the conclusion of the second round the sixteen players eligible to take part in the championship being as follows:

THE FIRST ROUND. One of the greatest surprises of the tournament was the defeat of Mrs Dodgshun, last year’s title holder and ex-New Zealand champion by her club-mate Miss Stevens who played particularly fine golf, being out in 40 against bogey’s 39. The results of this round were as follows: Miss Kay beat Miss Galloway 9 up and 8 to play; Miss Gould beat Mrs Caffin 9 and 7; Mrs McCarthy beat Mrs Orbell 2 and 1; Mrs Kerr beat Mrs Bell 6 and 5; Mrs Cook beat Mrs Callender 4 and 3; Miss M. Stevens beat Mrs Dodgshun 2 and 1; Miss N. Glendining beat Mrs Lemon 5 and 4; Miss White-Parsons beat Miss 0. Stevens 2 and 1. SECOND ROUND. Yet another surprise victory was registered in the second round, Miss Stevens -who put up such a great game against Mrs Dodgshun, being compelled to strike her colours to Miss N. Glendining to the tune of 4 up and 3 to play. The results of the remaining matches were as follows: Miss Kay beat Miss WhiteParsons 7 and 5; Mrs McCarthy beat Miss Gould 7 and 6; Mrs Cook beat Mrs Kerr 2 and 1; Miss Glendinning beat Miss Stevens 4 and 3. THE SEMI-FINALS. The semi-final between Mrs McCarthy and Miss Kay proved one of the most exciting matches of the tournament. Miss Kay seemed to hold a strong position when the thirteenth green was reached, being then three up. Mrs McCarthy, however, settled down to play particularly stubborn golf and, giving away nothing on the green, forged ahead and secured a meritorious win on the last green. Miss Kay experienced trouble with her putts, the ball lipping the hole on two or three occasions. The match between Mrs Cook and Miss Glendining also produced a keen struggle, i the greater experience of Mrs Cook en-

abling her to stall off a determined challenge and finish two up on the 18th green. THE FINAL. Keeping these close finishes in mind the large gallery following the final on Monday fully expected to see an exciting tussle, staged over 18 holes. The conditions were ideal from a golfers’ point of view, a light breeze and an overcast sky being contributory factors in this respect. On the day, however, Mrs McCarthy carried too many guns in all departments of the game, and from the 9th green, where Mrs McCarthy was four up, the issue was never in doubt. In addition to playing particularly steady golf, Mrs McCarthy sank two putts from the edge of the green and sank her approach shot at Camel’s Back from about nine yards from the edge of the green. Taken all round, her golf was well-nigh unbeatable on the day and provided a fitting finale to four day’s consistently good play. Mrs Cook battled on stubbornly and had She been playing her wood with her accustomed crispness might have given her opponent a sterner battle. For once, she found herself out of touch with these clubs, and this, coupled with her opponent’s deadly accuracy, made the odds against her too heavy. This is Mrs McCarthy’s first win in this event, although she has filled the position of runner-up on one or two occasions.

GOLF. THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP at Rotorua was won by SHAW, Wellington,— with a KRO-FLITE ball. SHAW’S aggregate of 274 is the lowest ever scored in four rounds in N.Z. The Bogey, Medal and Stroke Handicap won with KRO-FLITE. This Spalding British product is the finest ball in the world. “It lasts till it’s lost.”

yds par Jones 1 400 4 4 2 150 3 3 3 350 4 4 4 445 4 4 5 590 5 5 6 175 3 2 7 380 4 4 8 220 3 3 9 525 5 4 10 425 4 4 11 165 3 3 12 390 4 4 13 405 4 3 14 465 4 4 15 505 5 4 16 405 4 4 17 400 4 4 18 185 3 3 6580 70 66

Mrs Dodgshun, Otago .. .. 87 85—172 Miss Kay. St. Clair .. .. 89 86—175 Mrs McCarthy, Otago .. .. 93 95—188 Mrs Cook, Otago 96 94—190 Miss M. Stevens, Otago .. 96 98—194 Mrs Kerr, Timaru . . .. .. 96 101—197 Mrs Orbell, North Otago .. 97 100—197 Miss Gould, Christchuhch . 103 102—205 Miss N. Glendining, Otago . 102 104—206 Miss 0. Stevens, Otago .. .. 104 105—209 Mrs Caffin, Otago 108 103—211 Miss White Parsons, Ch’ch . 107 108—215 Miss Gallaway, Otago .. .. 112 103—215 Mrs Bell, Otago 107 110—217 Mrs Lemon, Otago 113 105—218 Mrs Callender, Otago .. .. 111 108—219