GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1939, Page 8

GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

PROFESSIONAL TITLE WON BY A. MURRAY HORNABROOK AND A. KITTO. WILL MEET IN AMATEUR FINAL. (By Telegraph—Press Associat’on.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A high standard of play was reached at the New Zealand golf champion-

ship tournament on the Miramar links yesterday. Had Locke, the brilliant young South African professional been here this year it is doubtful whether he could have retained his title, as A. Murray, the unattached Auckland professional, in winning the professional championship recorded another GG in the morning round, and was 4 under 4's when he took the title on the twelfth green from T. S. Galloway

(Rotorua) by the wide margin of 8 and G. In the amateur championship. J. P. Hornabrook (Masterton) and A. R. Kitto (Seafield) came through to contest the final over 3G holes today. The weather was perfect, a light northerly breeze tempering the rays of a strong sun. A Hard Fought Game. J. P. Hornabrook, the open champion of the Dominion, had to fight hard to beat R. F. Kitto, the youthful Seafield player, in the semifinal of the amateur championship over 36 holes.

This match attracted the gallery throughout the day. With Mr Stratmore as referee, they started off in thd morning by halving the first hole in birdie 4's. Hornabrook took the second hole in 3 to 5 when Kitto hooked his drive out of bounds. They halved the third (456yds) in birdie 4’s. and Kitto

squared the match with 3 to 4 at the fourth, when Hornabrook duffed his second into a bunker. Kitto drew ahead with 3 to 4 at the fifth, where Hornabrook found another bunker. The Seafield player placed himself 2 up by taking the short sixth in 3 to 4. Both found the rough with their drives off the seventh tec, but the hole went to Hornabrook with a birde 4 when Kitto’s second found the bunker to the left of the green. Play at the eighth hole was sensational. Hornabrook hit a magnificent drive which pulled up five feet from the pin at this 330-yard hole. Kitto also hit a spanking drive and had bad luck when his ball travelled on to the green and then trickled into a bunker to the right. Kitto was short with his explosion shot, but gave the gallery a thrill by running down a 30-foot putt for a birde 3. Hornabrook missed his 5-foot putt, and a half in 3 went on the cards.

Hornabrook squared the match with 4 to 5 at the ninth, and they headed for home all square. The open champion did the out journey in 34 to Kitto's 35. They halved the tenth in 5 after Kitto had found a bunker with his spoon second. Hornabrook drew one up at the eleventh with a birdie 4. Kitto here was all over the landscape. He hooked his drive into the ditch beside the fence guarding the tenth fairway, and took two shots to dig out. He then sliced his brassie fourth away into tiger country, and popped his fifth into a bunker near the green.

Kitto also played wildly at the short twelfth, which went to Hornabrook in 3 to 4. placing him two up. Faulty putting by both saw a half in 5 at the thirteenth. Kitto came on to his game, and squared the match by winning the fourteenth and fifteenth in 4’s. They halved the next two holes in 4, and Kitto went to lunch one up by sinking a seven-foot putt to take the eighteenth in 3 to 4. Hornabrook took 39 for the run home, which gave him a round of 73, and Kitto came back in 40 to score 75.

A crowd of about 300 followed them as they set out on the afternoon round. Hornabrook squared the match with a birdie 4 at the nineteenth, after laying his opponent a stymie. Kitto drew ahead again when Hornabrook popped his third into a bunker'near the twentieth green. They halved the next hole in bogey figures, and Hornabrook squared the game with 3 to 4 at the twenty-second. They halved the twenty-third in 4. and Hornabrook drew one up with 3 to 4 at the short twenty-fourth, where Kitto popped his tee shot into a bunker beyond the green. They halved the next hole in 5, Hornabrook here laying his opponent a stymie. Both found bunkers at the twenty-sixth. Kitto off the tee, and Hornabrook with his approach, the hole going to Kitto in 4 to 5. A half at the twenty-seventh saw them head for home all square. Both took 39 for the run out. Kitto drew ahead with 3 to 4 at the thirtieth, but Hornabrook squared the match with 4 to 5 at the next hole. They halved the thirty-second in 4, but Hornabrook drew ahead when Kitto badly duffed his drive off the thirtythird tee, the hole going to Hornabrook in 4 to 6. They halved the short thirty-fourth, where Kitto laid his opponent a stymie, and the end came at the thirty-fifth, where Hornabrook ran down a 20-foot putt for a birdie 3. Kitto

missed a 12-footer. and a hard-fought match went to Hornabrook by 2 and 1. A Close Contest. The other semifinal between A. R. Kitto (Seafield) and B.- M. Silk (Wanganui) was even more closely fought, and the end only came at the thirtyseventh, where Kitto took the match by 4 to 5. New Zealand Plate. In the final of the New Zealand Plate I. A. Ewen (Hutt) beat S. C. Taylor (Hutt) by 2 and 1. Long-driving Competition. A. E. Guy, the Poverty Bay professional. won the long-driving competition, his best drive being 286 yards. A. H. Boyd won the trophy for the best aggregate with drives of 283 yards and 271 yards.