BIDWILL DOES 73-AND LOSES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 96, 20 October 1926, Page 12

BIDWILL DOES 73-AND LOSES

M'INTOSH BEATS MOSS

FINALS PROMISE RECORDS.

If the quality of the golf at the championship meeting continues to improve as it did yesterday, then some records will be broken before the close of the 1926 tournament. J. C. Bidwill did a 73 in the afternoon, and even that was not good enough to prevent his defeat by N. H. Bell, who was well up as the result of a fine outward run of 35. Leo Quin wanted onlytwo s's to do 71. T. H. Horton also showed brilliance in a flash of super holes, and indeed there were few winning players who did not play splendid golf. Rana Wagg, but for one disastrous hole, would have been 3 under fours. M'lntosh, in a brilliant run oE snappy holes, beat E. J. Moss, the Auckland professional, 4 and 3, and now Shaw will have to play both M'lntosh and Moss. His defeat of both is certain if he establishes a few strokes in hand in each case, which is what his golf yesterday forecasted. An early start made for an early finish yesterday at Miramar. There the starting arrangements, the drying course, and the conditions generally, were in favour of competitors. B. V. WRIGHT'S GAME WITH MORRISON. B. V. Wright, of Timaru, after standing 1 up on the champion of New South Wales (Hector Morrison) in the morning, by virtue of steady match play worthy of an older head, and returning a card of 75, set out in the afternoon by winning the first in 4. He found the bunker at the second, but halved in 5. The long third was halved in 5, and the fourth in 3. At the fifth Wright found the bunker, but halved in i. The short hole was halved in 3. Morrison, for almost the first time in the meeting, had a good run at the famous Hillside, where from a perfect tee shot he laid a sweet cleek shot on the green, and won in a perfect 4. Wright took the eighth in 4, Morrison having taken three to reach the green. Both nearly secured threes at the ninth, which was halved in 4's, Wright 2 up. Wright took the tenth and eleventh in fours, and the twelfth in 3. It seemed as though Morrison, who had completely overcome a slight inconsistency from the tee in the morning, could not bring himself to sink a putt in the afternoon. Time and again the ball angled out of the hole, or stopped on the lip, even in the shori; putts, and to this he may attribute his defeat. He won the thirteenth in 4, however, after missing a nine-foot putt for a three, but missed a chance at the fourteenth, where Wright's tee shot was pulled out beyond the bunker, while his own | lay on the green. Wright overran the pm right across the green in pitching oyer the bunker, and his return was also too strong, leaving him a longish putt. Morrison was short with his approach, and missed the next; result,, a half m 4, and Wright 3 up and 4 to go. The fifteenth was spectacular. The Australian pulled and miss-hit his tee shot, and lay with the whole of the hill to carry, fifty yards ou. of the line to the hole. He had to run up the hill fifty yards to find out the line, but hit a magnificent iron shot, which stopped on the green amidst applause from the gallery. Wright hit a faultless drive, hut topped and sliced his second, which rolled down the long grass bank not halfway to the hole. He also was applauded when' he laid his third dead from the thick rough. Morrison's third, a long approach putt, downhill, overran the hole, which was halved in 4. This left the youngster dormie 3, and the end came at; the nest hole, victory 3 and 2. Caddyin,; for Wright was Mrs. Templar, well known as a golfer in Timaru as Miss Wright. Wright has done a 67 on Shirley, and if he plays in the same form for the rest of the tournament, should go through to the final. Remarkably deadly putting to-day capped a long' game as good as any. Both he and Morrison excel in long iron pitches to the green. BIDWILL'S FIGHTING SPIRIT. N. H. Bell, Hamilton's slight and wiry representative, is one of the prettiest stylists on the links, hits a tremendously long ball for his weight, and is a careful, if rather nervous-looking putter, but everybody expected that J. 0. Bidwili, who is a formidable match player, would wear him down before the days was out. Bell, on the contrary, kept the lead he established in the morning, and went to lunch 2 up. He had improved this to 3 up at the ninth hole in the afternoon— the quality of the golf is shown by the cards, Bell 35, Bidwill 36. Bell lost the tenth, but won the eleventh in 4, and over-cautions putting saw the twelfth halved in 4. Bilwill won the thirteenth in 4-5, Bell being stymied (Bell 2 up). Bidwill won the