The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 36

30 The Sydney Morning Herald SPORT Monday, February 28, 1994 T7 enior puutt-puitts home ess Farce on ice left fans all cold killing myself," McWhinney said on the tee. In Moama, NSW a fine closing round of 69 in the pouring rain gave Sydney professional Rick L'Estrange victory by two shots over Queenslander Errol Hartvigsen in the $53,000 Australian PGA Seniors' Championship at Rich River yesterday. The former Australian amateur champion had won the 1991 Tasmanian Open, not an Order of Merit tournament, but yesterday was his best professional result. Gray didn't have a bogey in his final round and forced Senior to produce a superlative finish. "rm disappointed I didn't win but extremely happy that I held my game together," Gray said.

Gray said he had developed the yips a year ago, lost them, got them back in Europe and had lost them again since employing a broomstick putter at the Victorian Open. Victorian left-hander Richard Green doesn't need a broomstick and showed great touch around the greens but lost it on the last. His lm miss cost him $6,000 and put him into a share of third place with Stuart Appleby, Rob Whitlock and Simon Owen four shots from the leaders. The best comment on the game belonged to Queenslander Peter McWhinney, who by the 1 7th had crashed from a share of the lead to two-under. "I just want to finish without And then there was one and that was Peter Senior after an enthralling Canon Challenge at Castle Hill Country Club yesterday.

Senior sunk a 3m uphill birdie putt on the last hole to tie Chris Gray, then a 3m downhill birdie putt and beat the young Western Australian on the first play-off hole. With that fearless blow Senior brought the Australasian Order of Merit summer to its appropriately dramatic end. Senior and Gray's respective final rounds of 69 and 68 had tied them on 12-under-par 276. Eight players shared the lead at one stage on the front nine before Gray fired a nine-iron 13 Im straight at the flag and into the cup for eagle on the par-fourth seventh and kicked two strokes clear. One by one the challengers fell away while Senior hung on.

"I was haemorrhaging pretty badly," Senior said. "I really struggled on the front nine." Senior had gone 21 holes without a birdie before he hit a Br cn -a -rr draws first OlOO MOTOR SPORT PETER McKAY Red-faced and bathed in sweat, Mark Skaife didn't look like a man who'd just experienced a perfect day in motor sport. Driving a Commodore, Skaife yesterday drew first blood in the 1994 Australian Touring Car Championship, dominating the opening round at sun-drenched Amaroo Park Raceway. Skaife has jumped away to a rollicking start in the title chase; he was the fastest qualifier, then won the Peter Jackson Dash and both 28-lap races yesterday afternoon. Result: a big 46 championship points and 14-point advantage over defending champ.

Ford spearhead Glenn Seton. Third, after a spirited drive was a purposeful Peter Brock, back in a factory Holclen for the first time since his acrimonious split seven years ago. A near-capacity crowd packed Amaroo for the title hit-out, lured by the promise of tight and exciting racing, and the prospect of a rejuvenated Brock and Wayne Gardner fronting his own Com modore team for the first time. or much of the day, watching the Australian paint-drying championship could have been a little more interesting. The retention of the ridiculous three-lap dash chooklotto" continues to be a blight on the credibility of the championship.

Showing no faith in the all-Aussie V8 concept, telecaster Channel Seven has insisted the leading six qualifiers must draw for starting positions in the dash. As was often the case last year, second-fastest qualifier Seton was painfully disadvantaged, drawing grid six. This meant there were four cars between Skaife, and probably the only driver capable of challenging him. Seton was sixth in the dash, and consequently spent the first 28-lapper working back into second. His steady progress through the leading pack was the only bright episode in a contest of follow-the-leader.

The no-replacement tyre rule means that drivers tend to approach the opening race conservatively. The result isn't an overload of excitement. Seton was a fixture in Skaife's rear-view mirror throughout the final race, but the Holden driver, cool under pressure despite 5()-de-gree cockpit temperatures, did not falter. Moments after stepping from ftis Holden, the over-heated Skaife fut in an order to his team manager red Gibson for power steering and a cool-suit for next weekend's second round at Sandown. The difference between himself and Seton, Skaife said, was new Yokohama tyres he was racing on for the first time.

