JUSTIFIABLE ELATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 12

JUSTIFIABLE ELATION

OUR GOLFING TRIUMPH CRACK VICTORIANS BEATEN A THOUGHT FOR MR. KIRK By E. C. Robieson My first thought on seeing the results of the New Zealanders’ effort in beating the crack Victorian team is of Mr. R. C. Kirk, one of the donors of the Kirk-Windeyer Cup, who will be one of the proudest men in Australia to-day. A keen golfer, he has realised one of his greatest ambitions in the game, and that was to see the inauguration of the Australia-New Zealand competition. Like those of us who have taken a keen interest in the game, he probably felt that, good as the New Zealand team was, from a New Zealand point of view, they had to face heavy odds in attacking strong Australian teams in Australia, with only a minimum of preparation on those courses. The fine win achieved —four matches to two, with a margin of nine holes to two—leaves one in that state of mind only relieved by some people by throwing their hats in the air and then dancing on them regardless of consequences. Beaten by the Australians in cricket and tennis, and with ortly Rugby on the credit side, New Zealand has equalised matters through its golfers, and we will be pardoned for acting as if we have done something of a very creditable nature. As I indicated in my golfing notes in THE SUN, from the beginning, the probabilities were that the Dominion team would meet Victoria in the final, and when I ventured an opinion, yesterday, that the New Zealanders would win, it was not because I really thought they were a better team than the Victorians, but because the circumstances, including the brilliant play of the Australian finalists against New South Wales the previous day, were in our favour. Congratulations to Arthur Duncan! His performance has been wonderful. We know him so well that we have only to see what he was up against. This was Ivo Whitton, who was born about the time Duncan started golf, and won the Australian open championship in 1912, 1913, and still again last year, while he has been Victorian amateur champion four times, and Queensland once, in addition to which he was runner-up to the Australian amateur in 1913 and 1926. He belongs to Royal Melbourne. He plays quickly and easily, and is particularly good with all his iron clubs. Is anything else required to show the calibre of the player Duncan defeated? “Billy” Horton, though he went down in the singles, did not do so to such an extent that he handed anything to the other side. Of the four in the New Zealand team Horton is the only one who obviously suffers with nerves. That' does not mean that he gets the wind up. He just goes out with the "jumps.” Duffing his iron second at the second hole was enough to prove disastrous, for I have seen him go

absolutely to pieces with this club, which generally is his strongest shot. His recovery from three down at the turn was brilliant against a man like Alex Russell, also a Sandringham player, and open champion of Australia in 1924, as well as several other important events, and is handicapped at plus 5.

Dr. Ross provided the sensation by taking his opponent to the 20th before there was a decision, and Leo Quin, in a manner which has become characteristic of him, fought a hard battle until the last few holes were in sight, and then disposed of his partner without giving him much chance to recover. In view of the success of Duncan and Horton we can anticipate that they will make some sort of impression in the New South Wales championship, which commences immediately.

PLAY IN BOGEY MATCH

ONE FINISHES FOURTH By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright SYDNEY. Friday. A big field contested the open bogey match at the Kensington course today. Bettington, of New South Wales, won, with 2 up. J. S. Harrison, of Wanganui, with 2 down, finished fourth, and was the only New Zealander in the first 10. T. H. Horton, L. Quin and Dr. K. Ross competed, but did not return their cards.

The qualifying rounds of the New South Wales amateur championship will be contested to-morrow at Rose Bay, when 10 New Zealanders will compete.—A. and N.Z.

THE AMERICA CUP

BIG YACHT TROPHY CONSTRUCTION OF CONTESTANTS Commenting on an article by - Bobstay” which appeared in THE SUN on Saturday, Mr. Archibald Buchanan, of Victoria Avenue, Remuera, says: “I doubt very much if Sir Thomas Lipton ever nrnde the statement, that he attributed his past failure to lift the American Cup to the fact that his Shamrocks were built more heavily than the defending yachts to cross the Atlantic, in order to comply with the condition that contestants must be sailed to the scene of the race.” “If he did, he had no grounds for it. It is true that in 1895 when Lord Dunraven’s Valkyrie 111. met Defender she had the great disadvantage of heavy construction compared with Defender which was estimated by an American naval architect to have saved about 18 tons in constructional weight, and most of it above the waterline; but all the Shamrocks were the last word in light construction.

“In 1924 I was present when a paper on the America’s Cup was read by Mr. Heckstall-Smith, the secretary of the Yacht Racing Association, and an expert authority on the subject, and I quote the following from his paper of which I have a copy:

‘People say that because our yachts had to cross the Atlantic, they had to be more strongly and therefore more heavily built than the American yachts, and this is the reason why they were beaten. But is this really true? Will this statement bear the cold lig;ht of scientific examination? I doubt it. I believe there is nothing in it and the scantlings of our boats in some cases were equally light. “ ‘The reason for our defeat lies in the fact that in each of the last six races the American yacht has been designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff, who is the most wonderful designer of all, and a great genius. “ ‘These facts and particularly the true reason for our failure to win the cup in the past 30 years since the time Nathaniel Herreshoff has been entrusted with its defence, should prove the strongest incentive to British yachtsmen to try to win back the cup which was given by the Royal Tacht Squadron.’

“Resolute, over 13 years old and rerigged as a schooner, is still racing in American waters. Shamrock IV. was hauled up after the last race and has not been launched again. She has probably been broken up, like the other Shamrocks.” -