Gibbs Beats Glading In H.L Amateur Golf Final

Wanganui Chronicle, 29 November 1948, Page 6

Gibbs Beats Glading In H.L Amateur Golf Final

Auckland Player Puts Up Brave Fight

DUNEDIN, Last Night (PA). —A. Gibbs, the Otago plus one player, won the New Zealand amateur golf championship by beating R. H. Glading. Titirangi, two and one, in an excellent final at Balmaeewen yesterday. The Auckland player made a brave fight .after being behind over the first 18 holes and having a deficit of four holes to face

with only seven to play. He was not happy on the gr< hook his putts persisted throng! three but won the short 34th. to kt But Gibbs was holding his game i well and he played the 35th. so I soundly in par figures that Glad-I ing’s admirers were generous with their praise for the new champion’s consistency. Gibbs was the surer near and on the greens. He played a brilliant round in the morning, his card of 70 being three strokes better than par, and after a rather shaky start in the afternoon he had Glading under pressure for the remainder of th*» match. The 34-year-oid Otago player was playing in his second national tournament. He won the Bledisloe Cup for the best round by an amateur at Bairn ace wen in 1938, but he did not play in the amateur championship that year. So that this was his first attempt at tfie title, which he won for Ctagp for the first time since B. V. Wright’s success in 1933. He is the seventh New Zealand amateur champion from Otago since the competition was inaugurated in 1893. FIRST APPEARANCE. Although Glading won the open title in 1946 and 1947, this was his first appearance in the amateur final, and except for his putting his display did not tarnish his reputation. He hit the longer ball from the tee more | often than not. and at a number of holes outdistanced Gibbs by 30 or 40 yards. His irons, beautifully played, were pitched boldly, but he had too many failures with putts of four or five feet. Glading did not pretend to like the Balmacewan greens, many of which contain borrow of unusual magnitude, and it was only occasionally in the final that he stroked his ball smoothly. The result was that he was often not up, and when over the second 18 holes he became determined to give the ball a chance he frequently went well past the hole and left himself an awkward return putt. For all the* he played golf good enough to win often as not, and he really lost the i match to Gibbs’ scintillating form i the morning round. The Otago placer had putts be- ■ tween six and 12 feet for wins on the' first four greens, but could not run them down. An over-strong recovery from a bunker by Glading at the sixth left Gibbs another six-foot putt for a win, and this time he made no mistake. A perfect iron at the eighth paved the way for the Aucklander to square the match, and although he took two putts from five feet away he did win his first hole. Gibbs was short with his iron and took five for 1 the hole, one over bogey. A good putt at the ninth restored Gibbs’s lead. His | beautiful three at this difficult hole was the first birdie of the match, but Gibbs was out in par 36 to Glading’s 37. Bogey three was good enough for a win at the short 10th, but Glading got one back at the 12th, a hole which he played particularly well throughout the tournament. ACCURATE APPROACHES. Gibbs was hitting them up the middle and playing lo’fer trajectory approaches with great accuracy, and although he went to two-up at the 14th, only to lose the extra hole again at the 15th, he seized a chance when Glading came too strongly out of a bunker at the 17th. A ' sound four made him two-up ai< he finished the round with a thrill for the large gallery by sinking a 35-foot putt for an eagle three at the 18th. He was play-

•eens. however, and a tendency to hout the match. He whs dormy eep the game alive. I ing like a champion and it was no dis- | grace to Glading that a par 73 still I left him three down. Glading whittled I this lead down to one very quickly [ after lunch. A birdie three and bogey four (gained after Gibbs had been stymied' won the 21st and 22nd respectively, but a 12-foot putt on the 24th gave Gibbs a birdie 3 to bring him back to two-up. The remaining three holes of the third nine were halved in regulation figures, and Gibbs turned .for home still playing imperturbable golf. In contrast with Glading, a very quick player, he was deliberate and studied all his shots carefully. Gibbs had played the third nine in 38 to Glading’s 37. A large gallery was lining the fairways and crowding round the greens, but neither player faltered. Glading lost the short 28th by taking three putts and he was four down when his long second at Tipperary kicked in behind the tiees guarding the green and his third caught the bunker. Again he played McGlashan's (the 30th) in birdie three for a win, his 15-foot putt being smoothly stroked for a change. Still three down, Glading's plight was serious, but Gibbs was leaving him no openings and they halved the next three holes. The score was dormy three. At the short 34fh Glading hit a good tee shot to the front of the green, while Gibbs’s I ball bounced off the green and stopped on the edge of the rough. GLADING’S STRONG PUTT. The latter played a tine chip over the bunker and the crowd gasped as Gladi.g’s strong putt ran past the hole and left him with a return of four feet for his three and a win after Gibbs’s six-foot putt for his three, a half and the match, had died right on the lip of the cup. Glading ran his putt down and the game was still alive. Gibbs closed him out at the 35th, however. He was at the back of the green in two, while Glading was on the front edge. The latter could not get his long putt up to the hole and when Gibbs chipped to within nine inches from the cup, the j match was over. Glading got his four, : but Gibbs had not the slightest difI ficulty in securing his half. Both I wanted a birdie four at the last hole for par 37 for the last nine, which would have meant rounds of 70 and 75 for Gibbs and 73 and 74 for Glading. The match was played in dull but mild and still weather. A light shower in the middle of the afternoon round was not enough to cause discomfort to the players or spectators. Apart I from blustery winds on a number of I days the weather for the tournament could scarcely have been better. What 1 rain tnere was came at night, and was mA sufficient to do more than keep the course fresh and the greens holding. NATIONAL TITLES. Winners of national titles were:— Open: A. J. Murray (Titirangi); runner-up, B. M. Silk (Wanganui). Amateur championship: A. Gibbs (Otago); runner-up, R. H. Glading (Titirangi). Amateur foursomes: A. R. Kitto (Wanganui) and B. Bamfield (New Plymouth). Professional championship: A. J. Murray; runner-up, A. J. Shaw (Miramar). Professional foursomes: A. J. Murray and B. J. Smith, junr. (Invercargill).