GOLF TITLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 249, 21 October 1936, Page 9

GOLF TITLES

N.Z. CHAMPIONSHIPS OPEN STARTS TO-MORROW PLAY AT NEW PLYMOUTH With the New Zealand open, amateur and professional championships to be decided at the tournament commencing at New Plymouth to-mor-morw, golfers will have their interest concentrated on the national fixtures. A tribute to the splendid organisation which has been in evidence for several months past is the response in entries for the championships. The extension of the amateur limit to 8 handicap brought about a large increase in the entries in this direction, but the total of 144 competitors ensures that all leading golfers are represented in the draw for to-mor-row. Only three amateurs have won the open since its inception in 1907, these being A. D. S. Duncan (winner in the initial year), E. M. MacFarlane in 1925 and Sloan Morpeth in 1928. It remains to be seen whether an amateur can bring off the feat this year, but it is a difficult task in a field that contains professionals of the Shaw and Moss class. Shaw, winner of the open title in five of the past seven years, is reported to be playing golf of as high a class as ever. Moss broke Shaw’s run of four open victories at Titirangi three years ago. It should rest between Moss and Shaw as to whether last year's winner, Murray, can be ousted irom his position. As far as the amateurs are concerned, John Hornabrook, last year's winner of the amateur title, and Bryan Silk, who won the title at Belmont a couple of years ago, are selected as being the most likely to contest the leading positions in the aggregates when the last two rounds are played on Saturday. The Scafield Golf Club’s Labour Day tournament will commence on Saturday, when a qualifying round will be played. A medal match will be played in conjunction therewith, and match play in connection with the tournament will take place on Monday and Tuesday. Entries will be received up till to-morrow. The Sports Queen’s campaign was materially assisted by the one-day tournament at Belmont, as well as by the Wanganui Ladies’ Club effort on Friday of last week. A further all-day tournament will be held at Seafield over the week-end, when there will be a mixed Stableford bogey match in the morning and mixed Canadian foursomes in the afternoon. Players who have not arranged their own partners will be assisted by the committee at the clubhouse. Nick Bessner, a Montreal golfer, recently holed out, on the morning round, in one at the 12’yds. fifth hole on the Wentworth course at Montreal. He laughingly announced his intention of repeating the performance in the afternoon —and he did it! When Gene Sarazen won his first United States open golf championship 14 years ago and went on tour with Jock Hutchison, the British open champion, he obliged with autographs by the hundred. He was signing overtime one day when Hutchison handed a slip of paper to a bystander and told him to ask Gene to autograph it. Gene dashed off the signature. "Look here, Sarazen, you yokel,” said Hutchison a moment later, “how long are you going to keep this up? You've signed an 1.0. U. for 500 dollars!’’ One of the features of the Australian open golf championship meeting in Melbourne was the small prizemoney for professionals, declares Jim Ferrier. The prize-money and purses are lower in Australia than in any other part of the world, and when it is realised that the open championship winner receives a bare 150, it will be understood why our professionals are not keyed up and keen to do their best. If given bigger purses, the professional, when the time came for the richer events, would give up his teaching and club-making to put in some very helpful practice to bring his game up to a high plane. Then Australian golf would improve, as it did in U.S.A.