THE NATIONAL MEETING

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 121, 18 November 1932, Page 14

THE NATIONAL MEETING

iTSE AMATEUR MATCHES

MANY FIGHTING FINISHES

COURSE APPRECIATED

The 'national golf meeting of .1932 Tiajs come ■and gone, and there is not a ■doubt: .that it -was thoroughly enjoyed *by all who took part in it on. a , course in such perfect order,' and amid such beautiful surroundings, while tho weather, except for the second day of •the Open, .was all lhat could be desired Soino competitors when they saw the course for the first time remarked how easy •it looked, but it is significant that'-70 was not broken in the Open, rwhich is after all the ■ test of stroke play. With, conceded putts, and with ■the '*'going for it" spirit of the match play, 70 i was computedly broken several times, but the majority of players found plenty of trouble "now and then, and the sanded bunkers made a difference to many -who were used to- running through them. It must be remembered that the Wellington Golf Glftb1 was requested to allow the championship competitions on its links this year. While the condition of the course lias been the subject of favourable comment, some players may have made le.sezvations as to whether all the holes provided a complete test of skill.' The club), however, does not claim that its conrse is of championship standard. Tho principal aim of those who have been instrumental in effecting changes during -recent years has been to makethe. course agreeable and /interesting to pll members, bearing in mind that most <©f them, are not superlative golfers, ibut not omitting to provide something ■for achievement by the "crack" players. T^agg's Win Deserved.

• It -was held by some spectators that Bana Wagg, the winner of .the title tCor the. second time in succession, was _ fortunate."--It might with equal truth T>e said that he was unfortunate in his long game, as he was certainly off colour with his woods, and, but for a l-emarkable series of \ recoveries with lis irons, and mashie, and deadly work ■with the putter, he would hayo been ';beaten. This shows a fighting spirit, and though there is no question that the-holing of his chip out of the thirteenth bunker, when he was 4 down, Juid. Horton would shortly have been (lormie by all appearances, was lucky it'or him, yet every golfer knows that the holed chip shot must be played light to go in. Taking the next two "holes, and halving the nest two, gave Xagg just the encouragement he needfed, and when Horton missed the putt tof under four feet ou the eighteenth, "Wagg's confidence was fully restored. /Horton- was most unfortunate to be stymied' -at. the thirty-seventh. Wagg fought his way through some good golfers to. reach the final. Guy, Bartleet, Silk,1 Parker, and A. D. S. Duncan all successively went down -to him, and with the recovered mastery of his - woods, and the confidence he now has gained, he will be a hard man at (pro"b'ably) ( Titirangi next year. Duncan's Record. TSe outstanding figure of the tournament, however, was A. D. S. Duncan, winner of his first Amateur championship in 1899, and yet runner-up in the Open. The thirty-six hole matches, five of them running, were too much for him in the Amateur, but after beating Kiddle,. Blank, B. J. Smith, .-junr., and Dr. Boss, he need feel no shame . at being beaten by the ultimate winner over a golfer like Horton, especially when Wagg was sinking putts on him anywhere up to forty feet. This matter of the thirty-six hole matches is likely to .be-.reviewed, judging by the discussions at the annual meeting of delegates to the New Zealand Golf Association, before the next national meeting,' Duncan was palpably weary in the afternoon of his match with Wagg, 50 much so that he found it difficult to keep the rythm of his shots. Hortqn's Opponents. Horton met with a series of stiff matches. Ferguson was only 1 down ■to him on the morning round, and this •youngjOtago player will be heard- more of. Hnggins hung well to Horton all the afternoon, round. Five down at lunch, '■ he. was ; beaten only 6 and 5. Then Horton met Harold Black, a golfer always to reckoned with, on whom he was only 3-up. at lunch,: and who stuck to him so closely that he won only 3. and. 2, a narrow margin considering' that. Black was putting poorly. 2Text he-met-W. K. Cook, who had won the previous day from a seasoned golfer like Goss on the thirty-seventh, and whose long game was excellent. Before reaching the final, .Horton had to dispose of J.. L. Black, who was leading him at lunch time, and was 4. up on him at the ninth in the afternoon. Horton's recovery showed his fighting • spirit. -It-was only a missed three-footer, by Black at the thirtyeighth that prevented the match from going further still. Horton then had to meet Wagg, probably the best putter at the tournament, and, like J. L. Black, he'owed his defeat only to deficiencies on the greens, for his wellknown long game varied little. Other. Competitors. ~Di. Boss played outstandingly good golf through the ': fairways, and what lapses : he' made ■ were chiefly on the greens. His battle with Sime to the fortieth was in doubt all the way, but Boss seems to have a "hoodoo" on the Westport player, as, though they have met many times, Ross has always proved the victor. That A. D. S. Duncan should put Boss out in the fourth thirty-six hole round is a tribute to his stamina at his age. An outstanding golfer with woods and irons was D. C. Collins, who beat W; O'Callaghan, a strong player whose outstanding performance at the Wanganui tournament was the subject of much comment, in the first round, M. H. Duncan in the second round, and P. CV Fryer in the third round. Collins gave J. L. Black a good run in the ■afternoon, and_ had him down to 1 up at the tenth, in the fourth round, but Black proved the steadier in the short game. .:...,_ . MiUard's Steadiness. '. Harold Black met a-Tartar in J. Millard, Avondale, a golfer of the imperturbable type -whose driving1 and iron 'work were very steady, ana whose; approaching left no room for. complaint. Millard's niashio, deadly;., in the earlier stages of the match—he was lup on Black at lunch time—-wavered a bit toward the close. He made some wonderful recoveries, notably where ha was behind a flax bush at the sixteenth, and altogether gave Black many anxious moments. Black was putting in a heartbreaking way against Horton, far below his usual reliable standard.

_ B. M. Silk found a •worthy antagonist 5a T. B. McGregor in the first round, and a pretty stylist with: good temperament in M. E. iloore in the second. He found Wagg at the top of his form in the morning, Wagg coming hack in 34, and was unable to pick up the lost holes. Of the other youngsters the .most.convincing effort was that of B,_ J." Smith, ■•• junr., whose exciting fight -with A. D. 8. Duncan to the thirtyfiighth ■was dno of the best bits of golf in the tourney. Silk had worn the veteran, down to square. at th c sixteenth in "the afternoon, where" he stag-

Ed a classy ,'niblick pitch, arid' the match might have . finished tho other way save for splejidid putting just when he wanted it most by Duncan, whosa • fifteen-footer., at the , .thirtyeighth was-conclusive.

A feature of. the national, meeting was the close finishes in an. unusually large number of. the amateur matches. In tho first round L..D. Hurst beat P. Savage, at the thirty-eighth; in the second round P. C. Fryer; beat G. A, i Mills ' at: tlio thirty-seventh;, in the third- round.Dr..-Ross-boat- A. G. Sime at the fortieth, and W. -K. Cook beat J. Goss at. the thirty-seventh;.in the semi-finals T. H. Horton.beat J.- L. Black at the . thirty-eighth; the final between Horton and Wagg went to tho thirty-seventh. .- . -

The Open championship and the professionals -will f urnisli the notes. nextweek.