Golf: 100 on club's card

Hamilton Golf Club, which fostered the early careers of two of New Zealand's leading professionals, David Smail and Steve Alker, is about to celebrate its centenary.

The club, which has hosted all the major national competitions, including the NZ Open at its St Andrew's course, will host three days of celebrations from May 2. Events include an 18-hole tournament and a dinner at Waikato Stadium. Already 220 people have pre-registered for the weekend.

Before the club came to St Andrew's, members had played nine-hole courses closer to the city.

The first was at Claudelands on land owned by Messrs Storey and Casey. Later the members took up an offer to use land owned by Thomas Walter near what is now the Salvation Army Nest.

By 1906 they were back at Claudelands on the A & P Showgrounds, playing in and out of the sheep yards.

A coach left the Post Office every Saturday at 2.14 pm and for 6d took players to the course.

The nine-hole courses were never very satisfactory and after considering moves to Cambridge and Ngaruawahia, the club's future was assured by the foresight of a young lawyer and scratch golfer, Harry Gillies.

In 1910 he bought 40ha of scrubland bordering the Waikato River and with input from Auckland professional F. G. Hood and leading amateur A. D. S. Duncan developed the St Andrew's course.

It was in full use by 1913. Gillies had offered to sell the land to the club at cost, but in the end swapped it with the Hamilton Domain Board for land closer to town. The club still leases the land from the board's successor, the Hamilton City Council.

As early as 1920 the course was good enough to host the major national championships. The amateur title went to one of the club's most famous sons, Sloan Morpeth.

Other national champions from the club include Tim Woon (1950 and 51), Stuart Reese (1975) and Colin Taylor (1983). Bob Glading, still a formidable golfer, won the NZ Open in 1946 and 1947 and David Smail took that title a couple of years ago.

The St Andrew's course was the nursery of one of the country's most enduring women's champions, Oliver Kay (later Hollis). She was the daughter of a Scots professional, who worked at the club in the early 30s. Later she won 10 national strokeplay titles and many other tournaments on both sides of the Tasman.

More recently, professionals Janice Arnold and Sheree Higgens have played at the club.

Hamilton Golf Club now has a membership of about 900. Fire damaged the original clubhouse in 1943 and it was relocated to its present position on land bought by the club. It had a major upgrade 10 years ago.

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Waihi golfers Kath Levy and Jenny Tubman will defend their title at the national autumn foursomes to be played at the Palmerston North Golf Club from April 1-3.

The event has drawn a capacity field with 36 clubs, including three from the South Island, represented.

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Redwood Park have a three-point lead over Pupuke after the latest round of the North Harbour Nobilo men's pennants at Peninsula on Sunday.

North Shore, who were beaten by Redwood Park 7 1/2 - 4 1/2 , are third, six points further back.

The premier pennants continue this Sunday at Waitemata. The Grange hold a big lead in the Auckland Bissett Shield competition, which resumes on April 13 at Titirangi.

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Some of the top junior golfers in the country will be playing at Manukau this weekend in the northern regional junior quadrangular, involving teams from Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Northland.

The teams, made up of six players under 19 and four under 16, will play a round-robin with two games tomorrow and one on Sunday.

The holders, Bay of Plenty, have Jae An and Terry Hong from their Tower-winning senior team, while Auckland include Kevin Chun, winner of two major Auckland area titles this season, and Travis O'Connell, runner-up in the South Island championship.

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Tit-for-tat? Brian Kontak, who has won five tournaments on the Canadian tour, has announced that he will try to qualify for the US women's Open in July.

The 31-year-old says he wants to expose the double standard involved in allowing Annika Sorenstam to play in the men's Colonial Tournament on May 22.

He has not said how he intends to get round the entry rules for the women's open, which say that players "must be female at birth".