Invercargill Golf Club’s Qualifying Rounds Completed

Southland Times, Issue 23946, 12 October 1939, Page 13

Invercargill Golf Club’s Qualifying Rounds Completed

By

PAR

Conditions for the second qualifying round of the Invercargill Golf Club’s championships on Saturday were totally different from what they were the previous week. A spell of warm, sunny weather had dried up the course, the atmosphere was light and there was only a breeze from the north-west. As a result the course was playing much shorter than at any other time since Easter. It was not surprising, therefore, that of the 32 players who qualified in the four grades, 28 of them improved on their first-round scores. But even with the conditions all in favour of low scoring, there were some who could not get going. One of the four who failed to improve on his first round was H. W. Rogers, who took 81 on Saturday. He was over 5 at only one hole, but had too many s’s at the bogey 4’s, putting mistakes costing him several strokes. He took 43 for the first nine, one of his poorest performances for a long time, and came back in 38 for a round of 81. This gave him an aggregate of 159, which was just good enough to enable him to win the Smith Cup for the fourth year in succession. The cup goes to the player who returns the best aggregate in the qualifying rounds for the club championship. Rogers has yet to win that title. He is unquestionably the best player in the club, but has still to produce his best form in the matches. However, his chances of winning through this year are bright, as the field is not a particularly strong one. Two rounds of 75 on Sunday showed that his lapse on Saturday was purely ephemeral. O’DOWDA DOES 77 Hard on Rogers’s heels was M. O’Dowda, who gained four strokes on him on Saturday and was beaten for first place by a bare stroke. He took 40 to the turn and came back in 37, which included birdies at the tenth and thirteenth. His drive at the tenth (286 yards) was only eight feet from the pin, but he failed to get the eagle 2. This is an example of the greatly-in-creased length obtainable on Saturday. Far more drives carried the ridge At that hole than pitched on the tee side of it. O’Dowda is in the bottom half of the draw—the easy half—and he should have no difficulty 'in reaching the final. The third man to qualify was J. D. Strettell, who followed a first round of 88 with a fine 76 on Saturday. He was a stroke over bogey at each of four holes and had birdies at the third and sixth. Strettell should win his first match and is then likely to meet Rogers in the top semi-final. Provided he is not troubled with socketing he may be the one to upset Rogers’s progress this year as he can certainly play the golf. The new champion is almost sure to be one of the three named—Rogers, O’Dowda or Strettell. It is difficult to imagine any one of the other five who qualified getting through. A second round of 80 brought H. A. Wilkes into fourth place with an aggregate of 167, two strokes ahead of J. R. Woods, F. H. Hughes and A. G. Seddon. There was a tie for eighth place between N. Earl and B. Mehaffey, Earl winning the play-off over five holes. When two of them had been played Mehaffey led by two strokes, but he fired away the lot and another into the bargain at the third, where he took 7 (including four putts) to Earl’s 4. The latter managed to hold his lead of one stroke over the next two holes.

Among those who failed to qualify were J. A. Thom, holder of the title, who had 88 and 86; J. C. Prain, who retired in the first round; and D. F. Lindsay, who did not complete the second round. S. A. Bell and G. S. Thorpe, both of whom had 93 the first day, showed greatly improved form on Saturday, their figures being 81 and 82 respectively. They needed scores in the seventies to stand a chance of qualifying. A. H. BROAD PLAYING WELL All of the intermediate players improved on their first rounds. A. H. Broad, whose scores are getting successively lower, turned in an 81 and held his position at the top of the field with an aggregate of 168. Broad is going to be a hard man to stop in that grade. On Sunday afternoon he simply could not do anything wrong. With three holes to play he wanted bogeys at each for a round of 72—this is an intermediate player, remember, not the club professional—but actually slipped a stroke at each one and had to be satisfied with 75—one over the standard scratch score. He holed several enormous putts, but on the other hand a few shortish ones were missed. Broad's handicap has been reduced to 9, but it does not seem likely to remain there for long. W. Buchan, who appreciated the more summer-like state of the course, placed an 84 alongside his first round of 87 and was second to Broad. He is always tough in a match and has a good chance of reaching the final. H. T. Thompson, who was third with 89 and 85, has already advanced to the semifinals as a result of a win over J. A. Doig in the first round. He will meet the winner of the match between Broad and H. M. Smith. Clipping 13 strokes off his first-round score of 94, F. O. Rice moved from the tail of the field up to fourth place. H, C. Abernethy and C. C. Anderson are the other two in the field. ‘ It would seem that the man who beats Broad will be the intermediate champion, and who that will be “Par” is not prepared to say—not after that 75.

After nlaying a solid round of 86 in the wind the previous week, I. R. Muirson jumped to 94 on Saturday, a 9 at Rushes giving him a severe jolt early in the round. However, he had such a big lead on the field after the first round that he was still in front

after the second had been played. A. H. J. Wyatt, A. E. Smith, F. O. Hartley and D. J. Kennedy had aggregates o£ 183, three strokes behind Muirson and they were followed by A. G. Stubbs 189, A. R. Macnee 190 and H. Ritchie 190. Muirson must be placed first in the order of favouritism for the junior title. The 20-24 handicap players are having a competition among themselves and there should be some interesting matches before it is all over. C. A. Flaus, who qualified first, was decisively beaten in the first round by E. H. Smith. The scoring in the monthly medai handicap at Otatara on Saturday was better than it has been in recent events. F. O. Rice with 81-12-69 just got in front of A. H. Broad, whose card was 81-11-70. Rice’s handicap has come down to 10. It was thought that A. H. J. Wyatt as good as had the B grade trophy in his pocket with a score of 88-19-69, but R. M. Strang handed in a card with 84-18-66 on it and was an easy winner. Strang’s handicap has come down to 15 and Wyatt’s to 17. A stroke has been clipped off the handicap of H. Murphy, who was third with 93-23-70. QUEEN’S PARK CLUB

