GOLF.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXV, Issue 19008, 16 October 1931, Page 8

GOLF.

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP. SHAW LEADING. dv Taiegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, October 15. The first two rounds of the open golf championship, decided on four medal rounds, were played at Shirley to-day. The course was in excellent order though rather dry and hard. The weather was of mid-summer warmth, and almost windless, making conditions well nigh perfect for low scoring. The scores were:— Ist 2nd r n.

Notes on Play. The outstanding performance of the day was Shaw’s dazzling round of 67 in the morning. With a little more luck his score might have been 65, which shows the extraordinary quality of his game. Not once did he have to put down a putt of any length to make his 67, and he failed with four putts of holeable distance which he might on another day have run down. In the afternoon, Shaw held his astounding form to the 13th green, when for the first time in the day he failed to make scratch figures. It was a short one-shot hole, heavily guarded, known on the course as Old Nick, and he hooked his mashie tee shot, and had to approach awkwardly from the rough. He failed to lay the ball dead and missed a putt for three. The spell seemed to be broken after that, and he made other mistakes, bat showed his quality by recovering from an almost impossible lie at the bottom of a deep ditch at the fifteenth to get his par four. Shaw’s morning card was:— Out.—4 4 3 5 3 4 4 4 2—33. In.—3 4 4 3 4 3 5 4 4—34. Total—67. Ewan Macfarlane, Shirley’s best medal player, and probably the best amateur medal player in New Zealand, had good rounds of 73 and 71, one and three respectively under the scratch score. His 73 in the morning was marred by a seven at the sixth, a difficult par four hole, and a six at tne easy par four fourteenth. He made no other mistakes worth noting, and his golf, while it fell short of Shaw’s brilliant morning round, was practically faultless. His afternoon round of 71 contained five fives, and three of them he should have escaped. Hi* afternoon card was:— Out.—4 3 3 5 4 4 4 4 3—34. In.—s 5 5 3 4 3 5 4 3—37. Total—7l. R. C. Butters, the former Shirley professional, had a morning round of 70, but slipped to 79 in the afternoon. Blair, the present Shirley professional, was 71 in the morning, but weakened to 76 in the afternoon. The best cf the local professionals was C. C. Clements 74-72, made in spite ot occasional missed putts. Next to Macfarlane, the best amateurs were J. A. Millard 74-74, A. Or. Sime 74-75, and B. M. Silk 75-75. Unless Shaw does another overwhelming round to-morrow, there may be a close finish in the open, possibly with the lowest aggregates on record.

A. J. Shaw . 67 73 140 E. M. Macfarlane .. .. 73 71 144 C. C. Clements 74 72 146 H. R. Blair 71 76 147 J. A. Millard 74 148 R. C. Butters . 70 79 149 A. G. Sime 75 149 J. D. McIntosh 72 150 B. M. Silk 75 150 J. Lambie 73 150 J. Goss 73 151 A. R. Blank 76 131 R. T. Tosswill 76 132 J. L. Black 7!> 152 C. A. Seymour .. 78 75 153 B. J. Smith jnr. .. , .. 76 77 153 J. C. Bid well 73 153 B. V. Wright 81 153 K. Ross 76 154 W. A. Keeling .. , 78 154 H. A. Black 72 154 M. Duncan .. 78 76 154 L. Ross 77 155 D. C. Collins 83 155 F. Brasch .. 76 79 155 W. O’Callaghan .. . .. 78 77 155 E. S. Douglas .. 81 75 158 J. Forrest 79 78 157 A. D. S. Duncan .. , .. 76 81 157 J. W. Ross .. 77 81 158 J. A. Clements .. .. , .. 79 .79 158 R. C. Abernethy .. . .. 77 81 158 L. Buist .. 77 82 169 A. Dyke .. 78 81 159 G. B. Forrest . . 81 78 159 K. S. Glendinning . . 80 79 159 S. C. Colbeck .. 81 79 160 J. A. Scouler .. 76 84 160 J. P. Mortland .. , .. 72 88 160 J. A. Bott 79 162 K. C. Ward 83 163 J. L. Petley 78 163 J. P. Homabrook .. , .. 83 80 163 N. H. Fuller 81 164 A. S. McCallum .. . 85 79 164 J. Watt 80 165 B. J. Smith , 89 168 J. Mouat , 87 168 R. A. Wilson , 87 169 R. Fox 79 171 D. H. Butcher .. .. , .. 87 85 172 E. A. Dalton . . 93 84 177