GOLF

Southland Times, Issue 21997, 22 April 1933, Page 14

GOLF

(By

“Cleek.”)

Second round of eclectic at Queen’s Park to-day. Teams match, President v. VicePresidents, at Otatara this afternoon. Next Saturday members of the Invercargill Club who have a handicap of 20 or over will play a stroke competition. High gusty winds prevailed at nearly all Easter tournaments from Invercargill to Auckland. With 84 competitors on the opening day the Southland Easter tournament was one of the largest in the Dominion.

Easter Tournament at Otatara was a pronounced success. The weather was mixed but on the whole not bad. High winds from the west and nor-west troubled the competitors, but gave the player who could hit the ball accurately an advantage to which he was entitled. The brothers H. A. and J. L. Black did not compete in the provincial championship at Heretaunga (Wellington) at Easter. They entered for a tournament at another Wellington course, Shandon, and fought out the final of the principal event, H. A. defeating J. L. 4 and 3. The Otatara course was in beautiful order for the Easter tournament and visiting golfers were loud in their praises of the fairways and greens. There was nothing wrong with the lies through the green and putts on the line rolled true to the hole. The new cards will be available at Queen’s Park to-day and players in this afternoon’s match should note the changes in the local rules printed on the back. It will not now be permissible to lift from the covered in ditches, as was the case last season. J. Millard got the ninth hole at Shirley in one in the first round of the Canterbury championship on Saturday last. As the Easter tournament was in full swing with upwards of a hundred competitors on the course» the traditional penalty for the feat would not go very far at the 19th. No doubt, however, the “perfect fluke” was properly celebrated. The Easter tournaments resulted in the emergence of the following as provincial champions for 1933: — Auckland : B. M. Silk. _ Manawatu : L. Seifert jr. Wellington : S. G. Longuet. Nelson : M. Moore. Canterbury : J. Galloway. Otago : K. Ross. Southland : C. A. Masters. R. A. Wilson did not show his form against C. A. Masters in the final of the Southland amateur championship. He repeatedly foozled shots, both with wood and iron, in the manner of a player with a handicap of twenty. These shots were very unlike his regular brand, for he usually hits them straight and far off the tee, and, where necessary, just as straight and far for the second. Masters was not exactly at his best either but he played quite as well as he was required to. He was out of the tournament last year when A. Thom won and is to be congratulated on regaining the cup this year. A. Thom, last year’s winner, was put out by C. B. O’Driscoll. Less than two years ago this St. Clair player had a handicap of 18; he now plays from the five mark and it seems likely that he will do better yet. He played consistent bogey golf against Thom and, except for a crash at the 17th, got .the right figures at every hole. Thom was going steadily himself, but he needed O’Driscoll’s breakdown at the 17th to get square, and when he failed to get a good one from the tee at the 18th the St. Clair man hit “a purler” over the ridge and his four to win the match was easy. Lack of tournament experience told against O’Driscoll in his semifinal with Masters. Against Thom his putting was flawless: against Masters it became uncertain and he threw ' away wins at the first and sixth and a half at the 10th that would have put a different complexion on the match. Not that he had any chance of beating Masters—he will have to be a good deal better yet to do that—but he would not himself have been beaten 5 and 3. If O’Driscoll continues to make progress it will be interesting to see him in competition at Otatara again. T. W. Barr Stoddart is a worthy junior champion of the province and his win was popular. He vanquished a tough, keen opponent in H. Edginton (Queen’s Park), who has many good shots and is always a trier. There was nothing in it till the second round was halfway through and then Stoddart started a run that settled the issue in quick time. His score for the last six holes of the match, the 10th to the 15th, was 26 strokes and that was not bad against a strong nor’wester. It was not surprising that Edginton should crack under the pressure. That is all in the game. Edginton is a good match player and his day will come. A sealed hole match and a Scott Cup round for B grade players engaged the attention of members of the Queen’s Park Ladies’ Club last Tuesday. The sealed hole match was won hy Mrs McCreary with 37 net for nine holes. She returned an excellent card of 88 for the full round. The Scott Cup round resulted in a tie between Mrs Tait and Miss Wesney, whose cards were marked 103 —22—81. Next week’s match will be played on Wednesday as Anzac Day falls on Tuesday. It will be a one-club match. The ladies’ tournament at Queen’s Park during Easter was yell patronized, although there were not so many competitors from outside Southland as was the case last year. The organization was in the hands of Mrs Wilson, Mrs McCreary and Miss Thomson, and they had everything running smoothly. A fairly strong wind blew most of the time, but nevertheless some very good cards were returned. The winners of the various events were: Medal match, Miss Frew; bogey match, Miss Gore (St. Clair); flag match, Miss Wesney (A grade) and Miss Pay (B grade); sealed hole match, Mrs Earl (A grade) and Mrs Colquhoun (B grade); foursomes, Mrs Scott and Mrs Tucker.