fourteenth in 3-4 (Bell 1 up). The fifteenth was halved in 5, both putting short, and the sixteenth in 4. The seventeenth was sensational. Bell took three to reach the green, where he lay thirty feet from the hole. Bidwill, witii two stinging wooden shots, was on the far edge of the green in two, with a slightly head wind (470 yards). It was Bell's putt, and the bal! clicked home with a decisive tap against the back of the tin for four. Bidwill quite naturally missed the fifteen-foot putt, and halved in 4 likewise. Bidwill, with his opponent needing only a half, showed his fighting spirit at the last hole by sinking a tenfoot putt, after a marvellous shot out of the bunker, halving in 5, Bell winning 1 up. The winner's card was 345343544, 3o; 544545445, 41; total 76. Bidwill's was : 444434535, 36; 454335445, 37; total 73. Bidwill's drives, with the short swing he atfects, get him a wonderfully long bal!, while his irons are played in a masterly fashion, especially into the wind, when hft keeps them low and straight for the pin. There is no better "sport" on the links, but he has an implacable look, and fights hard, and as Bell survived him, he should have no fears henceforward on the temperamental score. Kapi Tareha found a steady opponent in J. B. Parker in the morning, and finished only 2 up, but in the afternoon Kapi steadied down, going out in 37, while Parker, who has not played as much golf as he should to bring out' his best, has played much better than today. Tareha's lead increased to 7 and 5. J. H. Drake, who squared his morning's play with E. Macfarlane, fought steadily hole by hole in the afternoon. Most of the holes were halved. Drake won the tenth, and Macfarlane the fifteenth, the remaining holes being halved till th_ .eighteenth, where Drake found the pot bunker near the green, failed to get out, and lost a keen match 1 down. The victory o£ Rana Wagg, the young Hutt player, over such a redoubtable opponent as J. Goss, of Wanganui, was due to a sustained run of the occasionally brilliant golf of which Wagg has often shown himself capable. Goss managed to square his match in the morning, but could not stand up against Waggs fi_ni _s which, except for the seventh, where he picked up, were: 544343 (—)_-l-333-4, the match ending 3 and 2. M. VI. Duncan, a young goiter, oL the famous golfing family, on the 3-2 club mark, who did well to aggregate 31S in his first Dominion tournament, played brilliantly in the morning, and was 3 up on L. Quin, but the latter coruscated too pyrotechnically for him after lunch, turning in a 74, as follows:—4-6432445, 36; 443434370, 38, 74! Quin finished 5 up and 3, but was playing for the completed card. The big figures at the Inst two holes were probably line t" wailing till the gallery watching A. V. . . Duncan and J. L. Black dispersed. M. H. .Duncan gave a taste of his quality by driving a phenomenally long ball at the eleventh, placing a beautiful iron shut on Iho green, and holing a long putt for 3, one of the holes where he checked Q.uin's siring of win.. T. "If. Horton similarly ran away Ironi J. L. Petley, who was only one down to him at the" close of the morning's play. Petley had improved his position to 1 up at the eighth, but from that point Hortoiv's figures were:—4444343 (bogey 55535----3 .). Winning all these holes in succession Horton won 5 and 4. OLD OPPONENTS. A. D. S. Duncan and J. L. Black arc old opponents. In the morning Duncan was 2 up on Black, and finished 2 up and 1 at the close of the day. The first three _v>ew>-

halved in s's. Black won the fourth in 2-3 (Black 1 down). The next was halved in 4, and the short hole in 2, Duncan having the louger putt. The seventh was halved in 5. The eighth went to Duncan in a neat 3. Following the classy sixth, the ninth was something of an anti-climax. Black pulled his drive into the rushes, and played straight out for safety, finishing up, after some time spent on the green, in 7. Duncan put his second in the bunker, taking two to get out, and took 6, making Black 3 down at the turn. Black won the next two, but Duncan took Coates's fancy in 3. The rest were halved to the seventeenth, Duncan winning, 2 and 1. SECOND ROUND RESULTS. The following were the results of the second round:— N. H. Bell beat J. C. Bidwill, 1 up. L. Quin beat M. H. Duncan, 5 and 3. K. Tareha beat J. B. Parker, 7 and 5. Rana AVagg beat J. Goss, 3 and 2. A. D. S. Duncan beat J. L. Black, 2 aod E. Macfarlane beat J. H. Drake, 1 up. n B. V. Wright beat H. Morrison, 3 and T. H. Horton beat J. L. Petley, 5 and BOGEY COMPETITION. The leading cards in the bogey competition were:—H. P. Blundeli, 81-8-73: and J. B. Parker, 78-1-77.