ONCE AGAIN HE SCORES

NZ Truth, Issue 1195, 25 October 1928, Page 17

ONCE AGAIN HE SCORES

' ' ' / Horton Wins Amateur Golf Title After Uphill Games

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Golf Correspondent;) A stylish player, correct m every shot, T. H. Horton a£ain is amateur golf champion of New Zealand. His record during the ■ > past few years has been m keeping with that of "a champion.

LAST year, m the final with Sloan Morpeth, Hortoii's putting lost him a great chance. At Sydney he was acclaimed a star golfer and he came home undefeated. At . Miramar, notwithstanding the lack of practice, he rose to the occasion and won his matches m th'e KirkWindeyer Cup. Then Dunedin and triumph. His win over K. Ross was just as much a fighting one as was the final. A worthy champion is T. H. Horton, a keen student of the game and ever willing to learn and help golf and golfers. ..'■"'•■ With wood and iron he is superb and If one could fault his play it is when he pulls out his putter. Sometimes he is out of touch with it and then his game crumbles up. But the champion can putt and when m confidence he is on par with the. best. His wonderful display at Christchurch when he defeated A. D, S. Duncan cannot be forgotten. At Dunedin one could not fault him for a golfer cannot reel off strings of fours and putt badly. Next year the amateur champion will gather all his forces to win. the honor he 'strives for — the open' — and all his professional brothers know that' he is always one to fear m that event. One of the sensations of the meeting was early served up when ; C. Wright defeated Sloan Morpeth .m an eigMeenhole bout. Whatwould have happened had the match been 36 holes no one can say, yet the following day when Wright played his amazing round against. Black, only to be defeated, many big arguments arose as to the policy of playing one or two rounds of the championship over 18 holes and others over 36 holes. We have read many stories of wonderful rounds played by golfers m "Prohibition Land" yet few of them I

equal the amazing match between Wright and Black. 1 Playing like Hagen' inspired, Wright 1 covered the first nine holes m a- phenomenal score of 31 strokes and holed out m 67 against Black with 76.' J.h. went to lunch 9 down and then went out to win the most wonderful match ever played m New Zealand. The fighting spirit of the ex-Welling-ton player is well-known,' but it never was so high as on that memorable afternoon when he pulled hole afterhole from his opponent to break down his game and his shots— then to go on and win at the 37th. Again m the final he was always fighting uphill and though he lost the great honor he has raised his stock m golfing m New Zealand. His day must come and his place m the next KirkWindeyer Cup team seems assured. .