GOLF TOURNAMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2343, 28 December 1914, Page 9

GOLF TOURNAMENT

—t ■ ■ PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

THE PROFESSIONAL PRIZE GOES

TO'DOUGLAS

■ The Wellington golf championship tournoy was advanced other stages on Saturday. The weather was ideal, and the links at Heretannga in good order for play-' Tie scores generally wero not so good ae those' of the opening day. ,; With tfce Amateurs. '. The sixteen players who qualified for the amateur championship commenced match, play on Saturday niorningj playing the second round of the tournoy in the afternoon. The four players now .left in.are Taylor, Duncan, Wood, and Kidston. The first round of match play almost produced a sensation. Duncan, who had been in magnificent form in the qualifying, rounds, just managed to beat Climie at the 18th hole, after playing one of-his most disappointing games. Frequently he failed with his tee-shot, mqst'often bypuljing it'and getting into the rough.- He was three down at the fifth hole, recovering to one down at the turn. : Then 1 five holes were halved. The fifteenth,Duncan won'.in three, and drew: level with his opponent for the first time. The.sixteenth Climie won in threo, biit Duncan again; squared the game, at the seventeenth' with a four against Climie'a five. At the eighteenth' Duncan ran through' the green with his second, but laid his third dead. Climie. had made a good second, and had one putt for the game, but he overran the hole and laid himself a stymie. Duncan holed,down in four and won the hole>and the match. Climie was playing a sound game, but not a phenomenal one, by no : means equal to Duncan's true form.. The most sensational patch of play in the whole series was shown by KidstonV card—a sequence of 2, 1, and 3 for the 14th, 15th, and 16th holes, an average of two for the three holes. Kidston's total score for : this game (against Woon) was 76—41 out and 36 in. The homeward section of the score was improved, of course, by. the player's phenomenal performance at the three hole's ■'. , Tho Professionals. -. The prize in the professional match goes to Douglas, who won it by exceptionally brillianti play in his two rounds on Saturday ■. : '' !' .. V When the players teed.,,up for the third round, lies was leading Clements by 4, Watt by seven, and Douglas by 12.strokes. After a-4 at the first, lies found trouble at the second, and ran up a .7.; For tie rest of his round he played fine.golf, particularly- with his mashie, and finished in 74. 'Clements lost his touch on the, greens and Tan up. an 81 which put him out of the running. Watt reached the 9th, in 38, but then went clean off his short ap- 1 proaches antfsix s's coming home finished his chance's.;: Douglas, however, started off in- : great style. Hie driving ivas improving and?, this gave him greater confidence, iteaching the turn in 37, the only mishap being a six at the'long eth/nefinisliod. the-last nine in, a brilliant 33. His only mistake was a missed shortputt at /the; 11th, and, by. recording ..a 70, he improved his position on fief by four strokes. • • Hood, mtting beautifully, returned a 72,' a fine performance. Ste'wart also struck a patch of his game and a 76 was the result. Butters and-M'Ewen fell away ani'ran up scores, , which made their chances hopeless.- ~ ,-. . - -.-• S'With' a lead of 8 strokes/ it looked any odds, on lies finishing in "the lead: ng position—but golf.is an uncertain game and he failed. He started off weakly -wiib"three S's; ■ by' losing"his" confidence round the greens. At the 4th he sliced his drive and registered another s..'■■ A pulled 2nd at- the 6th found a bunker and a 6 was run up. Then another- six at the Sth, followed by.a fine 8-at the 9th, mado'his score 43 out. .'Coming home he made a mistake at the 11th, and a five was-the result. Thence to the last hole his golf, was good. Hβ required a 4 to tie with Douglas, who;had finished in front ofhim. He.topped his drive and-then got a fine .second, but required, three putts, i finishing >in 80, and losing the first l prize by'ohe'stroke. '.'■ ""■■.-■'

Douglas,-jif his'finishing round; kept ,up his brilliant; form, and playing like' ■a' machine, reached the Bth;in 2 under fours. A 5 was recorded at the Bth. At the 9th he reached the green with his iron and hie putt for a 2 hit the hole -and ran round—out in 34. A beautiful three was secured at the 10th, and the following three holes were notched in perfeof.4th. The short 14th cost him a 4—three putts. Then came a mistake, which looked like throwing away his chances of winning. Playing up the hill to the 15th, he went clsan under .his niblick shot from the tee and went into the creek. Dropping another ball,' he went far 'beyond the pin and a 3hole cost him 5. ;0n the 16th his putt of 3 yards again hit the hole and stayed out, and a 4 was marked up A big pull off the 17th: tee and another with Ms iron made him take 5 to this hole, and at the last hole he placed hie second within two yards of the pin, where again his putt, after hitting the hole, refused to-go down— back in 37. He finished in 71, and bo Won a sensational match by one stroke He fully deserved his win, as he played a_ great uphill game and to make up nine strokes in the concluding round • of a professional competition, stamps him as an: exceptionally brilliant player. It was a phenomenal recovery. The quality of his play may be judged from his morning score, which was as follows:— ' ■ ■ _.; . "Out:.4, 5, 3, 4, 4, 3, 5, 6, 3 ... 37 In-.; 4, 5,4/4, 2, 3, 4,'4, 3 ... 83 J®. Total- ...;. ~..70 ( In the afternoon his card showed the following figures :•»- Out: 4, 4,. 3, 4, 3, 4,,4, 5, 3 ... 34 ' In: 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 4 ... 37 !' Total ..............; 71 The best score made' by any other professional on Saturday was , Hood's Out: 4, 5, 3, 5, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4 ... 37 In: -4,4,4, 4, 4,3, 3, 4, 5' ... So .■Total ................; 72 Altogether the professionals played wonderfully consistent, and, ,in oases, brilliant golf. Indeed, an examination of the scores shquld satisfy any judge of the game that there are now in New Zealand a number, of instructors who are really high-grade players.

AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP. Following were the results of the two rounds of match play in the Amateur Championship:— - '! FIRST ROUND. Taylor, beat Louiseon, 5 up and 8 *to play; Tumor beat Callender, 2 and 4; M'Ewen beat Hay, .3 and 2; Duncan beat Climio, 1. up; Wood beat Seifert, 6 and 4 j Horton beat Wynyard, 3 and 2; Hales beat Hirst, 8 and 6; Kidston beat Woon, 5 and 4. ..--.-.. SECOND ROTJND. Taylor beat Turner, 4 and 3. Duncan beat M'Ewon, 7 and 6. Wood beat Horton, 1 up. ■ Kidston beat Hales, 1 up. P.UTTINC COMPETITION. A putting- competition, held during •the day, was won by R, D, Kidatou, with, a score of 3d

BOGV HANDICAP. _ A Bogy Handicap, played in the momuig, resulted in a tie for first place, T. H. and D. Webster each finishing with a score of 4 up. The tio is to be played off on some suitable opportunity. Following are the best of the scores handed in :— ( ' T. H. Dawson (hep. 8), 4 up and Dr. Webster (hep. 11), 4 up, 1; Kidston (scr.)', 3 up, 3; If. Pearce (hep. 12), 2 up; Stewart (hep. 9), 2 lip; Blundell (hep. 11), 1 up; Wynyard (hep. 3), all square: M'Ewen (hep. 4), all square; 1 Ward (hep. 12), all square; Kelly (hop. 9), all square. In all 22 cards were returned. ■ FOUR-BALL FOURSOME. The following are the best cards handed in for the Four-ball Foursomes Handicap:— Woon and Hay, 9 up; Ryan and Ward, 9 up; Hurst and Gill, 8 up; Sutton and Rhind, 8 up; Lees and : Lees, 8 up; Reid and Nathan, 8 up; E. S. Pearce and Reakes, 6 up; Kirkby and Blundell,'6 up; Oallemler and Callender, 6 up; Griffiths and Webster, 5 up; Louisson and Seifert, 4 up; Wynyard and Doughty, 3 up; Triggs and Marchbanks, all square; Dawson and Dawson, all square. The tio will be, played off/ to-day. PROFESSIONAL MATCH. ; Four rounds of medal pla.y. First prize, £15; second prize, £7 10s.; third prize, £2 lO.s. Following are the scores:— ' ..

Douglas, the present New Zealand champion, therefore takes the first prize, lies the second, and Clements the third. . ~-.-■. The following ,ia the draw, for the Medal Handicap (amateur), to be played at the Heretaunga Links this ing:-r-Holdsworth plays Kirker, Climie plays , Corrigari, Hobbs plays Chesney, Palmer plays Hitchings, Donald plays. Richardson, Callender, J. R. plays Kettle, Wilson plays Mac Lean, Hales plays Button, Greaves plays, Williams, Sloane plays MacEwen, Paton • plays : Kelly, Erskine plays Callender. W., Louisson plays Wynyard, Hirst plays Spraggon, Doughty, W. P. plays Harris, Nathan plays Triggs, Kirkby plays Griffiths,. Reid plays. Wliyte, Dawson, P. C. plays: Young, Marchbanks plays Lees, sen,, Blundell, E. D. plays Bowring,' Dr.- ; Webster plays Stewart, iun., Lees, jiin. plays Reakes, Blundell, H. F. P. plays Robinson, Stewart, son. plays Wiokham, Bart plays Turner, Rhind plays Dawson, T.H., Duncan plays Taylor, Wood plays Kidston, Ward plays Hay, Ryan plays Woon.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Tl. Douglas ■. 77 ' 78 70 71 296' lies 69 74 74 80 297 Clements ..... 71 76 81 77 305 Watt 78 72 80 79 309 Hood 79 80 72 79 310 M'Evren 79 76 81 76 312 Butters 77 79 85 • -81 822 Bell 87 84 90 — —