GOLF.

Southland Times, Issue 20771, 11 May 1929, Page 18

GOLF.

(By

“Cleek.”)

May 13—British Ladies’ Championship, St. Andrews. May 27—British Amateur Championship, Royal St. George’s, Sandwich. June 27—American Open Championship, Winged Foot, N.Y. Aug. 8,9, 10 —Kirk-Windeyer Cup matches, •Melbourne. Sept. 2—American Amateur Championship, Pebble Beach, California. Sept. 26—Oct. 3—New Zealand Ladies’ Championship, Shirley. Sept. 30—American Ladies’ Championship, Oakland Hills, Michigan.

Cuthbertson Memorial Cup foursomes at Otatara to-day. This afternoon, teams of 20 each ladies and men will play off the first Ayson Shield match for the season, the men conceding half a stroke a hole. No draw for Cuthbertson Memorial foursome to-day. Players arrange for their partners and make up foursomes themselves. British ladies’ championship begins at St. Andrews on Monday, with Miss Joyce Wethered in the field again.

Committee of Invercargill Club meets on Tuesday when a batch of new members will come up for election. A party from the Invercargill Club will visit the Mokoia (Mataura) links this weekend. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair are very kindlyextending the hospitality of their house to the visitors.

The Gore ladies had beautiful weather for their visit to Otatara on Tuesday and the day’s golf was greatly enjoyed by both the visitors and the Otatara ladies.

In winning last Monday’s L.G.U. match with a card reading 104-28-76 Mrs Clow, a member of the Queen's Park Ladies’ Club, reduced her handicap by two strokes. The sealed hole match played by the ladies on the Park on Monday resulted in three players t.ieing for first place, the scores being—Mrs Wilson 51-15-36; Miss D. McCallum 53-17-36; Mrs Willett 54-18-36.

An experiment will be tried on the Park on Saturday week, when a flag match is set down for decision. The committee has decided that the draw will lake place at the clubhouse. Those who wish to be in the first draw will need to be on hand about I. p.m.i Draws will then be made at intervals of about a quarter of an hour. The Invercargill Club's championships, senior and junior, are making such good progress that there should be no difficulty in getting the semi-finals through by the due date —17th inet. In the first round of matches for the club championship the results were:—C. A. Masters beat A. E. Wish, 5 up and 4 to play; P. B. Barnett beat M. H. Mitchel 3 and 1; D. Cochrane beat J. P. Butler 3 and 1; James A. Mangan beat J. A. Doig 7 and 6. In the second round Masters and Barnett have got their match over, the former giving the Wyndham man no chance at all. Though a stymie and one or two misadventures affected his score, Masters contrived to keep his figures to level fours and Barnett could not go the pace. Hie match ended in favour of Masters 6 and 5, but the pair finished the round and Masters holed out at the eighteenth for 72 —equalling the standard scratch score for the course. Mangan and Cochrane meet in the other semi-final and the winner will play Masters for the championship over 36 holes. In the junior championship the results in the first round were: —John A. Mangan beat W. Buchan 4 and 3; A. E. Smith beat T. R. Abercrombie 2 up; F. O. Mac Gibbon beat B. W. Hewat 3 and 1; T. W. Vickery beat J. G. McHarg 7 and 6.

The Saturday players had much the better of things in regard to weather conditions for the playing of a stroke handicap. Very few competitors were keen enough to play a full round in the steady downpour which commenced just as the first couple were setting out. A. Masters was one of the enthusiasts, however, and he had his reward in being declared the winner of the senior division with a card marked 86-9-77, a good score under the circumstances. W. Fordyce, 94-16-78, was second, and F. H. Hughes, 97-17-80, third. Another Wednesday player, S. Blomfield, had a clearcut victory over the junior grade members as he had six strokes to spare from his nearest competitor, H. McCulloch. The best scores in this grade were -S. Blomfield 95-24-71; H. McCulloch 101-24-77; H. W. Jones 107-29-78. There is no official record of the Muirfield championship course as alterations made in it invalidated former scores. This year’s British open championship saw “records” made and shattered in quick succession. A wonderful 70 to Leo Diegel in the second qualifying round set up a mark for the competitors to shoot at in the championship proper. In the first round Percy Alliss, the British pro. who is now professional at Wannsee, Berlin, went one better with a 69,' and in the second round Walter Hagen got two strokes under that with a remarkable 67. As the Muirfield course is over 6700 yards in length and bristles with difficulties the probability is that Hagen’s 67 will stand for many a long day.

