GOLF.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18565, 22 August 1922, Page 6

GOLF.

i WANGANUI LADIES’ CLUB. ; i The following is the draw to play , for the Fraser Bowl on Wednesday, i , August 2 3i;d, 1922:--SILVER. I Mr Hoult v. Mrs Armstrong. ' Mrs Earle v. Mrs Saunders. | Miss Anderson v. Mrs Fowler. ! Airs Broderick v. Miss Cave. I Miss ?<ewcombe v. Miss Robinson. ' Mrs Meidrum v. Miss Johnson. : Mrs Smith v. Miss Harper. ! Miss Burr v. Miss Jackson. BRONZE. Mrs Silk v. Mrs Reed. Mrs von Haast v. Mrs Izard. Mrs Neame v. Mrs Williams. Miss Hal rick v. Mrs H. Bayly. Mrs Feat v. Mrs Nicol’s. i Miss V. Bayly v. Mrs Hunter. Mrs Orion v. Miss K. Anderson. Mrs Bogle v. Miss N. Murray. Miss .Murray v. .Mrs W. Dunean. Mrs Leary v. Miss Feat. Mrs Haworth v. Miss Rogers. Mrs Grumitt v. Miss Addenbrooke. i Mrs Wicksteed v. Miss Burgess. ! .Miss Jones v. Mrs Hutchinson. -Mrs Taiboys v. Miss Brookfield. Mrs Woollams v. Mrs Curtis. ! Miss Clay v. Miss Allen. Mrs Moore Hunter v. Mrs Brodie. Miss M. Blythe v. Miss Higgie. i (Ry “Golfee Cleeke, Esq.") The weather conditions for golf on Saturday last were not promising and the mixed foursomes arranged j to be played on the Springvale links I were postponed. The greens tees |and fairways were rather soggy and damp, owing to the heavy downpour > experienced of late. However, despite the unsatisfactory state of the i weather the links were well patronised by players of both sexes. J Wanganui should be right in the . golfing boom early next month, when ihe tournaments and a professional 1 march will ev niuate at the Belmont links. it is to be sincerely hoped ■ that the unpleasant weather conditions experienced at present will I have blown over, so that the links j wiil be in tip top order, to enablG 'competitors to thoroughly test themj selves out prior to the convincing ’ day. ' Following upon Wanganui the New .Zealand championship will be held ■at the Hokowhitu links, Palmerston | North, commencing on Monday. September 11th, and continuing until the following Saturday. The programme consists of: (1) Amateur Championship of New Zealand. The best four qualifying rounds, (stroke play), the sixteen players returning the best scores to play off by match play over 36 holes. The winin er will be registered as the winner of the Challenge Cun. also a trophy and gold medal, while the runner up will receive a trophy and silver medal: (2) Open Championship of New Zealand. Four rounds of stroke play, open to amateurs and professionals. Prizes £25, £lO, £5 respectively. Amateurs to receive 'trophies; (3) Professional match ' | open io professionals. First prize £2O, second prize £lO. The best 'eight in the four rounds of the open championship to qualify. The play J off will be by match play over 36 holes each match. i The above are the three leading Icontests, in addition there will be the "Challenge” Golf Ball Handicap Competition, for professionals. First prize £25, second prize £l5, third prize £10; also Bogey Handicap; Four Ball Bogey Handicap; Stroke Handicap; Inter-Club Challenge j Vase. Ail entries accompanied by | the necessary fee must, reach the ■secretary, Palmerston North by Wednesday, August 30th 1922. I There should be some very inter- | esting games in this t ournament as ;the leading lights from both the amateur and professional ranks will j be represented. It is to be regretted that E. S. Douglas the brilliant professional will not be present to take part in the New Zealand Championship next month. He left last week for "The I land of the Heather,” to endeavour to further enhance his reputation as a golfer in the British Isles. The following paragraph from the Dominion apropos of this great, player’s career not alone as a golfer but in other respects wiil assuredly be read with much interest: A BID FOR WORLD HONOURS. ' E. S. DOUGLAS LEAVES FOR SCOTLAND. I E. S. Douglas, open champion golf- | er of New Zealand, has decided to ’carry out a long cherished desire to i have a tilt lor world honours, and I with this end in view he left New I Zealand for Edinburgh by the Ara- | wa on Wednesday last. Four times I open champion of New Zealand, ■there is no necessity io enlarge upon 1 the fact that Douglas is a very fine -exponent of the game. He hails, , as can be readily recognised by his accent, from the "Land of Brown ;Heath and Shaggy Woods," the veri- ’ table cradle of golf. Here at the i early age of 20 he finished amongst I the first twenty in the Scottish Professional Championship at Cardross. i Had he stayed amongst the lochs and fells he might to-day have been as well-known in golfing circles as Abe Mitchell, Ted Ray, or George Duncan. But young Douglas, like most of his countrymen, was of an adventurous disposition. He "yearned beyond the skyline, where the strange roads go down." and at the early age i of 22. he packed his grip, and, not | forgetting his bag of golf clubs, set out for America. In Scotland, he i had been associated with the Newton More Club (Perthshire), and the Fort George Club (Morayshire). ;The young Scotch professional on ari riving in America had no difficulty in obtaining an engagement with the i Preselio Club, San Francisco, where he remained for three years. He then