"Mark did a fantastic job," said a generous Seton. "He had the measure of everyone today." But Skaife finally said publicly what many leading drivers have been saying off the record, that Gardner scoring championship points from the outcome of a lottery for grid positions is "ridiculous' Brock, relishing the big horsepower that comes with a works car, came on strong in the latter stages to worry Seton. But he didn't have enough to make it a Commodore quinella. "In the end I had the best tyres," said a pleased Brock. "I was stalking Glenn and he was defending grimly.

Glenn might be a kid but he ain't an amateur." Tomas Mezera supported his Holden Racing Team partner with a ninth and a fourth placing, and equal fourth overall with Ford pair John Bowe and Dick Johnson. Tyres were the downfall of the two Falcons, and Bowe also had to struggle with an uncomfortable shoulder injury which required painkillers before both races. Skaife's experienced teammate, Jim Richards, never recovered from a poor qualifying effort. Out of a tough day, Richards grafted 14 points, the same as Paul Morris, who impressed in his first outing in the Commodore. The debut of the glamour Gardner team was not a memorable one, the former bike champ salvaging a single point.

Lack of grip was the downfall of Gardner and teammate Neil Crompton, who also had the lightest of bumps with Jim Richards, which sent him spinning out of contention in the opening heat. The other world champ in the field, Alan Jones, second in the touring car championship last year, managed just one point, too, from third in the dash. And while supporters of the Aussie V8s have demonstrated they are easy to please, surely even their enthusiasm will be tested if they don't see more genuine overtaking. The circus has seven days in which to sharpen its act. v-r Skaife "I'd rate myself in the top half-dozen Australian players," Senior said.

"I'm a very good player. Hopefully, in the next couple of years I can climb those extra rungs." The 34-year-old, who has chosen to play the Japanese tour so he can spend more time with his family, gave himself six years to achieve what he wants to achieve. Playing the Japanese tour and being involved in a business doesn't allow the preparation for the Majors that Norman, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer give themselves. "When I go home I never practise," he said. Senior can't win the US Masters this year because he's not in it, and said he was an unlikely US Open winner because his game around the greens wasn't good enough.

Should the prolific winner not win the Major commensurate with his ability he will be a contender for that unwanted title: best Australian player not to win a Major. Majors contention is a long way off for the 25-year-old Gray. a spin SHIELD TABLE WO W1 L1 LO Pts 3 31.8 NSW Australia Victoria Qld Tasmania WA Notes: 9 5 1 9 9 9 9 9 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 3 2 20 20 18 18 17.8 SA have twice taken first innings points before losing outright; WA and Queensland have done so once. NSW and WA have been deducted 0.2 pts for failing to bowl their full quota of overs in separate matches. Victoria face a one-point deduction for a slow over rate against Queensland.

innings points, still have a chance of making the final, but have to beat NSW at the SCG next month to come into calculations. McCooke, who finished with 6-35 off 23 3 overs, said he didn't let the tightness of the occasion get to him as he bowled out the last thrilling overs. He was aided by some brilliant wicket-keeping from Berry, who made three stumpings to dismiss Law, Geoff Foley (5) and Dirk Tazelaar (6) while Ramshaw snapped up two catches off his bowling. Biding his time after 18 years in district cricket, McCooke grabbed the opportunity and it is a moment he will always savour. Big Merv From Page 38 the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg as he drank water brought to him by resting teammate Craig McDermott following completion of his second spell.

By tea on the second day of the four-day game, Free State were 3-142 in reply to Australia's 8 (dec) for 450, off-spinner Tim May (1-43) having interrupted yet another Hansie Cronje (44) attack on Shane Warne (1-42), who smashed the leg-spinner for 6-4-6 from successive balls. Cronje drew a venomous response down the wicket, but it was May who brought the South African vice-captain undone, Matthew Hayden accepting the soft catch at mid-wicket. Save for a morning distinguished by the scorer seeking the identity of the Australian bowler replacing Paul Reiffel (0-19), surely the only person in the cricket world who did not recognise Warne, the issue of Hughes's immediate future loomed large on the selectors agenda. the tee next time and won the $54,000 first prize with another magnificent putt; Gray who won $30,600 didn't lose it. So the Queenslander got to wear the winner's green jacket, though it's no compensation for the green jacket he has been disgracefully denied the chance to win at the US Masters.

