GOLF.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 July 1925, Page 7

GOLF.

DISCOVERY OF A NEW GOLFER. The first amateur golf tournament of the season found the champion, Sir Ernest Holderness, in splendid form. It was for the Gold Vase, and eighty of the leading players comprised the field. Roger Wethered was absent, as .he had not yet returned from his honeymoon, and Cyril Tolley was unable to play, but it was only by a fine performance over two rounds that Holderness tied for the prize. The competition took place at the Moor Park Club, which lies in Hertfordshire beyond Harrow, and was constructed by the late Lord Leverhulme. Run on similar lines to the country club of America, it is the only one in this island which has so many as three courses. In his first round, Holderness returned a card of 75, which was beaten by half-a-dozen players, the lowest.. score being 73 by a comparatively unknown man named J. B. Beck. At his -next attempt the champion finished in 72, and Beck, who was one of the last starters, knew what he had to do to win before he set forth again. This is always an unfortunate position, but, though he did not begin very well, taking 39 for the first nine holes, Beck made a great recovery, and, completing the round in 74, he tied with Holderness. Beck was the “dark horse” of the tournament, but before play' began H. H. Hilton tipped him as a likely winner. He was a member of Tolley’s Oxford University team four years ago, when he played third, but in the meantime he has been engaged in the woollen trade, ami his golf has been confined to tile week-ends- at the Sundridge .Park Club. Beck is undoubtedly a big discovery, and there is not the slightest doubt that he would have been picked to play for England against Scotland if it had been possible for him to visit Westward Ho next week. He has. however, gone to Germany on a business trip, and will not be back in time to take part in either the international match or the championship. Holderness promises to play as big a part as ever in the latter. The winner of two of the last three big events, he is recognised as the foremost amateur, ranking before either Wethe#ed or Tolley. The two last-men-tioned players are both perhaps more brilliant, but. they are nothing like as sound. At times, indeed, their game is very weak. Holderness, on the other 'hand, is most consistent, and in comparison with his two distinguished rivals his bad shots are only half-bad. Westward Ho is far out of the beaten track, and, though it is a superb course, there lias been a big drop in the entry. Indeed, there are to be fifty fewer players than last year at St. An-

drews, Scotland being poorly represented with only twenty. One German golfer has entered, and he will meet Cyril Tolley in the first round. There are four from America, but they are not known in this country, and it is not thought that there is any danger of the cup being taken abroad.