HORNABROOK 2 UP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20098, 18 November 1939, Page 7

HORNABROOK 2 UP

——«• AMATEUR GOLF FINAL KITTO FIGHTS HARD OPEN CHAMPION'S LEAD MORNING ROUND OF 69 ('Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. At the finish of a week's strenuous golf in every kind of weather, the final over 36 holes of the New Zealand amateur championship is being played at Miramar to-day between J. P. Hornabrook, already the new open champion and A. Kilto. a young player from Seafield Club. Wanganui. Conditions at Miramar are sultry with a tempering northerly breeze. The players were followed by even larger galleries than those at the semi-final matches yesterday. With the possibility of two titles coming his way, Hornabrook was right on his game. lie began auspiciously to be 3 up on Kitto at the end of the first nine, which he covered in 34 (three under bocey) to Kitto's 37. Hornabrook finished the morning by being 2 up on Kitto. He did tit) to Kitto's 71. Play of High Standard Without being brilliant, the golf was of a high standard. Kitto played some wild shots off the tee and he did not putt with his accustomed skill, but in the closing stages of the round he fought back tenaciously to be only 1 down when they went to the seventeenth. Hornabrook won the first hole where Kitto needed three puts. The next was halved in regulation fours, both narrowly missing longish putts for birdies. The Wanganui player pulled his tee shot into the rough at the third and his second was through the green. Hornabrook was down with two puts and led 2 up. At the fourth, Hornabrook nearly holed a 40ft. chip for a birdie two. The next was halved in fours and at the sixth (106yds.) both went through the green into the trap at the back. Kitto made ;>. better recovery but Hornabrook made sure of a half. At the Jong seventh both were in trouble with their tee shots. Kitto landed on the side of the hill and just managed to chip out on to the fairway. Hornabrook was also in the rough but he reached the green in three. Kitto took one more stroke but a nine foot put gave him a half. Kitto looked like winning back a hole at tlie eighth, where he was on the green for one, but he was unlucky in not sinking a (ill-footer for an eagle two, the ball stooping on the edge ot the hole. Hornabrook was equal to the task of sinking a 12-footcr for a half in three. Brilliant Recovery The next hole went to the open champion in four to five and he turned for home 3 uP. having gone out in 34 to Kitto's 37. Hornabrook made a brilliant recovery from a Iran at the long tenth (490yds.) and a half in birdie fours resulted. At the eleventh Hornabrook laid a long approach put dead. Kitto tool': three to get on and he missed a put tor a half, making him 4 down. The twelfth and thirteenth were halved in regulation figures and at the next Kitto commenced to make his recovery. He sank an eight-footer for a win in three to four and, at the fifteenth, he played a nicely-judged pitch shot and holed from six feet for a win with a birdie three. Kitto made up further leeway at the sixteenth, where a grand tee shot pave him an easy par three. Hornabrook increased his lead at the sevententh, where he ran down a six-foot put. The eighteenth was halved in par fours. The final eighteen holes in the amateur championship commenced at 2 o'clock when the weather was still uncomfortably warm.