GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 20633, 3 November 1928, Page 18 (Supplement)

GOLF

(By

“Cleek.”)

October was an abnormally wet month and the Otatara course was rarely free from surface water. The weather was cold as well as wet and the growth of the grass was retarded. Nevertheless the fairways were badly in need of cutting before the end of the month, but the ground was so soft that it was impracticable to put the tractor and five unit mower into operation. Drying winds early in the week led to a rapid improvement in conditions and cutting began on Thursday and should now continue without interruption throughout the summer. The greens are responding well to the careful treatment they have received during the past three or four weeks, and in a very short time now members will find the course in excellent playing order. If all the promises of support which the Committee of the Invercargill Club has received are kept the Christmas tournament at Otatara will be an unqualified success. Entries strong in quality as well as in numbers are promised from the Otago and St. Clair Clubs, while Oam aru and Christchurch are also likely to be represented. The assurances of support are most satisfactory, and if the entries follow Boxing Day and the two following days will see in competition at Otatara the best field of golfers that has assembled on a Southland course. And, given anything like a fair spin with the weather, the course will be in beautiful order for the event. Once the fairways are cut and the greens brought into play at Otatara again those engaged in the final stages of the Invercargill Club's championship will no doubt play their matches without delay, while the Haggitt Cup matches must also be proceeded with. These events will give the players an opportunity of keeping in practice for the Christmas tournament. A party of eight players from the Invercargill Golf Club journeyed to Tuatapere over the week end. They were: D. Bennie, I). Cochrane, J. A. Doig, W. Buchan, T. R. Abercrombie, W. Yates, G. McHarg and J. Richardson. Arriving at ten o’clock they were welcomed by members of the Tuatapere i Club and their ladies and provided with acceptable refreshments before going out to play a four-ball match. The Tuatapere team consisted of Dr. Dodds, J. Mangan, W. Weavers, 0. Walker, Austin, Henderson, Scott and Finn. Bennie and Cochrane played Dr Dodds and J. Mangan; J. A. Doig and T. R. Abercrombie played W r . Weavers and S. Walker; W. Buchan and W. Yates played Austin and Henderson; G. McHarg and J. Richardson played Scott and Finn. The match was halved, each side having two wins and two losses. An excellent luncheon was provided on the ground by the ladies and the players did full justice to it. In the afternoon singles were played. Bennie played Dr Dodds; D. Cochrane played J. Mangan; J. A. Doig played W. Weavers; W. Buchan played S. Walker; T. R. Abercrombie played Austin; W. Yates played Henderson; G. McHarg played Scott; and J. Richardson played Finn. This match also finished all square. During the afternoon interval Dr Dodds took the opportunity of expressing the pleasure it gave his club to welcome a team of Invercargill golfers to Tuatapere. All had enjoyed the game. He also extended a very hearty invitation to any of the golfers of Invercargill to spend a week end at Tuatapere, assuring them of a real good time. Mr J. A. Doig, in replying, congratulated the.Tuatapere people on the splendid course they had. It had been an eye-opener to the visitors. The greens were very good, and much faster than the Invercargill ones. The fairways were also in good condition and the course was a real sporty one. The ladies came in for their full mead of praise i and gratitude for the way the players were j looked after, the visitors one and all deciding ! that it would not be the last time that they would.visit Tuatapere. Cheers were given l , for the ladies and the Tuatapere team. Thus * terminated a delightful day. THE AMERICAN AMATEUR. -BOBBY JONES WINS AGAIN. T. P. PERKINS PLAYS GREAT GOLF. The American amateur championship was played over the course of the Brae Burn county club at West Newton, Mass., from 10th September onward. It had been the intention of the British Walker Cup team I to leave the States after the Walker Cup ! matches, but this intention was altered . (probably because none of the British play- ' era were satisfied with their Walker Cup performances) and most of the members entered for the amateur championship. Two qualifying rounds were first played and those who had succeeded in gaining the coveted places and their scores were:—

Of the British team Major C. 0. Hezlet (80 —79—159), W. L. Hope (78-86—194), Dr. W. Tweddell (80—84—164), M. A. Torrance (83 —83 —166), and R. H. Hardman (84 —87—171) all failed to qualify. In order that the value of the scores in the qualifying rounds and the quality of the golf in the matches may be appreciated the card

Total, 3,127.. 35 Total, 3,516.. 37 Grand total —6643 yds. 72 par. In New Zealand a course of this length would have a bogey of not less than 80 and a standard scratch score of about 76 perhaps a stroke more. Balmacewan has a scratch score of 74 and par on the American system is certainly not more than 70.

