GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 21897, 24 December 1932, Page 13

GOLF

(By

“Cleek.”)

The Commodore and officers of H.M.S. Diomede, who had some golf at Otatara when the ship was at Bluff recently, marked their appreciation of the hospitality extended to them by presenting the president and members of the Invercargill Golf Club with an attractive picture of the Diomede, tastefully framed and bearing a small silver plate with a suitable inscription. Good progress is being made at Queen’s Park with both the four-ball competition and the singles knock-out competition. The former is divided into sections with four pairs in each and the pair with most successes wins the section and play off with the other section winners. These competitions, also the periodical matches for the ferns, are keeping Park players fully occupied during the long pleasant evenings. In the semi-finals of the Otago Club’s championship J. A. Scouler beat W. G. Wight 2 and 1, and J. Spence beat J. H. McDougall 3 and 2. In the final over 36 holes Scouler was 2 up on Spence at the end of 18 holes and went on to win 4 and 2. Some of the English cricketers played golf while in Sydney. Hammond Is the best of a band not distinguished as golfers. He hits a long ball from the tee. Some of the onlookers at the Test earnestly hoped that he would forget for the moment that he had a bat in his hands and a driver instead, but their hopes were not realized He and Allen played a four-ball at Elanora as the guests of Dr. Bettington. The Nawab of Pataudi played with Charlie Macartney at Roseville. The last of the summer matches for the year was played at Otatara on Saturady under ideal conditions. It was a stroke competition for a steel-shafted club or a box of balls, at the winner’s option, donated by a generous member and a large field took out cards. The best scores were put in by J. C. Prain and W. Fordyce, each of whom had a net 69, and they elected to take a box of balls and divide them. Two competitors had net scores of 70 and two net scores of 71. The detailed results were;— J. C. Prain 81-12-69 W. Fordyce 80—11—69 G. B. Meredith 80-10-70 A. E. Smith 87—17—70 W. Buchan 82—11—71 M. O’Dowda 79— B—7l Although W. Fordyce and J. A. Thom had the upper hand practically all the way in a four-ball match against R. T. Barnett and N. Earl during the week, the match proved one of the most interesting of the competition at Queen's Park. At the first hole Fordyce holed a long putt for a birdie 3 and actually lost the hole, one of his opponents, who was receiving a strike, chipping out for a like figure. This was the forerunner of an unusual number of similar incidents. At the sixth Fordyce holed another long one for 4 and at the next

Earl had a turn, getting a 4 after being about 19 yards from the pin with his third. Then at the ninth Thom came to light by running down a 30-footer for a 3. The fun continued on the homeward journey, Fordyce holing a chip shot for a 4 at the tenth and Barnett retaliating by sinking an awkward putt for a 3 at the eleventh. Both Fordyce and Earl sank good putts at the next for 3’s and then for a couple of holes the play was more normal. But at the fifteenth Thom put his tee shot within a yard of the pin, Fordyce carrying on the good work by sinking a 36-footer at the sixteenth for a 4, Barnett completed an entertaining round by holing out for 3 at the eighteenth. The best ball score was 66. Fordyce was round in about 76 and Thom must have been in the vicinity of 80. They won the match by three and one.