Combined Gob Team Loses Good Game To Canterbury

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31114, 18 July 1966, Page 12

Combined Gob Team Loses Good Game To Canterbury

Reversing last year’s score, Canterbury beat MidSouth Canterbury by 14 games to 10 on a most un-winterlike Ashburton Golf Club course yesterday. It was a splendid day for golf—mild and windless—and the level of personal achievement was considerably higher than usual.

Ashburton has had a remarkably dry winter, and the Christchurch players must have been vastly encouraged by the run the fairways gave. The greens were fast, too, although some of them were rather bobbly. Canterbury’s top pair, R. E. Clements and E. H. Richards, had a remarkable run against A. C. Browne and G. P. Vesty. Clements' and Richards played beautiful golf, and if they missed a green, they invariably chipped up within close range. They had only 23 putts, and only one of more than six feet went down. They were two under the card on a course measuring 6509 yards—but not playing that long. I. S. Harvey and the talented young I. F. Beswarick did well to beat D. R. Hope and R. K. Atkinson on the last green. The winners were one over at the end. M. R. Blank and A. W. Robinson played very well indeed to be one under in defeating J. Hampton and R. Stoddart, but J. R. Broadhurst and J. F. Logie could not overcome an early deficit against T. E. Pfahlert and D. M. Murdoch. Five down after 11, they lost at the last hole. Another Canterbury pair, D. J. Gaudin and A. K. Hynd, also started badly but they were three under the card coming home, to win, 2 and 1: they had five birdies in their round. Their success gave 1 Canterbury a 44-3 J lead at lunch. On* Iren Down Browne was wildly erratic off the tees, but kept in touch with Clements until the thirteenth. Browne made some astonishing recoveries but one of them cost him Ms 5-iron. A dragged drive

put him close to a tree and his strenuous effort to recover left Ms club like a pair of dividers. But it was a V for victory—his pitch in was magnificent, and his par 4 gave him the hole. Although Clements was only one over when the game ended on the sixteenth, It was through good driving and many fine long irons. He chipped and two-putted fairly regularly. Richards and Harvey had an excellent match, Richards starting with two birdies in the first three holes. Harvey did not drive well, but he was only one down at the turn, although Richards was one under, 36. Harvey played far more steadily than Richards In the later stages, and under pressure Ms putting was first-class. Beswarick needed a putt of three feet on the last green to beat Hope, but missed it. He had a scratch round, however, and played with distinctive style and skill. So d:d Hope, who has lengthened Ms swing and is now getting the ball a long way out from the tees. It was a spectacular struggle. Going out, Beswarick had two birdies and was scratch 37. Hope was 35—a birdie, and an eagle at the eighth when he chipped in from 15 yards short of the green. Hope holed a 16footer for a birdie at the tenth, then lost two holes to par and the fifteenth to a birdie, Beswarick having chipped in from 25 feet. Beswarick went to one up with another Mrdle at the seventeenth but went through the last green and although he chipped back well, the last putt stayed out. Hope was 72, Beswarick scratch 73. Impressive Performance One of Canterbury's most impressive performances came from R. K. Atkinson, who had seven bogeys and two birdies going out, and was desperately unlucky not to be at least one stroke better. Atkinson, hitting the ball soundly off the tees, and with considerable length, was reliable with his irons, and when the necessity arose, put Ms chips dead. He was still two under when an out-of-touch Vesty succumbed at the thirteenth.

M. W. Stanley, who announced his retirement from representative golf yesterday, gave a very satisfactory final performance. He showed typical skill in his short game, against Hampton. The 16-year-old, P. Cleland had a good day, with a foursomes win and a half with R. Newburn. At the end of the list, Gatidln and Hynd again did well. Roth were one under

scratch in achieving easy victories. A young Mid-South player, G. Escott, raised a few eyebrows with the length of his driving and the excellence of his putting when he had a surprisingly easy win over I. D. Dobson. The match between Blank and the mature Holden was the most spectacular of them all. Blank has been in extremely good form at Shirley recently, and in both matches yesterday he was impressive off the tees, through the fairways and on the greens. But Holden was a limpet, and they enjoyed a splendid struggle. Holden also hit good tee shots, and by sinking two putts of 20 feet, two more of 15 feet, he had Blank working desperately for victory. They halved the eighth, tenth, and eleventh in birdies, and at these holes it was Blank who had to sink the final put, from several feet. Only the short twelfth cost them stature. Blank won it with a 4, and was then one under, and two up. Holden responded with birdies at the thirteenth and fourteenth, lost the next two. and at the seventeenth had his sixth birdie in 10 holes, a period in which he achieved one bogey. But he could do no better than halve the last hole, and lost, one down. He was 73, Blank 72, one under. Results: Foursomes R. E. Clements and E. H. Richards beat A. C. Browne and G. P. Vesty, 3 and 1; D. R. Hope and R. K. Atkinson lost to I. S. Harvey and I. F. Beswtck, 1 down; J. R. Broadhurst and J. F. Logie lost to T. E. Pfahlert and D. M. Murdoch, 1 down; M. W. Stanley and J. A. Orr lost to W. Stark and R. Newburn, 3 and 1; P. Cleland and R. S. Peate beat J. Coile and J. B. Forrest, 3 and 2: M. R. Blank and A. W. Robinson beat .1. Hampton and R. Stoddart, 2 and 1; I. D. Dobson and J. P. Devine halved with M. Holden and G. Escott; D. J. Gaudin and A. K. Hynd beat W. Maw and N. Bain, 2 and 1. Singles Clements beat Browne, 3 and 2; Richards lost to Harvey, 1 down; Hope halved with Beswarick; Atkinson beat Vesty, 6 and 5; Broadhurst lost to Pfahlert, 1 down; Logie beat Murdoch, 3 and 2; Stanley beat Hampton. 4 and 3; Orr halved with Star; Cleland halved with Newburn; Peate lost to Voice, 3 and 2; Blank beat Holden, 1 up; Robinson lost to Forrest, 5 and 4; Dobson lost to Escott, 6 and 5; Devine beat Stoddart, 1 up: Gaudin beat Maw, 5 and 4; Hynd beat Bain, 6 and 5.