Eastern Successful Against Town Golf Team At Wyndham

Southland Times, Issue 23922, 14 September 1939, Page 11

Eastern Successful Against Town Golf Team At Wyndham

By

PAR

The match at Wyndham between Town and Eastern District was a complete success. Every one of the 32 competitors thoroughly enjoyed a day’s golf in pleasant surroundings and in ideal weather. There was a skiff of rain about midday, but so intent was everybody on the foursomes play that it was barely noticed. The course might have, been specially prepared for the evert or no more than the ordinary attention might have been given to it, but it was certainly in splendid order, especially the greens. Rain in the early morning had taken the fire out of the greens and it was possible to hit them with approaches and stay there. Eastern certainly gave Town a good drubbing, by 14 matches to 9, but nobody worried about that. The rivalry was keen, but of the friendliest, and a very promising start was made to what it is hoped will be a series of contests. The keenness of the players themselves was shown by the fact that of the 32 selected only four were not available. All of the 16 Eastern players originally chosen took part in the match. It has been suggested that two of these contests should be played each year, one in the country and one in Invercargill, and the end of October was mentioned as an opportune time to play the return match. Eastern gained a lead on Town in the foursomes, played before lunch, by * winning five of the eight matches. It was thought that the Town players, most of whom were conceding strokes to their opponents, would prove capable of wiping out the deficit in the singles, but once again the Eastern men were too good for them, winning nine of the 16 matches. The top Town pair in the foursomes, J. E. Matheson and G. E. Glennie, had a close match with P. B. Barnett and M. S. Tansley, the latter winning on the seventeenth green. Both pairs turned on some good golf. H. W. Rogers and D. W. Cochrane combined extremely well against G. C. Davey and G. L. Caldwell, but even with a round of 74 they could not win. Their opponents, who were in receipt of six strokes, also played well and won at the seventeenth. D. F. Lindsay and G. A. Patterson gave A. C. Holmes and A. D. Reid three strokes and won by three and two, but J. D. Strettell and S. A. Glennie found their Eastern opponents, D. Crawford and H. R. Willcocks too strong and were defeated by three and two. The other four matches resulted in two wins to each side. Conceding two strokes to Tansley in the top match of the singles, Matheson ran out the winner by three and two. Rogers could not give such an experienced player as Barnett two strokes, but they had a grand tussle, the Wyndham man winning by a single hole. G. E. Glennie had no chance of holding C. G. Davey when he began to falter on the greens, the Wyndham man romping home by four and three. D. W. Cochrane made it two wins each by disposing of A. C. Holmes by five and four. Holmes can play much better golf than he did on Sunday, although he is inclined to be erratic. It was not expected that D. Crawford would beat D. F. Lindsay even with the aid of two strokes, but the latter played an in and out round and was defeated by three and two. That gave Eastern a lead of one in the singles and a lead of three on the match. The position was unchanged when J. D. Strettell finished all square with G. L. Caldwell, a young Gore player who should do well at the game. Wins for Town were gained by G. A. Patterson and H. W. Lees at the expense of A. D. Reid and H. R. Willcocks respectively and Eastern’s lead was reduced to one. E. A. Pankhurst increased the lead to two with a win against G. Robertson, and S. A. Glennie brought it back to one by beating the long-hitting E. Christianson. Eastern made its position secure by winning five of the six matches in which the higher handicap players took part. Even if they had not been conceding strokes, the Town players could not have won a sufficient number of matches to give their side the victory.

CLUB COMPETITIONS No one could get on even terms with bogey in the match played at Otatara on Saturday. No doubt the stiff northwest wind affected the scoring. O. Rice and J. E. Matheson were one down, the former winning on the count over the last nine holes. Rice was two down at the turn, where Matheson, who was out in 37, was one up without the assistance of a single stroke., lc . e s game improved over the second nine holes, which he did in 39. Matheson was also back in 39, but had one win and three losses to Rice’s two wins and one loss. A. J. Skjellerup was third with two down. One down was also the best that could be done in the B grade, R. C. Cook and A. G. Stubbs tieing for first place. Cook was allsquare over the last nine and was declared the winner. A Stableford handicap under the Australian system of scoring was decided at Queen’s Park on Saturday. A score of 34 points was good enough to give O. G. Gilmour a win in the A grade, this being his second success lately. W. E. Halder began badly, then settled down to steady golf and got within two points of the winner. In the B grade T. S. McMillan won with 37 points, a point ahead of H. C. Hurrell. The medal handicap for 24handicap players proved a good thing for J. Milne, who had a net 64, which

was nine strokes better than the second man’s score. His round of 88 was pretty “hot” scoring for a player on the limit. There were one or two surprises in the first round of the Wyndham Club’s championships on Saturday. E. A. Pankhurst eliminated C. G. Davey by one hole and J. H. Baird, always an opponent who is hard to beat, caused an upset by defeating A. C. Holmes by the same margin. In the semi-finals P. B. Barnett meets Pankhurst and C. W. Rout plays Baird. The semi-final-ists in the Wyndham Plate, which is competed for by the second eight to qualify, are D. Crawford, M. C. Rice, J. Stirling and H. W. Heath. In the B grade semi-finals F. C. Milne plays M. Tangney and J. T. Mitchell plays D. E. Scott.

