KIRK-WINDEYER CUP

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 14, 7 April 1927, Page 7

KIRK-WINDEYER CUP

NEW ZEALAND TEAM Arthur Duncan, three times open champion, and ten times amateur champion, over a period extending from 1899 to last year, is to lead the first New Zealand golf team overseas, when the New Zealand team goes to Sydney to try and get its name first on the Kirk-Windeyer Cup. As I indicated two weeks ago, the team chosen this week contained Duncan, Kenneth Ross, T. H. Horton and E. M. Macfarlane. In view of J. L. Black’s great record in Wellington golf during the past year, I am surprised to see him passed over in favour of Leo Quin, though there is little to cavil at in Quin’s selection. He has made a great showing in the amateurs in the past few years. SIMILARITY OF DONORS There is a remarkable similarity in the lives of the donors of this cup. Both are descendants from very early colonists in their respective countries. Both were leading rifle shots in their young days, Mr. Kirk having represented New Zealand, while Mr. Windeyer represented Australia in competions held in Sydney 34 years ago. Both have taken rank amongst the leading rifle shots of their day. They are both solicitors of prominence in their respective cities. They both were aldermen of the suburbs in which they lived for over 20 years, and they were both mayor of these municipalities for nine years or more. Mr. Kirk was the founder of the New Zealand Golf Association, and has been president of his council since its inception many years ago. Mr. Windeyer was the founder of the Suburban and Country Golf Association, and the New South Wales Golf Council, and has been president for years of the association, and chairman of the council every third year, when it was the turn of the association to have a chairman elected from among its representatives. In addition, Mr. Windeyer is the New South Wales representative of the Australian Golf Union. Mr. Kirk personally drew the constitution of the New Zealand Golf Council, while Mr. Windeyer dr.ew the constitution of Suburban and Country Golf Association, the Western Australian G.A., the South Australian G.A., and the Tasmanian G.A. THEIR GOLFING CAREERS In their day each was a scratch player, but now they are on about the same mark of eight, though they are both most determined opponents, and very hard men to beat in any match game. Both are considered authorities on the rules, and absolute “sticklers” for strict adherence to the rules and the observance of the etiquette of the game. Most golfers in Australia and New Zealand will welcome the, perpetuation of their names in connection with the match between the two coLintries. It is no mean precedent for any individual’s name to be associated with trophies recording competitions between different countries in other sports, as well as golf, to wit, the Davis Cup for one. “SO THIS IS GOLF” A golf course outside a big town serves an excellent purpose in that it segregates* as though in a concentration camp, all the idle and the idiots and well-to-do, while the over exertion of the game itself causes them to die ten or fifteen years earlier than they would by nature, thus acting as a sort of life tax on stupidity. While alive, it not only separates them for the whole day from the sight of those who have work to do, or leisure which they know how to spend profitably, but it causes them to don voluntarily a baggy and chequered uniform, which proclaims them for what they are, at half a mile or so, and so enables the sane man to escape them. Contemporaneous comment on the royal and ancient game from Osbut Sitwell’s recent novel, “ Before the Miss Glenna Collett, of America, former national golf champion, will leave for England in April to make another attempt to win the British women’s title. The tournament will be held at Newcastle, Ireland. Some of the simplest accidents on the links have also been the most singular. P. Jones, a member of a Colorado club, lashed out so vigorously, on one tee, that he not only missed' the ball altogether, but broke his right arm with the violence of his swing. On one English course a brassy shot caught a player on the shin, causing him involuntarily to swing round a club he was carrying and hit his opponent on the nose. This proved a blessing in disguise, however, as the blow relieved a nasty abscess, saving an impending visit to a surgeon. A golfer should keep his head still—particularly his mouth. Conscientious Gentleman: “I want you to make me a suit of plus-fours. Something suitable for a handicap of 20.”