The first round of the captain’s prize competition was played by members of the Invercargill Ladies’ Club on

Thursday. A high wind affected the play. The best cards returned were: Mrs Sturman, 101—18—83; Mrs H. M. Smith, 95—11—84; Mrs C. F. A. Jones, gg 13 —36; Mrs Ford, 112—26—86. Next Thursday the first round of the championships will be played. Owing to Anzac Day following on Tuesday the Handyside Cup round will be played on Thursday in conjunction with the championships. It has nothing to do with golf but as it was mentioned incidentally in this column recently it may be reported that Babe Ruth finally agreed to play baseball for a summer for 52,000 dollars. Last year he was paid 75,000 dollars. This year he was offered 50,000 dollars but refused it, saying he would rather stand out than accept less than 65,000. When he completes this season Ruth will have played fourteen seasons with the club called the Yankees and he will have received 807,009 dollars for his services. It is something to be a baseball star in U.S.A.

The Otago Club does not play qualifying rounds for the Otago championship at its Easter tournament. It accepts a sufficient number of the lower handicap entries for the event to provide, with byes, for 32 players in the first round. Four rounds of 18-hole matches are then played and a final of 36 holes. The entries this year were restricted to Dunedin players and with one or two exceptions to members of the Otago Club. By the time the third round was reached the competitors were pretty evenly matched, as the results showed. W. G. Wight finished one up on J. R. Laidlaw; J. H. McDougall beat A. Gibbs at the 18th; J. Spence had to go to the 21st before he got the verdict against B. V. Wright; and K. Ross beat T. B. Ferguson at the 19th. The semi-finals were also very clore, McDougall beating Wight at the 191. i and K. Ross beating Spence 1 up. In the final McDougall made a good fight of it against an old campaigner, but Ross carried too many guns. Round in 75 for the first 18 holes (including a 7at the 13th where the high wind blew him off his balance at the top of his swing on the tee) Ross was 2 up and went on to win 6 and 5.

J. Galloway, who won the Canterbury amateur championship at Shirley last Saturday after a play-off with J. Millard, is a teacher on the staff of the Rangiora High School. He is a son of John Galloway, the professional to the Manawatu Golf Club at Palmerston North, while his brother, Tom Galloway, is the professional to the Maungakiekie Golf Club, One Tree Hill, Auckland. His victory in this championship is remarkable in many ways. Although recognized as a stylist among short handicap players, Galloway was not favoured for the title, as he had had no practice—he took up his clubs for the 1933 season only a week ago. There were very few who had seen him playing, because since he has been in Canterbury he has scarcely taken part in an open tournament, although champion of the Rangiora Club in each of the last four years. Since he was a small boy he has handled clubs, but lack of sufficient time has prevented him from playing in many tournaments. The Canterbury Championship is decided by two stroke rounds. In the championship _ Galloway had two rounds of 75, while Millard had rounds of 74 and 76. In the play-off over 18 holes Galloway put on a great 72 to win by one stroke, Millard playing a round of 73.