One observer said Senior should've won. He was an A-grader against B-graders. This was unfair. Senior beat a strong field including most of the cream of Australasian junior players. After the win, Peter Thomson said provocatively: "He's the best we've got." Thomson wouldn't have forgotten Greg Norman by any measure the best we've got.

Told of the comment, Senior said diplomatically Thomson might now regard Norman as no longer an Australian player. The Thomson opinion was apt because Senior acknowledged he was now trying to find his rightful place in history, and that meant winning Majors. sy Bulls in SCOREBOARD SHEFFIELD SHIELD VICTORIA QUEENSLAND At the MCG VIC 1st Innings 242 QLD 1st Innings 275 VIC 2nd Innings 250 QLD 2nd Innings BARSBY Elliott Fleming IS THOMAS Allardice Cook 19 DIXON Berry Cook 3 LAW st Berry McCooke 58 MAHER McCooke 90 FOLEY st Berry McCooke 5 SECCOMBE Ramshaw McCooke 6 A BICHEL run out 0 TAZELAAR st Berry McCooke 6 PJACKSON Ramshaw McCooke 0 RACKEMANN not out 2 Sundries (4B 6LB) 10 Total 214 Fall: 24. 35, 42. 134.

148. 160. 163. 187. 203.

214. BOWLING: Fleming 25-5-78-1. Cook 23-3-59-2. I Wrigglesworth 13-4-32-0. McCooke 23.3-8-35-6.

Batting time: 33 1 mins. Overs: 84.3. Victoria wen by three runs. Pts: Vic 6, Qld 2. composure in the crisis to protect the tail-enders.

"Jimmy Maher has got to hold his head up high," Law said. "It's a pity there is not another 10 of him playing cricket for Queensland. "He showed a lot of guts, a lot of fight and it's just a shame that another batsman couldn't have stuck with him." Queensland, equal fourth on the Shield table after gaining first the bowling, not afraid to hook the fast bowlers, hitting spin bowler Akram Raza out of the attack by lofting him over the in-field. Thomson hit 1 1 fours and two sixes in his 133-ball innings, punctuated with hooks and flashing drives. Waqar and Akram looked to have broken New Zealand after lunch when they dismissed New Zealand's three experienced batsmen Andrew Jones, Ken Rutherford and Mark Greatbatch in hostile spells of sustained fast bowling.

New Zealand lost Blair Hart-land, caught at slip by Inzamam-Ul-Huq off Akram for 10, but were well placed at 1-76 at lunch. But on the second ball after lunch, Jones, playing his last Test innings, was run out for 26 by a direct hit from Basit Ali. Jones was applauded by the Pakistan team and given a standing ovation by the crowd. GOLF JOHN MACDONALD miraculous iron to within 2m and gained that birdie on the par-four 10th. The ball had been lying in kikuyu grass well above his feet.

"That was the turning point," Senior said. "It got me back on track. I concentrated better." Victory in sight, Senior drove and putted inexorably on, but the calm Gray was unyielding. "I didn't look at the leader-board all day," Gray said. I thought I'd won when my caddie said 'well done' (after the 18th).

"I didn't realise Peter could birdie and tie." Senior took out his driver on the 18th and played the high-risk shot and the ball kicked right and on to the dry bed, normally covered by water, on the edge of the lake. Two irons and a magnificent putt later and the Challenge was still a' challenge. Senior met it, took an iron off 4 il CRICKET for victory at the start of the day, appeared to be on track when resuming after tea at 3-126 with captain Stuart Law and Maher at the crease. But a sharp leg-side stumping by Victorian wicketkeeper Darren Berry to dismiss Law for 58 four overs after tea triggered a collapse with the last seven wickets tumbling for 80 runs. Two controversial umpiring decisions were crucial setbacks for the Bulls when opener Trevor Barsby (15) was out caught in slips after the ball appeared to come off his right shoulder and Andrew Bichel (0) was given run out when he appeared to make his ground.

