Freyberg Rose Bowl Golf Tournament

With an array of New Zealand's top golfers playing for the most part in perfect weather on a course which many of the visitors regarded as one of the best they had ever experienced, the Poverty Bay Golf Club's links at Awapuni presented a colourful sight on May 9, 10, and 11 when the annual Dominion tournament for the Freyberg Rose Bowl was played.

The tournament resulted in a win by a narrow margin for the Canterbury team. Their manager, Mr W. D. Armstrong, a former Poverty Bay Club player, is seen above accepting the coveted trophy from Mrs E. S. Toogood, wife of the president of the Gisborne-East Coast Golf Association. At left is F. S. Johns, president of the New Zealand Association. Behind Mrs Toogood is Colin Caldwell, a Canterbury player, and at right is Canterbury's top man and present New Zealand amateur champion Bob Charles.

High tributes were paid following the tournament to the work of the Poverty Bay club. The course was in perfect order and the organisation left nothing to be desired.

On the Saturday afternoon, a large gallery followed the game between S. G. Jones (Hawkes Bay) and R. J. Charles (Canterbury). In the picture below, Jones is seen playing his second shot from a bunker while Charles (right) looks on. They halved the hole.

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Leading New Zealand golfers are pictured on this page. A. R. Timms, the Otago leader, seen above driving off from the tee at the 16th, suffered his one and only defeat at the hands of the Waikato top man, D. L. Woon, nearer camera. Many of the players, like John Durry (Wellington top player), below, impressed with their extreme youth.

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Bryan Silk (Manawatu-Wanganui)

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Ron Timms (Otago) and Tim Woon (Waikato

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Bob Charles (Canterbury)

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Stuart Jones (Hawkes Bay)

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John Durry (Wellington) and Bill Smith (Auckland)

To capture the atmosphere of big-time golf at its best, "Photo News" followed the game which drew the largest gallery. It was a classic tussle between the present New Zealand champion, R. J. Charles, of Canterbury and formerly of Wellington, and S. G. Jones, of Hawkes Bay, former New Zealand title-holder.

The players put spectators at their ease, and even invested many of them with secret feelings of superiority, by halving the first hole in two over par. Jones laughed loudly at himself, and had the gallery laughing with him, when he "duffed" his tee shot.

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Flanked by course marshals John Coupe and Dr Barry Irvine, he registers mock remorse at his poor start.

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100 yards down the course, Charles waits while Jones plays his second from the rough.

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Spectators were enjoined to churchlike silence at putting greens

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Charles playing from the rough at the first, with the club-house in the background

One of the attractive features of the Freyberg Rose Bowl tournament is that it is a teams match in which the least important game counts the same as a tussle between champions. There are 12 teams, and each is drawn to meet six other teams. No player is eliminated, and this maintains interest and enjoyment throughout.

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At the second, Jones (right) plays out of bunker on to green.......

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........while Charles has difficult shot from lip of bunker. Par three hole was halved in four.

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Crowd hurries after players along third fairway

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Charles lining up putt at the third

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Jones driving in the fifth fairway.

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Short putt gives Charles 1-up lead

The champions were neck and neck at the fourteenth, but Charles's putting let him down badly at the fifteenth and sixteenth. At the seventeenth it was Jones's turn to fail with the putter, and the pair started the last hole with Jones one up. Jones strayed into a bunker (see picture on introductory page) and Charles looked to have every chance of squaring the match, but again his putting let him down, and the Hawkes Bay man took the game, one up.

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Jones exploding out of the bunker at the 15th. to within "gimme" distance of the pin for par 4

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At the 17th: Charles inside Jones for 3. Jones missed putt and lost hole.

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In for the kill: spectators streaming towards the 18th green to see Jones finish close contest one up.