LUSK BEATS WRIGHT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 626, 1 April 1929, Page 1

LUSK BEATS WRIGHT

AUCKLAND GOLF TITLE FIRST ROUND PLAYED NO SURPRISES RECORDED There were no surprises in the first round of the Auckland provincial golf championship to-day. Conditions at Titirangi were perfect, the wind being just sufficient to make play interesting. Lusk, the defender of the title, came out on top once more in his long series of stirring batles with liis clubmate, Wright. Wright fell down on the greens. Hockin, the holder of the Titirangi championship, went down to Flumley, ex-holder of the Rotorua open title. - < The first round results, in the order of the draw, were as follow: S. Morpeth beat P. Western, 6 and 5. H. Bfl. Lusk beat R. B. Wright, I up. E. Bartleet beat S. Hunter, 4 and 2. E. l \ Carr beat B. Smith at the nineteenth. • C. Western won from R. George by default. 11. Plumley beat J. Iloekin, 3 and J. L. Black beat Menzies, 3 and 7. W. S. Ralph beat Tidmarsli, 3 and 1. NOTES ON THE PLAY The out-of-bounds fence at the first had a fatal attraction for several of the players. Morpeth hooked ong out to set an example; Wright did the same, and then topped his next, and Menzies, after putting two over the fence, gave up the first hole. Morpeth, at first, had some difficulty in getting away from P. Western, and at the clubhouse, seven, was one up. After that, Morpeth had things much his own way. He was holding a steady 30 to 40 yards’ advantage, with his tee shots into the wind, which the players ’ faced after the seventh, and won nearly every hole to the end of the match.

Displaying an ability to hole out in two from anything up to 50 yards. Hunter kept level with Bartleet on the outward journey until the eighth, which Bartleet won. After that, Hunter went off, and Bartleet wene out to become dormy four and to win. Black, of Hamilton, second favourite in the championships, simply ran away from Menzeis, winning four of the first five holes, and coming to the twelfth dormy seven. The match ended there. Black started o 4343, and was out in a nice 38. . The most interest centred in the match between Lusk and Wright, both ex-title holders. After exchanging several holes In under scratch, the pair reached the fifth all square. Wright then missed three chances with putts under five feet, and the pair turned, still on even terms. Wright had been playing the better long game. The tenth was halved, Wright messing up his third. Wright then pulled his tee shot at the eleventh, and Lusk became one up with a pretty three. Then Wright cut one out of bounds, and pulled his second into ihe ti-tree, and Lusk became 2 up. Wright came back with par holes, and was square again- Three perfect shots gave Wright a chance for a three at tinfifteenth, but Lusk laid a stymie with his approach, and Wright took three putts, missing a two-footer, and becoming 1 down again. Wright then missed a four-footer, and a win at the sixteenth. An eight-foot putt at the seventeenth gave Lusk another half, and made him dormy one. At the eighteenth, Wright was -:liort with liis second, and another long struggle between the two was over. Hockin and Plumley spoilo-l a r cord when Plumley won the sixth with a four, one under scratch. Every other hole to the tenth was halved. At the eleventh, Hockni was woeful’y short with a napproach when Plumley had given him a chance by half-hitting his approach. Hockin then took three putts, and became 2 down, and was 3 down at the thirteenth. He won the fifteenth, and the match ended at the next. There was a stirring battle between Carr, of Rotorua, and Smith, the Akarana champion. 10 holes not being sufficient to decide the issue. At the turn Carr had an advantage of 2 up, it deficit which Smith wiped out at the sixteenth, where he played a magnificent second, to hole out in three, at a hole where most of the players were afraid of the approach. Both took three putts at the eighteenth. The pair went on to the nineteenth, and Smith puilerd his tee shot wildly ofi the line, and left himself too much tc do. Carr got home with a nice four. Rex George scratched to C. Westerr owing to illness*.