The Australian Golfer, Von Nida, To Tour N.Z. Wil’ Play At Belmont

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 February 1949, Page 6

The Australian Golfer, Von Nida, To Tour N.Z. Wil’ Play At Belmont

' i J Australia’s most colourful golfing; personality, pugnacious, temperamen-1 tai, Norman von Nida, will under ! 11 a tour of New Zealand next j j month. The tour is being sponsored Iby Slazengers (N.Z Ltd.). He will play matches in various, centres against the Dominion’s lead- ■ ! ing golfers One of these matches will! be at Belmont on March 8 against i B. M. Silk, twice amateur champion of i New Zealand. At least two matches are expected to be against the New Zealand professional champion, Alex Murray. The; ’ clash between these golfers—one the. Australian professional champion and; a golfer rated among the world’s best, the other the New Zealand open j and professional champion—should ' provide golf of a quality which should’ ’ be amongst the best seen in this coun-! I try. Murray, who will be leaving for! England on March 16, will have a chance of measuring himself against, a world class golfer and will be all! out to acquit himself well. His per-' formances against von Nida will serve as a guide to his chances in British 1 tournaments. Von Nida has been one of the most| successful professional golfers in the! home country. In 1947 he won more] than £3OOO and gained the Harry Var-1 don Trophy for the best average. 1948! saw him take second place in the list! of monev winners with more than i £2OOO. Von Nida is no stranger to New I Zealand. He toured the Dominion im- I mediately before the war. At that ! time he was just at the beginning of | his climb to world standard and be 1 had not achieved the precision of his] present style. In a £5O match against I: Murray at Remuera he was beaten* one-down. In an unofficial match at! Titirangi the two finished all square. T Playing most of his golf in Britain | since 1939, von Nida, under thej; gruelling strain of continual overseas I ( professional play, has polished out! faults in his shot making, which has ( developed him into the formidable golfing machine which has won him' a place among the world’s best. !'

Now in Australia after spending! most of last year in tournaments in 1 Britain and America, he has been I taking things easily, but he still plays: in odd tournaments and occasional. exhibition matches In December he' won his second Australian professional I title by defeating E. Cremin 2 and 1 ; n the final. Small (sft. Gin) with a pugnacious, mouth and chin, von Nida is one of lhe most colourful and controversial! personalities in world golf today. He has won wide notoriety by his temperamental displays. He has hurled, 'clubs through the air, reproved spec-j I tators and caddies, argued with umpires and provided the golfing sensa-, tion last year by a stand-up fight with I Henry Ransom, the American profes- ] sional. Dressed like a showman —yellow | jumper, brick longs, biscuit plusfours, and varied tinted berets are ! part of his wardrobe —he draws the. crowd whenever he steps on a course | Those who know him say he is a lov-, ; able but temperamental character. ! I He should prove one of the greatest l draw-cards and advertisements for the game of golf New Zealand has seen.