The first round of matches (all 18 holes) resulted as follows, each half of the draw being shown separately: — Upper Half. Arthur Yates defeated George Von Elm 3and 2. T. P. Perkins defeated Donald Moe, 1 up (22 holes). John Dawson defeated Charles Evans jr., 2 and 1. Fred J. Wright defeated Gordon Taylor, 3 and 2. Dr O. F. Willing defeated Watte Gunn, 4 and 3. Eustace Storey defeated Max Marston, 1 up. Jess Sweetser defeated D. J. Armstrong, 3 and 2. George Voight defeated William McPhail, 3 and 2. Lower Half. Phillips Finlay defeated Francis Ouimet, 2 up. John Ames defeated Maurice McCarthy, 3 and 2. Johnston defeated Tommy Tailer, 2 and 1. George Dunlop defeated George Dawson, 1 up. Roas Sommerville defeated Frank Dolp, 2 and 1. John Beck defeated Rudy Knepper, 4 and 3. Bobby Jones defeated J. Wolcott Brown, 4 and 3. Robert R. Gorton defeated Carl Nettlebladt, 1 up. Perkins, the British amateur champion, had a great go with Donald Moe. All square at the eighteenth they halved the next two in fours and the twenty-first in fives. Then a good par 4 at the fourth (446 yds.) settled the issue in the Briton’s favour. Storey and Beck also won their matches, the former defeating Max Marston (amateur champion in 1923) one up. The second round was also decided by 18hole matches and resulted:— Upper Half. Perkins defeated Yates, 2 and 1. Dawson defeated Wright, 3 and 2. Willing defeated Storey, 6 and 4. Voight defeated Sweetzer, 3and 2. Lower Half. Finlay defeated Ames, 5 and 4. Johnston defeated Dunlop, 3 and 2. Beck defeated Somerville, 1 up. Jones defeated Gorton, 1 up (19 holes). Perkins again played fine golf. Bobby Jones had given it as his opinion that Perkins was a great player, and the critics were now beginning to think that Jones was right and that Perkins would have to be watched. Storey went out in the upper half to the great Oregon player Dr O. F. Willing, but in the lower half Beck kept the British flag flying, so that Britain had two representatives in the last eight—a good performance. Bobby Jones, who loathes 18hole matches, had a narrow squeak in his match with Gorton. It was a most exciting match, with Gorton doing all sorts of extraordinary things to get out of tight corners, and 8000 spectators were kept on tiptoes till a 4 at the nineteenth gained the verdict for Jones. The matches were now extended to 36 holes—the next round resulted : Upper Half. George Voight defeated Dr 0. F. Willing, 4 and 3. T. P. Perkins defeated George Dawson, 3 and 1. Lower Half. Robert T. Jones defeated John B. Beck, 14 and 13. Phillips Finlay defeated Harrison Johnston, 2 and 1. Perkins was round in a beautiful par 72 to i beat George Dawson and was now fairly in | the limelight, but Voight had played such I consistently top-hole golf from the time he headed the qualifying list that it was thought ihe would beat Perkins. As usual, the change ! from 18 hole matches to 36 holes had an immediate effect on Bobby Jones’s game. He was round in a remorseless 70 against Beck, played the next five in even fours and annihilated the British Walker Cup player 14 and 13. THE SEMI-FINALS, Perkins beat Voight 6 and 4. Jones beat Finlay 13 and 12. In the semi-finals the match of , the day was undoubtedly that between Perkins and Voight. It was magnificent I golf, the British champion showing all the i strokes and in addition superb fighting ! qualities. Out .n par 35 Perkins was 3 up at the end of nine holes; then Voight came in in 36 (one under par) and the morning round ended with Perkins one up. Starting in the afternoon Perkins played the outward nine in 4,4, 4,4, 4,3, 4, 4, 3—34. It was dazzling golf, as a glance at the length of the holes and par figures (given above) will show. Perkins was now ' 5 up and 9 to go, and he continued with i 4,4, 3,4, 4, to win 6 up and 4. Up to the ’ point at which the match ended Perkins I* was 2 under even fours. It was a true champion’s performance and was recognized as such. Perkins was dazed by the ( outburst of cheering and applause that greeted him when be holed the winning putt. The sporting American crowd were delighted with his brilliant game, and also with the fact that for the first- time since 1911 (when H. H. Hilton won) a British golfer would contest the final. Kerr N. Petrie wrote in the New York Tribune:—“Prob- : ably not. since Hilton has there been such a golfer to carry the standard for Great Britain as Perkins. Having found himself this week Thomas has been proving to the hilt that Bobby Jones was right when he sounded a recent warning. “Look out for Perkins.” And by the same token, Bobby has to do the looking out for himself. The Birmingham lad has passed them all. Those who did not think so much of Perkins when they saw him floundering around at Wheaton in the Walker Cup matches and taking a beating at the bands of Jones 13 to 12 have found it necessary to reverse themselves after seeing the British titleholder perform this week. The last mental back somersault they made to-day. Professionals who watched him against Voight thought they detected a man who is a better iron and mashie player than Jones. They saw a putter who looked equallly as good. The woods ? Well, that is different. Not many can hit the ball like Jones from the tee.” And Grantland Rice wrote of the Englishman in the same paper: —“Perkins is about as good as Hilton. He has greater power. He is a better putter. He has played in this tournament like a champion. If he continues the same stride he will give Bobby a run, no matter what happens. Whatever happens to Phil Perkins, he has deserved his shot at fame, be has made good against killing odds. He has been a shining light in a dark hour for his home country. He has had to fight every foot of the way, where Bobby has enjoyed a golfing holiday since Wednesday. I don’t think he can win, but I believe he will give even the eminent Georgian something to worry about before another New England dusk settles over Brae Burn.” Clearly Perkins had put British golf on the map in America again, and clearly, also, if he could reproduce his game against Voight he would have even the great Bobby Jones doing his best.