Only the finals of the Queen’s Park championships remain to be played, and these will probably be decided next week-end. D. W. Cochrane hit top form in his semi-final against G. E. Glennie, who was always behind and was beaten by 6 and 5. Cochrane began with a birdie 3 and also won the next three holes. Glennie fought hard to reduce the margin against him, but Cochrane was playing too well and gave him no chance at all. Cochrane completed the round in 72 —equal to the scratch score. In the final Cochrane will meet L. G. Algie, who defeated W. F. Poff by one hole. Algie, who can hit a long ball, should be able to make a good match of it, but is not expected to beat Cochrane. The latter will be competing iq his fourth club championship final; he has yet to win the title. In the intermediate championship the finalists are R. G. Scandrett and G. M. Buchanan, who appear to be well matched. A. R. Cullen and R. Gimblett will fight out the junior final. Saturday’s Stableford handicap at Queen’s Park resulted in a good win for J. F. Miller and U. R. Smith, who scored 53 points between them and with their combined handicaps added had. a total of 74. None of the other pairs in the first half-dozen were anywhere near them in points actually scored, but with, the assistance of a handicap of 36, A. V. Crombie and T. J. Dwyer got within two points of their total. ODDS AND ENDS The Queen’s Park Ladies’ Club is holding its annual Stead Cup tournament next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Entries close tomorrow. Producing devastating form in the afternoon round, G. A. Ussher convincingly beat E. A. Scott in the final for the Timaru Golf Club’s senior championship, winning by 7 up and 6 to play. In the morning round Ussher was 2 up, Scott making him play his best to keep ahead. Ussher was round in 71 and Scott in 73. In the afternoon, however, Scott lost form, his putting being deficient. Ussher was steady throughout. The Riverton Golf Club is holding a tournament on Labour Day, October 23. Senior and junior championships will be played over 36 holes and teams from Ohai, Winton, Tuatapere and Riverton will compete for the Western District Shield. Entries close on October 18. Two scratch golfers, T. 'B. Ferguson and A. Gibbs finished at the head of the field in a medal handicap at Balmacewen on Saturday. Both had rounds of 71, two under the scratch score. Among several players who tied for third place was I. R. P. Douglas, who had 79-6-73. Twenty-year-old Betty Jameson, of San Antonia, Texas, is the new women’s champion of America. In the final over 36 holes she defeated Dor-, othy Kirby, aged 19, of Atlanta, by 3 and 2. Miss Jameson, who has been considered of championship calibre ever since 1934, when she won the Southern, succeeds Miss Patty Berg as champion and is among the youngest ever to win the title. This was her sixth try, her best previous showing having been made last year, when Mrs Estelle Lawson Page, then the defending title-holder, beat her in the third round. In addition to the Southern she has won the trans-Mississippi championship, been runner-up in the Western Women’s close event, and held the Texas women’s close title four times running, including this year. Miss Kirby’s conquests included Miss Beatrice Barrett, the medalist; Miss Jane Cothran, the South Carolina girl who had a 34 on the first nine in one of her matches, perhaps the lowest score ever made in a championship; Miss Dorothy Traung, one 7 time runner-up for the title, and Miss Charlotte Glutting, the conqueror of Miss Pam Barton, the British titleholder.

Averaging 70 for the four rounds, N. von Nida won the New South Wales close championship by four strokes from J. Ferrier, the Australian open and amateur champion. Von Nida thus reversed the order in the Australian open, when Ferrier came from behind and beat him .by two ..strokes. Night golf is not just a fantasy, but something that definitely is going to take its place in the realm of sport, says Fred Corcoran, tournament bureau manager of the American Professional Golfers’ Association. “An engineer to whom I talked recently said floodlights can be carried around golf courses by trucks,” Corcoran said at Chicago, “and this would make possible night exhibitions. From that point I think it will be just a step to complete lighting systems good enough to follow the flight of the ball. In recent years about 70 per cent, of the golf played in the East has been of the twilight variety. What’s fantastic about the though of thousands of office workers playing after dark, getting in nine or eighteen holes in the cool of the evening?” In a recent mixed competition held at the Thorndon Park Golf course in Essex three couples tied for first place, returning 2 up on bogey. On going through the cards one couple was eliminated on the first nine holes, but the other two cards were identical for every one of the 18 holes played. It was then decided that they should cut cards to

see which paif should be adjudged the winner. Both pairs cut the four of diamonds. WHERE LOCKE FAILS It has been stated in England that A. D. Locke’s failure in open competitions comes from the fact that he plays all his golf in South Africa on flat fairways, and is unable to adapt his play to the undulating British fairways. This statement is hardly correct in view ol his many good scores done on his Australian trip, when he visited many of our undulating courses and recorded low figures on his first visit to these clubs (writes Jim Ferrier in The Sydney Morning Herald). I have given Locke’s inability to win an important event overseas much thought, especially as he has had such a successful run in his challenge matches. To me, he lacks a finishing effort so necessary in 72 holes of stroke play against severe opposition, and he also lacks resourcefulness in playing recovery shots. In respect to the latter, he showed during his visit here that he is a poor bunker player, a feature that has cost him dearly in many games. It is a quite different matter to play a 36-hole match against a single opponent than to keep up an average of under even fours in a large field of the best golfers. Locke, strangely, has won both stroke and match play events in South Africa, but cannot bring himself to produce the same rate of scoring in his play abroad. Undoubtedly, one of the world’s greatest golfers, he has yet to gain the experience necessary to put him at the top of the golfing tree.