FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1932, Page 8

FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

SARAZEN’S BRITISH OPEN

LOSS OF KIRK-WINDEYER CUP.

TCT.TR AAT CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN.

(By

"Stance.”)

Steady golf backed up by good reliable fe „ Haughton and B. rT' S nn€Z e a wm in the captain’s fourL. Twoomey gaturday . TIX golf was not brilliant, but with the exception of the tenth, where the third ehot was safely deposited in the ditch they did. not have a bad ho.e. no Fyfe, who is playing very consistently this season, and S. Rowlands t !d with J. McNeill and H. W. Lightband for second place, with several other pairs close up- This, event lot of interest and it is P easin c to see foursomes coming to theown as without dou'bt this is the highest form of the game, making players consider their shots with a view to helping their partners. . The Coltman Cup competition is now enterin" the final stages. The thud round in the top half will be played this week-end, and both the should take place a week hence. In the lower half J. S. Church caught the co lt J. Elmes well off Ins game and scored an easy win, but L. R. Cuitis found T. A. Thomson playing at his best, and that best was too good. Thomson now meets Church in the semi-final of the lower half of the draw. C. Walker is playffig very steady aolf at Fitzroy. His 75 oft the sticks last Saturday was a fine effort and with bis handicap off was good enough to give him the senior medal. Among the juniors F. Hannan’s 94-30-64 just landed him home one stroke in front of P. Smith, with J. Cress close up. Hannan is showing quite a lot of. promise and more will be heard of him before long. There is no doubt that the new course is bringing to light some really good material and. several give every indication of going far m the & Lee Quin was in good form during the qualifying rounds for the club championship at Eltham last week-end and his total of 153 left Mm tour strokes in front of E. L. Abbott, who had a similar, margin over L. Gibson. The holder of the title, H. !•. V ills, was fifth on the list. The match play stage will commence immediately, and oou Gibson and S. Cooper are quite capable of causing an upset. It will be re * membered that last year Gibson accounted. for Quin in the first round. The scoring in the monthly medal at Stratford was good and the handicapper will have to readjust the handicaps of quite a number of the players. H. L. Betts with 95-30-65 led tho field, but K. Neal and the youthful Owen Lyons were both ivell up. N. P. Greens 77 was "tlx© best gross and shows that this steady player is maintaining liis form. Despite the frosts the greens are still excellent and the course is not nearly so damp as it was at this time last year. The conclusion of the Rattenbury Cup at Waitara leaves W. B. Glasgow in the lead by a single hole from J. Priar, who led in the opening round. T. Stockman, who returned the good card of all square in the second round, is also in the running, while A. J; Wells, C. HSampson and A. G. IV ills have outside chapces. One of the younger playeis, Reg. George, also did well in the second round. Despite his physical disability this boy has reduced his handicap to 12. He cannot hit a long ball, but his work on and around the greens is the envy of many older players. Once again the Americans have carried off the British open chain pionship. Numerically the invaders this time weie not strong, consisting of only three players, but they were three of the best, and they managed to retain the title. Gene Sarazen, the winner, went away to a flying start, and it is well known m the United States that once Gene gets away well he is very hard to beat. He has a great belief m his star and plays with remarkable confidence when he finds things going with him. So it proved in this event. He commenced, with a 70 and followed .tips up with a 69. This gave him a very handy lead of three strokes from his nearest rival, Percy Allis, who had returned two 71’s, It wag, of course, obvious that Sarazen could not keep this' pace up, but neither could his pursuers, and his 36 holes of ©ven fours the final day was more than sufficient to cany him to victory. Allis, Whitcombe, Compston and Davies, his closest attendants at the completion of the second round, all fell away badly. . Havers by dint of a great 68 on the final morning momentarily threatened danger, but blew up in the final round. It was left to the ex-Scot. from Ca’-noustie, MacDonald Smith, once to fill the’role of runner-up. As is usual’with hinij Mac Smith stood to his guns to the final volley, and his two "reat efforts of first 71 and then 70 on the concluding day must rank as one of the greatest performances in the history of the event. It would seem that the final round of an open, is his forte. He came along with a 70 in., this event two years ago to take second place behind Bobby Jones, and did the same, behind the same player in the American open at Interlachan the same year. The “final charge” of this most unlucky of players is becoming almost proverbial, and should it carry him to victory in the American event at the end of the month, the win would be one of the most popular possible, for players on both sides’ of the Atlantic fully realise that if any competitor ever deserved to win an open that player is Mac Smith. ■ The defending champion, T.. D. Armour, started rather shakily with a 75, but then improved with a fine 70, including a sparkling 33 home. He had a 7 in the third round, but then finding pursuit of Sarazen hopeless apparently did not go into the final round with his. accustomed keenness, and fell away bady. However, his form in America before leaving was good and he may make amends at the American open at Fresh Meadows, where he won the P.G.A. two years ago. Brinsden’s Omission, ■

The Kirk-Windeyer Cup has been lost to New South Wales? New Zealand sent away-its. team of young players with high hopes—hopes that were strengthened when Victoria withdrevt but they have all. been dashed to >|heground and we have to face the fact that we have been well and truly beaten. The Rose Bay course is very tightly bunkered and does not permit of much wild play; one must hit tee shots right down the middle to get the figures. This appears to have been the downfallof the team. It is reported that Horiiabrook was very wild off the tees in ..the foursomes, and this no doubt contributed very largely to the crushing defeat that Ferrier and Thompson inflicated, a defeat that made the position almost hopeless, especially, wlf.en Brinsden and Black were beaten./‘after 8. very hard struggle by Bfettington

and Withycombe. This meant that the team would have to ivin all the singles to retain the cup, as even if the games happened to be square the big margins of holes against ■ them after the foursomes was too big to be overcome. In the circumstances the withdrawa lof Brinsden bn the second day is absolutely inexplicable. The Aucklander’s straightness off the tees is almost a by-word in the north, and he is a, proved match player, who will fight to the finish. His form since his arrival had been good, as was shown by his fine 73 in the Highgate Cup at Reusing*ton and his great 71 at Elenora. With Hornabrook apparently hitting wildly and Wagg off his game, it would seem absolutely courting disaster to drop the team’s most reliable man. Certainly Hornabrook did redeem himself and Black won his-game, but Wagg was an inglorious failure and was never going like a winnef. Had Brinsden been played number one and Wagg-dropped the result might have been different, or at least we could have come out of the contest without much loss of prestige. Nevertheless the team will now enter the contest for the New South Wales amateur championship, and their showing there will demonstrate rvhether their form in the cup w r as a. true test of their abilities. In golf it is never wise to attempt to prophesy, but Brinsden should demonstrate in no uncertain manner-that he should certainly have been included in the team on the second day.