GOLF IN WAR TIME “Carry on” is the New Zealand Golf Council’s advice concerning local golf tournaments and club competitions. The outbreak of war has caused the abandonment of the Tasman Cup match between teams of New Zealand and Australian women golfers, and the visit of an Australian men’s team has been cancelled. The fate of the centennial tournaments is to be decided _ at a special meeting of the council this week. A former New Zealand champion golfer, Sloan Morpeth, who has been secretary of the Australian Golf Union for some years now, had set his heart on international matches between New Zealand and Australia being resumed. Within a few days of the announcement that Pacific Cup matches were to start, war broke out. The cablegram he sent to Mr G. O. Sutton, secretary of the New Zealand Council, stated that it would now be impossible to play the games. , . Being a New Zealander it is only natural perhaps that Morpeth should strive hard to put Dominion golf on the map properly and he was one of the most disappointed of men when the Kirk-Windeyer Cup match between New Zealand and the individual Australian states fizzled out completely (says The Sports Post). He did a tremendous amount of spadework for the Pacific Trophy matches between the amateurs of the two countries. When the first contest for the trophy will be played is now in the lap of the gods. It needed little discernment when reading the telegram to appreciate the fact that Morpeth was upset, to say the least. Actually the Pacific Cup matches were to have been played at the Miramar links at the time of the national centennial championships. This naturally raises the question of whether the centennial tournament itself and the tournaments at Christchurch and Auckland will be played. Quite the most worried man in New Zealand golfing circles is the council secretary, who went to an enormous amount of trouble to give publicity overseas to the Dominion tournaments. Right up to last week he was optimistic that there would be a big overseas representation of amateurs and professionals, but it looks very much as if his work has gone for .nothing.

COTTON’S SHANGRI-LA In many ways you couldn’t blame Henry Cotton for avoiding a match with Bobby Locke. Cotton is not the “natural” player that Locke is; he has reached his present eminence by sheer doggedness. He is today, or was until recently, making a very good living out of golf and had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, had he met Locke and been beaten (says The Sports Post). Cotton’s mansion at Ashridge Golf Course in Hertfordshire, where he is the professional, was erected at a cost of £lO,OOO. It is named “Shangri-La,” after the famous Utopia of “Lost Horizon,” and contains four bathrooms which were all designed by Cotton himself. Cotton has always been businesslike about golf. When you consult him, you are taken to an office which might very well be that of the inner sanctum of some big banker. Then, as he sits in a swivel chair, this pale-faced studious looking wizard of golf will tell you why you hook or slice or why your drives lack power—but at a price. And the price is far beyond the means of the average “rabbit.” In this office, which is fitted out with Belgian furniture, Cotton also deals with a voluminous correspondence. Cotton is very keen on gardening, and employs several gardeners. He also has a valet and a chauffeur and runs two motor-cars. Although he does not touch drink himself, his home boasts one of the most elaborate cocktail cabinets in Britain. Locke was merely a nuisance in this Shangri-La. VON NIDA’S CHALLENGE Norman von Nida is prepared to play “Babe” Didrikson for £lOO over 18 holes and give her five strokes. Von Nida admits that, as a woman golfer, Miss Didrikson is simply marvellous. But he will not have it that she can pace it with the best men, and, above all, holds she is not capable of trading shots on equal terms with himself. “Any time and on any championship course I’ll play hqr under these conditions—and beat her, too, believe me,” he said. “I know she can hit long, powerful and great shots, for I’ve seen her do it. But she cannot score any-

thing like par figures consistently. She didn’t do that in America, and she didn’t do it at Sydney. She_ won’t do it if I meet her, while I certainly will.” AUSTRALIAN AMATEUR FINAL

Still playing magnificently, Jim Ferrier, the open champion, easily defeated H. L. Williams in the final of the national amateur championship by 6 up and 5, on the Royal Melbourne Club’s west course on August 31. He thus won in the same year the treble — the foursomes, open and amateur championships. The final marked the eighth meeting of Ferrier and Williams. Ferrier scored his second victory (says The Sydney Morning Herald). Williams was outclassed in every department, with perhaps the exception of the drives. Ferrier played throughout with uncanny accuracy, and on those few occasions that he made mistakes his recovery shots were brilliant. Williams played many great shots; but he also made many mistakes. He lacked the dash and determination of his opponent. One of the disappointments of the day was the marked lack, of spontaneous applause for 'Ferrier’s good play. The crowd seemed to want Williams to win; but it was surprising that so few recognized the worth of Ferrier’s play. Any good shot by Williams brought forth loud applause; but great shots by Ferrier were passed, apparently without notice. Ferrier, who played like a real champion, and whose conduct was above reproach, deserved better treatment. “What’s wrong with the crowd?” asked his caddie. “Are they handcuffed?”

From the outset Ferrier took command, winning the first hole with a 4. Williams chipped in weakly. Williams won the second, but lost the third and fourth. The next four holes were halved; then a 15-foot putt for a 3

gave Williams the ninth, leaving Ferrier 1 up. Ferrier took the tenth, when Williams conceded him a three-foot putt, and a 4 at the eleventh made him 3 up. The position remained unchanged until the fifteenth, where Ferrier won with a 5, and when the champion took the seventeenth and halved the eighteenth, he went to lunch 5 up. A crowd of 2000 watched the afternoon’s play. When Ferrier missed a 4ft putt at the first hole, Williams’s supporters were heartened, but only temporarily, for Ferrier won four of the next six holes. Losing the short seventh to a 3, Williams was 8 down, and in a hopeless position. However, he regained a hole at the eighth, and at the turn was seven down. While a huge crowd followed the amateur match, only a handful saw Ted Naismith give a splendid display to defeat George Naismith, 7 and 5, in the national professional championship. The former owed his decisive victory to brilliant recovery play during the afternoon, when he clinched the match by doing the 13 holes in five under 4’s, winning six of them. The morning round had beert keen and even, and Ted Naismith went to lunch one up. Nothing could stop him in the afternoon.