[secured a better appointment with the [ Menlo Park Club, San Francisco, and held this for two years. Douglas did well in professional I tournaments in America, finishing | third in the professional championship of California at Del Monte, and I fourth at Ingleside. He never once ! failed io be amongst the prize mon:ey in America, nor. indeed, has he once tailed in this respect in any professional championship for which be has entered since leaving Scotj land. Douglas arrived in New Zealand in 1912, and at once demonstrated ■to golfing circles in this country '.that a great player had come | amongst them. He won the New I Zealand open championship in 1913 ■ and again the next year. He was in great form in 1914. winning not .only the New Zealand open, but the ; professional championship at Auck- ' land, and the professional tournament at Heretaunga. In the latter contest, Isles (Shirley) was leading by ten strokes at the end of the (■second round, but Douglas came <to | light with a 70 in ihe third and a ■7l in the fourth round, which eni abled him to aggregate 296. which I beat Isles by two strokes, i/ike most true spoilsmen, he promptly answered his country’s caii when the Great. i War broke out in 19 14. lie en- | listed with the Rill? Brigade, and saw 'three and a half years' service with ithe N.Z.E.F. in France. He spent ■the greater portion of the time right I up in the firing line, practising short I. approaches with Mills’ bombs into | the Hun trenches. He did not have !any golf in England during his short i periods of leave. As he himself put :it, his mind was upon other things, and as soon as the lighting was over he was keen to get back to New Zealand and tackle the big problem of "reconstruction.” Safely back in New Zealand, Douglas did not take long to strike his best form again. He won the New Zealand open championship in 19 19 and again in 1921, and carried off the professional tournament al Shirley in the latter year, tie was leading professional in New Zealand it) 1920, the year that J. H. Kirkwood visited the Dominion. Possessing such a record, can anyone be surprised if Douglas is anxious to have a tilt at the world's best? "It has been a long-cherished 1 dream of mine." he informed “Niblick” this week. “1 intend to go home to Edinburgh, and devote six months to steady practice, and then will have a tilt at ail the big championship tournaments in Great Britain, commencing next spring. 1 have been so busy coaching and clubmaking in New Zealand that 1 have never been able to get into anything like true form, and was never in sufficiently good condition to last, out a week's play. Now, I intend to get into form, and'it will afford me great pleasure to go Home and rub shoulders with the world’s best players, and in this way find out just exactly where 1 do stand." If E. S. Douglas should succeed in accomplishing what J. H. Kirkwood so narrowly failed to do, it would fill the hearts of golfers from one end of New Zealand to the other with an exceeding great. joy, as the Scottish professional, who. by the way, is only 35 years of age, during his ten years’ sojourn amongst us, has proved himself a great golfer, a thorough sportsman, and a rightdown good fellow. GOLF HONOUR. “Golf is a game of honour, played in. the garden of lies.” A LITTLE HUMOUR. “Go on, darling,” cried the fast young lady, as her approach putt threatened to stop very short. “Right you are, Miss,” said the bewildered assistaaiX pro., "but I thing it’s still your turn to play.” A recent visitor at Springvale was inquiring the correct name of the spring which has to be crossed at the fifth hole.—“ The Water jump.” Some call it by one name, and some another,” said his caddie; “it depends on the circumstances. There’s one old gent who plays here, when he gets over it, he says "that a beautiful shot,” how nicely I got over the "ravine,” but when he tops it he first says: “Caddie, PR’.k my ball out of that damned sewer'.” GOLF FOR OULD IRELAND. "Did ye see the foine stroke Oi made whin me ball was floatin’ down the river, Patrick?” "Yes, says Pat, an’ it’s disqualified ye’ll be. for I soiw ye groundin’ your club in the wather.”