Horton Smith, the young American pro, who had such a remarkable string of successes in the American winter tournaments, had to equip himself with an entirely new kit when he decided to enter for the British open championship. All his golfing life he had used the steel-shafted clubs whieh are so popular in the States, but steel shafts are barred in British championships. Consequently Horton Smith had to purchase a new outfit of hickory-shafted clubs, and it will be interesting to hear if he thought he lost anything in length or accuracy by the change. Some other Amerit"*! professionals probably had to make the same change, but mast of them, we fancy, regularly rec hickory shafts in their own country; Bobby Jones uses nothing else. The first round of matches in the Otago Golf Club’s championship resulted as. follows:—K. Ross beat D. M. Irvine, 5 and 3; G. C. Henderson beat J. Spence, 5 and 3; G. F. Barnett beat IT. Brasch by default; E. A. Reed beat A. L. Shield, 4 and 3; C. T. Irvine beat J. G. Dick, 1 up; W. G. Wight beat J. R. Laidlaw, 4 and 3; S. C. Colbeck beat G. Gibson, 4 and 2. In the St. Clair Club’s championship the first round of matches resulted as follows: C. B. Wight beat A. Smellie, 7 up and 5 to play; G. Forbes beat A. Lawrence, 5 and 4; 11. A. Gamble beat K. Clark, 3 and 2 ; J. A. Scoular beat W. D. McCarthy, 7 and 5; L. H. Marshall beat J. A. Templeton, 6 and 4; F. Drake beat J. Matheson, 1 up at the nineteenth; W. Clayton beat 11. Chapman, 7 and 5. The foursome match is one of the most difficult in the game but one of the best. It is harder on the player than (he single, because he is playing every shot not only for himself but for his partner. ’lf his partner hits a beautiful drive from the tee he feels that he must put the second on the green or blush with shame; or if his partner fosses up a perfect mashie to within six feet of the pin he feels that the shot will be wasted unless he holes the putt. So the strain is on all the time. Just for this reason, because of the stress and anxiety which attend it, the foursome is not nearly so popular as the four-ball, but the four-ball does not compare with the foursome as a test of the skill and stamina of the player. It is for that reason that in all great golf matches provision is made for foursomes. In the Ryder Cup, for instance, the professional international between America and Britain, foursomes as well as singles are played. Similarly in the Walker Cup international (Bri'ish v. American amateurs), and the Kirk-Win-deyer Cup (Australian v. N.Z.-amateurs), foursomes are played as well as singles, and so also in the international England.v. Scotland and. the inter-University matches at Home. The donors -of the Cuthbertson Cup, which will be played for at Otatara this afternoon, had the best interests of the game at heart when they stipulated foursome play. It is a very pleasant thing, no doubt; for two players, each on full handicap, to go out. and batter poor old bogey with two balls, and in such so-called matches ridiculous scores of 11 and 12 up are by no means uncommon. The foursome is a real match and quite another pair

of shoes, and any pair which finishes up on the old Colonel to-day will have well earned the handsome Cuthbertson Cup. While it is a fairly common occurrence for splinters of stone to damage the eyesight of workers in quarries, it is strange indeed to hear of a golfer losing the sight of his right eye through some flinty substance, broken glass possibly, glancing off his club, or picked up in some way from the ground in tfie stroke. This was the unfortunate case of Mr Geoffrey Dalgety, of Hawera, the lens of the eye, it is stated by the Hawera Star, being pierced and the sight of that eye being lost irretrievably. Mr. Dalgety is the youngest member of the Hawera Club, aged 14. The following is the best definition of “timing” that I know of, and, if fully comprehended by all players, should be of great assistance. This definition is by Edward Ray. “What is timing? To understand it, it is necessary to remark that the blow delivered by the golf club is not the result of one but of many forces. The body itself is swinging round, as if pivoted on the back-bone; the arms are swinging from the shoulders, the forearms from the elbows, the club itself from the wrists. All these motions are more or less independent; the aim of the player must be so to balance the different muscular forces by which these motions are governed, that all attain their maximum at the shme time, and that time should be the moment when the head of the club comes into contact with the ball. This is timing, as I conceive the meaning of the word.”

