FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1933, Page 12

FROM FAIRWAY AND ROUGH

CHAMPIONSHIPS CONTINUE FEW NEW PLYMOUTH SURPRISES. PECULIARITY DECIDES CUP.

(By

“Stance.”)

Conditions were again good at Waiwakaiho on Saturday for the opening of the match play stage in the New Plymouth Golf Club championships. The course was slower than on the previous week and the lies were not so good. The suspension of the placing rule proved fatal in most cases to the free swinging younger players and the results were in most cases those generally expected. Of the first eight players on the qualifying list/only one, F. D. Johns, suffered defeat.

A. E. Conway was playing beautiful golf and never gave J. H. Boon a chance. He completed the round in 77 and as this included a 6 at the third and a 7 at the tenth, it can be seen that few players in the Dominion would have been able to hold him on the day. Johns was never going smoothly against C. H. Fyfe and as the latter was going well all the way, the younger player had to pay for his mistakes, the game ending on the 14th. L. R. Curtis had a great run of fours commencing at the third

hole against J. L. Mander, who was playing below form, and was four up at the turn. The game was more even on the homeward journey, but Curtis increased his lead and won 5 up and 4. Neither T. A. Thomson nor G. M. Chong was playing good golf in the early stages of the game and at the eighth they were all square. Chong then settled down and won fairly comfortably. 1 After losing the first hole against A. S, Hasell, J. Elmes proceeded to win ths next two, a glorious iron second at the third coming to rest a foot from the pin. Putting lapses then spoiled whatever chance he had and Hasell after being three up at the turn went on to win 5 up and 3. W. H. Fuller and G. W. Haughton staged a grim struggle which went to the 18th green, where Haughton missed a fairly simple putt to take it even farther.

C. H. Strombom made a great fight against a more experienced player, W. B. Glasgow. He was one down at the turn but then won the 10th and 11th to become 1 up. The 12th was halved and then Glasgow took three in a row, Strombom missing a very simple putt on

the 15th. He pulled his opponent’s lead back to one by winning the 16th, but the next two were halved, leaving Glasgow the victor by one hole. S. F. Burgess held F. E. Quin going out and was unlucky not to have been up as he lost a seemingly certain win at the second hole through playing the wrong ball, After the 9th, however, Quin commenced to play really good golf and Burgess required too many putts and the game ended at Moses.

Tlie second round games should provide much closer contests. Conway is playing so consistently that he should be able to account for Fyfe but Chong will probably encounter stern opposition from Curtis, who is at his best in match play. Hasell will find in Glasgow an opponent who is never beaten until the last putt goes down, while Quin will require to be on his game to beat Fuller, Nearly all the intermediate, junior and limit games were played and again there were few surprises, though the Tompkins-Blakeney contest is worthy of mention. Blakeney set off in good style and aided by mistakes on the part of his opponent won the first three holes. Tompkins then struck a patch and collected the next 10 in a row, winning 7 up and 5. •

Improvement at Fitzroy. The improved condition of the Fitzroy course is being reflected in the standard of play. On Saturday J. R. Sutherland proved too good for O. E. Flyger, his. steadiness proving the decisive factor. A. K. Smart was responsible for a mild surprise when he accounted for C. Huxford comfortably. Smart does not hit a long ball "but he has the knack of sending them all down the centre. J. Lobb fully extended H. Jacka, the game going to the 17th green. After a somewhat shaky start J. S. Rollo produced good golf against F. Gorrie and, collecting five consecutive holes, won by a big margin. In the semi-finals Rollo will meet Jacka and Sutherland Smart.

The only second round game played in the junior division was productive of a big surprise when J. D. Quirk defeated G. Pullen, whom many thought to have almost a mortgage on this event. Quirk won 1 up after a well-conteste'd struggle.

Coltman Cup Final. In the final of the Coltman Cup at Waiwakaiho last week J. M. Clarke defeated H. W. Lightband 5 up and 4. Lightband’s long game was quite good going out but he was falling down on the greens and Clarke, aided by some deadly approaching, was two up at the turn, a lead that he increased to three when his opponent encountered a lot of trouble at the long tenth. The 11th and 12th were halved, but then Clarke improved his position by holing a long putt at the 13th for a win.

The end came in a rather peculiar

manner at the next. Lightband’s ball was a foot from the hole and Clarkes eight feet away. Clarke needed the putt for the match, but pulled it rather badly. The ball hit Lightband’s and cannoned into the cup. Manaia Leader.

The Manaia top man, Anderson, Is reported to be a wonderfully improved player and he is expected to take a prominent part in the Labour Day tournament at Hawera this year. He is bitting a wonderful ball off the tee, and his seconds come to rest on the He was playing par golf practically all the way in the inter-club match against Opunake during the week-ehd and was mainly responsible for the two heavy defeats administered to the visiting top pair, Fraser and Stephenson.

Playing the Chips. “It is safe to say that the chip shot is the greatest stroke-saver in the game of golf,” writes R. T. Jones in an American paper. “For years English writers and players have attributed a large share of the American successes in England to their superiority in the short game. “My plan in playing a chip-shot is always to pitch the ball as far as the putting surface wherever practical, _ anc * to play a straight forward shot without backspin wherever possible. The length of a chip must be accurately gauged, so that the uncertainty attending a shot which is dropped on imperfect ground should be avoided if at all possible. The chief problem offered by the chip-shot then, if the ball is to be pitched to i the green, is that of limiting or extending its roll, so that it will come to rest beside the hole. “To follow this idea, a number of clubs will be required, depending upon the distance between the ball and the edge of the putting surface, the distance between the hole and this edge and the condition of the green. When considering any shot of this kind, I first examine the contour of the green and select a spot upon which or near which I. want the ball to drop. Next I determine what club I must use in order to drop the ball on the spot selected with enough, and only enough, run left to reach the hole. “The normal or straightforward chip I play with the feet quite close together, body turned slightly to the hole, and a posture as relaxed and comfortable as I am able to accomplish. The ball is played from about opposite the left toe. The hands are definitely ahead of the ball to encourage a downward blow directly on a line to the hole.” £2OOO Prize.

The Victorian Golf Association is offering a prize of £2OOO for a championship meeting at the Metropolitan Golf Club, Oakleigh, Victoria, as feature of

Victorian and Melbourne centenary celebrations. In addition there will be valuable gold cup for the Victorian amateur open event. H. G. Mcßoberts, president of the Victorian Golf Association, says that the £2OOO prize is the biggest golf prize in the British Empire. The Daily Mail prize, England, is £l5OO. He says there should ultimately be £5OOO offered in prize money in Victoria alone. Already another club proposes to offer a centenary gold cup and a substantial prize, and still a third club is negotiating for a competition for which £250 prize money will be available. ■ Negotiations are being made to ensure that at least one of the world’s leading golfers will be present in Australia during the centenary.