Of Jones’s match with Phillip Finlay it need only be eaid that it was the JonesBeck match over again. Out in 34 in in 36 Jones had another 70 in the morning and was 9 up. In the afternoon he went off 3,4, 4,4, 5,3, and that was that—Jones, three under fours for the holes played, was 13 up and 12 to go. It was not a match but a massacre. THE FINAL. PERKINS V JONES. Having acquitted himself so well, and having played so much golf of a quality that would have tested Bobby Jonee himself, Perkins might have been expected to make the final a very different affair from the Walker Cup match in which Jones beat him 13 up and 12 to go. But whether it was the tremendous strain of his great match with Voight the day before or the moral effect of Jones’s great name, the fact was that the Perkins who played Jones in the final was a very different golfer from the Perkins who had beaten Voight. The Briton’s game was not so convincing in any department, but the deterioration was particularly noticeable on the green. The beautifully smooth stroke that had enabled him to putt with deadly effect against Voight was gone. He missed a 7-footer on the second green and at no stage of the match did he seem likely to repeat the brilliant efforts that won him his victory over Voight. Furthermore, he was not the same fighting match player. When Voight attacked him Perkins invariably replied with a counter-blow full of strength and determination. Under Jones’s attack the British champion’s game lost its devil, and when the holes began to slip from him he never looked like recovering them. So when Perkins,, after winning the first hole, was 3 down at the end of the first nine, and 6 down at the end of 18 holes, it was obvious to everybody in the great gallery that the end could not be long delayed. Another nine holes settled it and Jones won 10 and 9, the biggest margin of victory in the history of the championship with the single exception of the final of 1895, when C. B. Macdonald beat C. Sands 12 and 11. The cards for the match were:— Morning. Out— Jones .. 64445343 4—37 Perkins ..444766435 ■ —43 Jones 3 up. In— Jones .. 433454444 —35—72 Perkins .. 544654434 —39 —82 Jones 6 up. Afternoon. Out— Jones .. 43465342 4—35. Perkins .. 44485365 4—43 Jones wins, 10 and 9. Par of the course was 72, and just what par means may be judged from the fact that whereas the standard scratch score for the Balmacewan championship course of 6055 yards was 7*l, par for Brae Burn was two strokes less through the eighteen holes measured just on 600 yards more. For the 240 yards seventeenth at Balmacewan the scratch score is 4, but the seventeenth at Brae Burn measures 255 yards (16 yards more) and par is 3. The eighteenth at Balmacewan is 370 yards in length and the scratch score is 5; the eighteenth at Brae Burn measures 437 yards (67 yards more) and par is 4. These comparisons give some idea of what par figures mean ' and how hard a golfer who can get par figures is to beat. And that is what breaks the heart of the golfers who have to play Bobby Jones. Par wont do against him. In the match with Perkins Jones began with a 6—two over par. But he finished in 72, equalling par, which means that he played the rest of the round in two strokes under par. For the remaining nine holes his ’ score was 35, but here again there was a ‘ 6 at the par 4 fourth, so that the other eight holes were played in 2 under par figures. Grantland Rice of the New York Tribune followed part of the Jones-Perkins match in company with Francis Ouimet, who has more than once faced Jones in big tournaments. “I know how Perkins feels,” he said. “Few can understand what it means to see almost every approach that Jones hits go straight for the cup, where you have the feeling that a par will be no good— that you must beat par to get a half. You feel that you are up against a machine that is grinding you down and nothing can be done to stop it. So in desperation you try to match this game with something that doesn’t quite match, and the result is trouble.” How hard Jones is to beat may be judged from the fact that had Perkins been able in the final to reproduce hole by hole the magnificent game by which he beat Voight he would still have been down to Jones. Voight was playing great golf and Perkins was playing still greater, but at the 27th where Perkins, having played the 27 holes in one under even' fours, was five up on Voight, the British champion, had he played the same superb game in the final would have been two down to Jones. What must the feelings of any golfer be when he does 27 holes of a long and testing championship in an average under fours and still finds himself down to his opponent? As Andra Kirkcaldy said in similar circumstances, it would break the heart of an iron pot. How the two finalists fared against each other and against par is shown in the following table:—