Horton Smith, the young American professional who stepped into the limelight by his wonderfully consistent playing during the winter, and young Densmore Shute of Columbus, Ohio, who, until last spring was a leading amateur of the Middle West, played a great tie of 281 at Ft. Myers, Fla., against a field that included most of the stars. To beat Gene Sarazen’s 283. both players did some spectacular playing on the two final holes—both par s's. Shute holed a chip shot for a 3 on the 17th and followed it with a chip on the 18th that was but a few inches from the hole giving him a birdie after his eagle. Smith made a birdie on the 17th and holed out a 25foot up-hill putt for an eagle 3 on the 18th. The tie between Smith and Shute was played off at once. The committee in charge of the tournament ruled that nine holes would decide the match. The nine consecutive holes were halved in 34. It was then decided that the players proceed until one had the advantage. The tenth was halved in 3 — a par 4. On the pur 5, eleventh (537yds), Smith holed out in 4 to Shute’s par 5, giving Smith first money, and the honour of adding another first to his winter collection. It was one of the most exciting finishes of the winter season. THE GORE CLUB. ITEMS OF INTEREST. Improvements made to the Gore Club’s course during the past week or two will be welcomed by members, who, earlier, in the season, were finding that bad lies even on the fairway were too frequent to be pleasant. This was due to the unusually prolonged spell of mild weather promoting a luxurious growth of grass. With such a late cutting, however, the fairways should now remain in a satisfactory condition for the remainder of the season, while the removal of several of the worst patches close to the fairways should materially assist in improving the general conditions of play. A curious find was recently made by a local player when making a round of the links. In a large hollow at the foot of a big tree close to the Waikaka stream he noticed six trout, long since dead, lying close together. They had apparently been washed into the hollow when the stream was in flood at Easter time and had been unable to get away when the water receded. The fact that they were lying so close together in the deepest part of the hollow indicates that they were taking advantage of what water remained until the pool eventually dried up. Two or three good cards, which, no doubt, have attracted the attention of the handicapper were returned in the medal match played on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons of last week. The lowest nett score was returned by D. F, Tait, who with a handicap of 30, completed the 18 holes in 90. This was a very pleasing performance on the part of a player who has always been keen to reduce his handicap and who will doubtless now have the satisfaction of seeing his allowance slightly depleted. H. Chaplin and J. A. S. Aitken both returned nett scores of 64, the former, with a handicap of 30 and the latter with a handicap of 24. As it was the first match of the season these two players have reason to feel pleased with their scores and it is more than likely that before long they too will be receiving some attention from the handicapper. It is understood that several members of the Ladies’ Club have already succeeded in having their handicaps reduced, while others are living in hope.

