GOLDEN GOLF YEAR

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 5 (Supplement)

GOLDEN GOLF YEAR

New Zealand’s Record Programme

For 1939

THE CENTENNIAL TOURNAMENTS £2OOO Prize Money Should Prove Tempting Bait As is imly lilting in New Zetilaml’s Uenleunial yenr. the Dominion in |!t:;'.t will present the most nttrnetive golfing programnie the country has eur seen. The New Zealand Golf t'liitneil lias risen to the occasion well, and the £2OllO in prize money which has been allocated for (he tournaments which are to he staged in Auckland, Chrislchtifcli and Wellington in Ocloher and November next, .it is hoped, will attract some worldrenowned professional golfers to these shores. The Auckland open tournament will he held on October 23 and 24, and this will be followed by an opeit tournament in Christchurch on November 2 and 3. Then will come the biggest tournament tbe-New Zealand Golf Association has ever held. This will tie the meeting on the Miramar links, Wellington, at which the New Zealand open, amateur, professional, and foursomes championships of the Dominion for 1939 will be decided from November 9 to November 17.

Everyone is hoping that a few of the leading professional golfers of Great Britain and the Lhdted States may.be tempted to visit New Zealand for the Centennial celebrations. Such big purses are offered for important tournaments in those countries that the prize money offered in New Zealand this year will not seem big to them, but some of the better-known professionals may decide to visit New Zealand’s scenic attractions and, incidentally, attempt to lift the Dominion’s open golf title.

One great player we know will be a starter in the New Zealand open this year, and that will lie the holder of the title, A. D. Locke, the brilliant young South African, who amazed the golling world by his play in winning the Transvaal open a few weeks ago. Bobby Locke must be acknowledged to be as brilliant a golfer as there is in the game today. He failed to win the British open last year, but later carried off the Irish open championship from a field which included Henry Cotton.

Cotton has refused to meet Locke this year in a special challenge match for £5OO, but the gauntlet has been taken up by A. H. Padgham, the British open champion. Locke will have another tilt for the British open this year, and his performances at that tournament will prove whether he is, as many critics declare, the best golfer in the world.

Whether this be so. New Zealand was singularly fortunate in receiving a visit from this golfing prodigy last year, and is more fortunate in the fact that he is coming back this year to defend his title.

We did not see the best of this great South Africa player last year. as. on his arrival in the Dominion, he contracted an attack of ptomaine poisoning. Notwithstanding this severe handicap, Locke succeeded in Dunedin in winning the New Zealand open title. It will be an entirely different Bobby Locke who will be seen in action this New Zealand Defenders.

On only two occasions has an overseas professional challenged for the New Zealand open golf title, and on both occasions lie has taken the honour. .In 1920, J. H. Kirkwood, the open champion of Australia, came to New Zealand and lifted the title in Hamilton, and last year Locke scored. The fact that Locke took the title by only three strokes from the professionals. B. J. Smith, jun„ Invercargill, and A. J. Shaw, Wellington, proved that New Zealand players are not so far behind the world’s best.

Will some New Zealand player this year be able to say, “Hands off!” to Bobby Locke and any other overseas stars who may enter for the open? Alex. Murray, the unattached Auckland professional, who won the New Zealand open in Christchurch in 1935, and would have won it again in Hamilton in 1937 had he not disqualified himself by a technical breach of the rules, is at the top of liis form just now. He won the open tournament in Rotorua a few weeks ago with fine scores for the fbur rounds, and if he can reproduce this form at Miramar in November next, he might prove too good even for Bobby Locke. Murray, however, likes a fast course. He was not too happy at New Plymouth in 1936, when he could come only seventeenth, with rounds of 76, 79. 75, and 76. He was six strokes behind Bobby Locke in Dunedin last year with rounds of 77, 72, 72, 73. He is such a brilliant shotmaker, however, that he must be seriously reckoned with. Gan He Come Baek? An able golfer who will have a word to say before Locke again walks off with the New Zealand open title this year will be Andy Shaw, who, since 1926, has carried off the New Zealand open title seven times, and the professional championship on six occasions.

Shaw was only three strokes behind Locke last year, his rounds being 72, 72, 77, 70. All that this player requires to put him at the top of the New Zealand golf tree again is intensive practice, and this he has been unable to get during the past few years. What of the Amateurs?

Though amateurs have won the New Zealand open golf title only six times in the past, signs were not wanting in Dunedin last year that there arc a band of young amateurs'pressing forward in the Dominion who will have to be seriously reckoned with in the future.

Of these, A. Gibbs, the Otago University player, did best with rounds of 72, 73, 74, 73, which made him leading amateur, four strokes behind Locke, and only one stroke behind Shaw and Basil Smith. Next came lan Ewen, Hutt, who was a stroke behind Gibbs, with rounds of 77, 68, 75, and 73. A stroke further back came XV. B. Reilly (thou of Shandon, but now of Hutt), and G. F. Smith (Akarana). These players arc all golfers, and they handle their »-clubs so skilfully that they may yet have their names inscribed on the open cup beside those other illustrious amateurs, Arthur Duncan (three times), E. M. Macfarlane, S. Morpeth and J. P. Hornabrook.

SHUFFLING THE PACKS

Many Players Change Over

As each season comes round there are usually a good many changes from one club to another. More shuffling than usual appears to have gone on this season.

J. L. Black, who played for .Manor Park last year, has returned to the Hutt fold, and other valuable recruits are the two Shandon top players, W. B. Reilly, runner-up for the New Zealand amateur championship, and IL H. McL. Elliott, champion of the Shandon Club last year. This trio will greatly augment Hutt’s playing strength in the Crawford Crescent matches against XVellingtoli and .Miramar.

Shandon will be particularly bard bit Ibis season, as they have also lost C. E. Hollis, one of the best players in the club, who lias gone on the laud in the Auckland district.

Manor Park, in addition to losing J. J.. Black, will also be without the services of J. Logan, the able Scot, who is now settled in the Raumati district, and it is also doubtful if that tried and yusty player, J. Ogilvie, will be turning out this year. Ogilvie’s loss will be severely felt, as, inaddition to his playing ability, he was sole selector and handicapper, and a (irst-class publicity officer for his club. Titahi Bay will have D. A. Dacre, N. XV. Parker and C. G. Swiiibourne at the head of their Watt Cup team again. Neville Parker will hold the secretarial reins this year, and should infuse some of the his personal enthusiasm into tlie conduct of the club.

A. I. Murray and the Kemlier brothers, Frank and John, will be the anchor men for the Paekakariki club, and a reliable trio they are. The club has some promising players and will be able to put a likely team in the field for the XVatt Cup contest.

Waiwetu will have much the same team as last year. R. G. Holland will again be No. 1, and W. J. Oliver, R. Dixon,. J. J. Cheevers and T. I*. Davis will all be on hand to keep the flag flying. As long as T. J. Harvey holds the presidential reins the Waiwetu flag will float proudly.