GOLF.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 609, 18 September 1902, Page 7

GOLF.

FINAL FOR THE NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP. The final round of 36 holes for the amateur golf championship of New Zealand, in which 8. H. Gollan (Napier) beat O. E. 8. Gillies (Auckland) by 3 up and 1 is thus described by a Southern writer :— Friday (September 5) saw the decision of the great event, but the match between Gollan and Gillies, thou£ h interesting, was certainly less exciting than the struggle of the previous day, which had rather spoiled the spectators for anything less thrilling. The weather was lovely, and there was a Jfine attendance of spectators, most of whom trudged round the full course both morning and afternoon. Considering how one-sided the match looked at the start, it was a good tussle. With Gollan 5 up on the first five holes, the prospects of the Auckland crack looked decidedly gloomy, but a half, followed by three successive wins by Gil ies, put a new complexion on affairs by the time the turn was reached. The tenth hole went to Gollan, the next was halved, the twelfth was won by Gillies, the thirteenth was halved, and the fourteenth again made Gollan 3 up. Gillies reduced this to 2 at the next by one of those fine putts from the edge of the green which are hardly less surprising to the player than to his opponent. Another win to the Aucklander followed, and he was now only one down with two to play. It is not too much to say that he absolutely threw away the last two holes of the round by miserably poor putting. If he could have ’ putted two feet straight at the seventeenth hole he would have made a win ot it instead of a half, while a putt of eighteen inches would have given him the eighteenth. As it was, this hole was also halved, and Gillies, instead of being one up at the end of the first half, as he might have j been, was one down. .

About two o’clock the two competitors set out on the second round of the match. The wind was now blowing cool and more strongly, but it was not enough to affect play. Gillies got all square bv winning the twentieth hole, bub the next two fell to Gollan. Alternate wins for the 7 | next four holes and a halved hole found Gollan two up at the turn. Gillies squared the match .fe again three holes later, winning the twentyeighth and thirtieth, and halving the twentyninth. He failed to get in front, however, and at Spion Kop the Napier player was two up with three to play. The Chasm being halved, Gollan was dormy two, and a bad drive and short putting on Gillies’ part gave Gollan the match and the championship by three up and one to play. I here is no doubt that had Gillies’ play on the green been better, the result of the match might have been different. His putting was at times very poor, and in this respect Gollan was greatly superior to him. aken all round, the play was not up to championship standard, though at times it was very good, and Gollan throughout played with more confidence. His long iron shots were a marked feature of his game, and now and then he got away a beautiful drive. Gillies’ style give one the idea that he is careless, but he played good golf, and can play a better game than he showed at Shirley.