Since the coach, Mr. Reilly, came to Gore about a fortnight ago his services have been freely availed of and both new and older players have shown a keenness to learn how to improve their game. Mr. Reilly has become very ponular with the members and apart from his happy manner of instructing (hose who seek his services, he makes a very pleasant companion (o play with. The programme of men's fixtures has been slightly altered and the Laing Shield match with (he Invercargill Club has been advanced from May 15 to 22. As this left a clear day on May 15, it was decided to commence the mixed foursome bogey on Saturday next and to conclude it on the following Wednesday. As it happened it was fortunate that this alteration was made as the conditions for play on Wednesday last —the original date for the commencement of this match—were far from pleasant. LADIES’ OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP. A GREAT FIELD THIS YEAR. On Monday, on the historic “old course" at St. Andrews, the British ladies’ open championship will be begun, and the event is being looked forward to this year with even greater interest than usual. For two years now the championship has been won by French women: Mdlle. Thion de la Ohaume in 1927. and Mdlle. Nanette le Blan in 1928. This year Miss Joyce Wethered, undoubtedly the greatest lady player that has appeared in Britain (riot even excepting Miss Cecil Leitch), is returning to competitive golf for this event, and with her entry British golfers feel confident that this trophy will be recovered for Britain. On the other hand there is an exceptionally strong challenge from the United States. Miss Glenna Collett (U.S.A, champion 1922, 1925, 19281, and Miss Maureen Orcutt (runner-up U.S A. championship 1927) are both in the field and both of them will take some beating. Writing in The Sketch, Mr R. Endersby Howard has the. following interesting notes on the championship:—The I>cst thrill that has animated the world of ladies’ golf for a long time is the news that Miss Joyce Wethered intends to re appear in the British championship at St. Andrews in May. It is fitting to pay tribute to the sporting spirit of her decision. In spite of her three years’ absence from championships, people never weary of saying that Miss Wethered is as definitely as ever the outstanding player of her sex; the counterpart of Mr Bobby Jones in men’s amateur golf. Nevertheless, those title-winners who have risen to renown since she retired have a natural desire to match their powers against hers. She is the accepted standard. Anybody who can beat her has a claim to distinction beyond compare. She might well have remained in the seclusion which she sought on the ground that she found more pleasure in friendly rounds than in the turmoil of tournaments. But I suppose she could not very well help hearing the remark in its unceasing reiteration: “what a pity' it is that Joyce Wethered stands down!” and so now she has resolved to re-enter the arena and give the newcomers their chance. During her absence, France has inaugur-

ited a reign of supremacy in ladies’ golf. Mlle. Nanette Le Blan, of Lille (now Mme. Robert de la Chaume) won the British honours last year. Mlle. Simone de la Chaume, of Paris, was successful twelve months earlier. England has been moving forward on the feet of big as well as little children, and produced in Miss Enid Wilson a player who is widely regarded as a worthy successor of Miss Wethered. Indeed, Miss Wilson has done even more than Miss Wethered did at the age of eighteen, for, in addition to securing the English native title, she has been a semifinalist twice in the British championship. Nor has America lagged behind. Mies Glenna Collett, of Province, Rhode Island, champion of her nation for the third time, .is declared to be a better player than ever, and the assertion sounds reasonable in view of her continued success at home. She is an entrant for St. Andrews. So, too, is Miss Maureen Orcutt, of Long Island, most progressive of American lady players. During the past two years, Miss Orcutt has led the field once, and been runner-up on the other occasion, in the qualifying medal rounds for the United States championship. She has also been in the final of the match stages. Consequently, it can be said in perfect truth that Miss Wethered is making her reappearance at a time when competition is far more strongly developed than it was during her era of invincibility. I daresay she is quite willing that it should be the week of her swan-song. She always wanted to play in just one championship at St. Andrews, and this is the first opportunity that has presented itself, for the tournament has not been held there since 1908, when she was seven years of age. Personally, I would like to meet anybody who is prepared to wager a few half-crowns that Miss Wethered does not win. It is sometimes said that St. Andrews gives such immunity to erratic drivers that accuracy of direction from the tee is almost superfluous. It is true that a thoroughly bad hook will often leave the ball sitting up nicely on an adjoining fairway. Even has this been advanced as an explanation of the fact that, in each of the two Walker Cup matches held at St. Andrews, the British amateurs have lost to the American amateurs by only one point, whereas, at other places, they have been beaten by big margins. It seems a rather churlish view to take of a hard fight. The hooked drive at St. Andrews usually brings its punishment in increasing the difficulty of the second shot. The sliced drive is destructive. St. Andrews has evolved a sequence of great champions, with Mr Bobby Jones as the hist so far, in spite of its supposed deficiencies as a place of. retribution.

A question that a good many people are asking is as to whether Miss Cecil Leitch will be tempted to emerge from retirement now that her chief rival of four or five years ago has decided to do so. I believe that Miss Leitch is concentrating her energies on a business career, but the. sentimental appeal of St. Andrews must be as strong to her as it is in the case of Miss Wethered, for it was there that she made a distinguished debut in the British championship by reaching the semi-final when she was only seventeen years old. Miss Leitch, like Miss Wethered, went into seclusion with her flag flying. She won the title for the fourth time in 1926, and then finished so far as intentions could tell at that period. It will be very nearly the greatest triumph that the old course ever achieved if it succeeds in bringing about such a re-union in ladies’ golf as now seems possible.