George J. Voight, 71—72—143 Harrison J. Johnston, . . .. 71—73—144 Donald K. Moe, Oregon .. 74—75—149 C. Ross Somerville, Canada .. 72—78—150 Robert T. Jones jr., Atlanta 77—74—151 J. Wolcott Brown, Spring Lake 78—74—152 George Von Elm, Detroit .. 73—79—152 J. Dawson, Chicago .. .. 77—76—153 D. J. Armstrong, Ill 73—80—153 Robert R. Gorton, Brae Burn 76—78—154 Francis Ouimet, Boston 78—76—154 Max R. Marston, Pine Valley 78—76—154 Frank Dolp, Alderwood, Ore. 78—76—154 F. J. Wright jr.. Albermarle 74—80—154 John B. Beck, Great Britain 80—75—155 A. Yates, Oak Hill, Rochester 76—79—155 Dr. Willing, Oregon 83—72—155 Charles Evans jr., Edgewater 80—75—155 John D. Ames, Glenview Club 75 —80 —155 Jess W. Sweetser, Siwanoy .. 78—77—155 Gordon Taylor, Canada .. .. 80—75—155 Watts Gunn Atlanta .. .. 80—75—155 T. P. Perkins Great Britain . . 76—79—155 G. Dawson, West’ter Biltmore 75—81—156 Phillips Finlav, Sandy Burr 79—77—156 Rudolph Knepper, Onwfcntsia 77—79—156 E. F. Storev Great Britain 79—77—156 G. T. Dunlap jr., New York 75—81—156 Carl R. Nettlebraid, Worcester 81—76—157 M. J. McCarthy, Old Flatbush 79—78—157 E. Suffern Tailer jr. Newport 76—81—157 W. F. McPhail, Norfolk Mass 78—79—157

for the Brae Burn course is given:— Hole. Yards. Par. Hole. Yards. Par. 1—337 .... .. 4 10—491 5 2—304 .... .. 4 11—463 4 3—375 .... .. 4 12—163 3 4—446 .... .. 4 13—470 5 5—577 .... .. 5 14—556 5 6—150 .... .. 3 15—311 4 7—412 .... .. 4 16—370 4 8 227 . 3 17 255 3 9—299 .... .. 4 18—437 4

Morning Round. Hole. Yards Par. J. p. Up. "1 337 4 4 p 1 2 304 4 4 4 p 1 3 375 4 4 4 p 1 4 446 4 4 6 Even 5 577 5 5 6 J 1 6 150 3 3 6 J 2 7 412 4 4 4 J 2 8 227 3 3 3 J 2 9 299 4 4 5 .1 3 10 491 5 4 5 J 4 11 463 4 3 4 J 5 12 163 3 3 4 .1 6 13 470 5 4 6 J 7 14 556 5 5 5 .1 7 15 311 4 4 4 J 7 16 370 4 4 4 J 7 17 255 3 4 3 J 6 18 437 4 4 4 J 6 — —. - — -— Totals . 6,643 72 72 81 Afternoon Round. Hole. Yards Par. J. p. Up. 19 337 4 4 4 J 6 20 304 4 3 4 J 7 21 375 4 4 4 J 7 22 446 4 6 8 .1 8 23 577 5 5 5 J 8 24 150 3 3 3 J 8 25 412 4 4 6 J 9 20 227 3 2 5 J10 27 299 4 4 4 J10 ■ - - .— Totals .. 3,127 .35 35 43