GOLF

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 16 (Supplement)

GOLF

(By “Niblick.”) The tournament which was decided at St. Andrew’s during the week was marked by good golfing weather, and the various games until the winners of Ihe Waikato and the South Auckland Championship were sifted out produced always interesting play and much of it that was of a high standard. The representation from outside clubs was very good and the tournament, as a whole, proved one of the most successful held on the links. The return of the ex-amateur champion, Sloan Morpcl-h, to the game is one of the most pleasing events that has to be chronicled. Since Morpeth acted as runner-up to J. 11. Kirkwood in Ihe Open Championship of the Dominion, and won the Dominion Amateur title at SI. Andrew’s in the season of 1920. he has been away from tlie panic practically the whole of that time. It is Morpeth’s intention to take part in the New Zealand championships again this year and on the form he has been displaying since his re-entry into the game, he should take a leading part in tlie play for ihe honours. While searching for golf balls near a footpath leading from Grove Park K.o Bromley (Kent), a golfer found three bombs. Evidently Lenin was thinking of playing on those links! Arthur Duncan. the Wellington champion, has got right hack to his very best form. He is reporled to have played a brilliant round of 71 ai Miramar last week-end, and even then missed a few short pulls lie should have sunk. “'The chief lesson to be learned from Hie result of the open championship,” writes a Brilisli golf critic, “concerns the importance (| f (lulling. Championships are won on the greens

and if the British will improve their play near the holes they will regain their titles and keep them.” . A. C>. Slme, the holder of the New Zealand amateur championship, is determined to make a great effort to retain hi s title at Palmerston North this month. He is at present in Dunedin, where he has been putting in some solid practice. Reports state that he is in excellent form. Sime, who hails from the West Coast, will go up to Palmerston North, and have ten days’ practice on the links before the championship meeting. judging by reports: from America, New Zealand is not badly off so far as municipal golf links are concerned. That is, Wellington has one! A New York paper states that the big city is far behind others in that connection. Chicago has nine courses, and Toledo, where the national public links tournament is to be held, has four. Cincinnati has three. Cleveland, Des Moines, 'Minneapolis, Washington, St. Louis, Boston and Seattle have two each.

Recently in these columns under the heading of “A Rising Star,” reference was made to young ( Gcne Saracen’s performance in winning the open championship of the United Slates at the age of 21. It would appear that, the star is not rising, but is already fixed in the golf firmament as a constellation of the first magnitude. The cables .now inform us that the colt has just won the United States professional championship at Hulton, Pennsylvania, defeating Emmett French in the final by 4 up and 3 to play. Gene Saracen is a young New Yorker, of Italian parentage, who commenced' caddying at the age. of eight years. In winning the United Stales open he did the four rounds in 288, finishing up with a brilliant 78. They seem to turn them out early from the golfing incubator in the States. AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP. There has been a good deal of speculation as to what sort 'of a course Skokie is. The .length is 6340 yards. There are no blind holes, and not a blind shot, except in the case of the seventh,- where the plates can be placed so that only the flag can be seen. The par is: Out, 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 —34; in, 4'4 4344 4 J 4 5 —36—70. The length can be increased to 6528 yards bu;t thfis does not change the par. There are six holes ranging from 415 to 440 yards par fours. Mr Claude Corbett from New Y r ork has sent some interesting particulars to “Auld Reekie,” of the Referee, as follows: —“For the first time in America an entrance fee was charged, and this was fixed at a dollar. Golf in America presents some curious features to us. For instance: Coming up the home stretch, with the crowd cheering every shot, Hutchinson started with a perfect ’250-yard drive and Lhen landed - a 200 yards brassie 20 feet from the cup. As he stepped up for the putt someone yelled, ‘Sink it, Jock, old boy.’ ‘All right, sir; I’ll certainly do that,’ came back in Jock’s Scotch brogue, and he sent the bait curling along the side hill slope into the cup for an eagle 3.” Hutchinson's 67 was: Out, 6 3 4 3 3 3 4 3 3—34 ; in, 4 4 4 3 3 3 4 4 4—33 —67. He took 8 in the afternoon: Out,' 534444 3 4 3—34 ; in, 5 4 4 3 3 3 4 5 3 —34 —68. These figures are given, a's they represent the lowest score (135) ever returned in an American tournament. That some of the shots are almost superhuman is undoubted. “On the 21st," it is explained, “Barnes’ drive was on the side of a bunker, in a patch of sand behind a tuft of heavy matted grass. Standing three feet lower than the ball, Jim came around with a side arm swipe and the ball went 215 yards straight to the green, which was & sample of the shots he was making all day.” Think of the position of the ball and the length obtained. Most golfers in Australasia • would think themselves lucky in getting out with a niblick. Mr Corbett draws my attention to the following, which has evidently amused him. “Before Dave Herron, the former National amateur champion, went to/the first, lee, it had not •started to rain, but he determined to take all necessary precautions by obtaining a pair of white cotton gloves to keep his hands from slipping. The gloves were hard to find, but Dave finally purchased a pair in an undertaker’s establishment. Despite the surroundings, lie emerged from the place with a broad smile. The first man to recommend cotton gloves in the wet was, I think, James Braid. If they were more extensively used there would be much less grumbling about the clubs slipping in the wet.