"At crucial times they (the umpires) were put under pressure and it just happened to go against us," a dejected Law said afterwards. "It sounds like sour grapes, but it's not, it's just a cold hard fact. We've got to cop that, we just didn't bat well." Maher, celebrating his 20th birthday, stood tail in his 14th first-class dig as wickets crashed around him. His 90 came in 244 minutes and the youngster consistently found the gaps and kept his SCOREBOARD THIRD TEST NEW ZEALAND PAKISTAN At Christchurch Day 4 PAKISTAN 1st Innings 344 NEW ZEALAND 1st Innings lOO PAKISTAN 2nd Innings 179 NEW ZEALAND 2nd Innings YOUNG not out 115 HARTLAND Inzamam Akram 10 A JONES run out 26 RUTHERFORD Ibw Akram 13 MGREATBATCHc Inzamam bWaqar I THOMSON not out 93 Sundries (NB 1 6. LB3) 19 Four wickets for 277 Fall 22.76.

119. 133. BOWLING: Akram 32-5-85-2 (nb-ll). Waqar 23-5-71-1 (nb-2). Nazir 16-0-59-0 (nb-3).

Raza 19-5-49-0. Sohail 2-1-5-0, Malik 2-1-5-0. But 25 year-old Thomson, in his fifth Test, and Young, 29, in his fourth, had other ideas. Young seldom played a false stroke even against the fearsome pace pairing of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, who destroyed New Zealand in the first two Tests. He hit just six fours in his 302-baIl innings.

By contrast, Thomson attacked High-risk gamble Queensland's Peter Senior rifles an iron from the dry water's edge of a small lake on the par-five final hole on his way to birdie and tying West Australian Chris Gray in the $300,000 Canon Challenge at Castle Hill Country Club yesterday. Picture by steve cristo In Jerez, Spain, Jose Maria Olazabal moved within sight of his first European Tour golf victory tor two years when he shot a third-round 71 in wind and rain in the Turespana Masters. But Olazabal has to contend with England's Carl Mason, who shared the third round lead, also shooting 71 for an eight-under-par 208, and the experienced Ryder Cup Scot Gordon Brand Jnr whose 69 in the worst of squalls contained five birdies. Overnight leader Peter Fowler of Australia fell back to fourth place on 210 after 75 in which he had a double bogey seven at the 1 2th, driving into a scrub-covered hill and taking three shots to escape. Final scores in Sport Summary SCOREBOARD SHEFFIELD SHIELD WA TASMANIA At the WACA WA 1st Innings 4S4 Tas I st Innings 4(dec)-487 WA 2nd Innings VELETTA Atkinson Humphreys 2 1 MARSH Young Miller 8 1 LANGER Young Tucker 5 MARTYN Miller 58 MOODY Cox Young 39 HOGG not out 33 TZOEHRERc Atkinson Humphreys IS JULIAN not out 25 Sundries (5LB2W I NB) 9 Six wickets (dec) for 286 Fall 44, 56, 1 33, 206, 2 1 7, 239.

BOWLING: Miller 27-6-76-2 (I w). Ridgway 18-2-67-0 (Iw), Humphreys 16.3-3-63-2, Tucker 12-3-24-1 (Inb). Young 21-7-5 l-l. Batting time: 351 mins. Overs: 94.3.

TASMANIA 2nd Innnlngs HILLS Ibw Martyn 1 3 COX not out 35 HUMPHREYS not out I Sundries (2LB INB) 4 One wicket for S3 Fall 52 BOWLING: Angel 10-3-14-0 (Inb), Moody 8-4-1 3-0, Martyn 8-3-12-1. Julian 6-0-1 1-0, Langer I -1-0-0, Hogg I -0-1-0. Batting time: 102 mins. Overs: 34. Match Drawn Pts: Tas 2 WA 0.

Crowd: 1 964. Moody, Damien Martyn, Brad Hogg and Justin Langer. Earlier, Marsh's second innings 81 elevated him to WA's highest Shield scorer with 6,954 runs. for Hayden. The Queenslander spent a frustrating and painstaking 102 minutes at the wicket from No 6 with one boundary, long after the Waugh brothers, Mark (154) and Steve (102), put an extended innings beyond his reach.

The Waughs' stand of 232 runs in 155 minutes established an Australian record in South Africa, eclipsing the unbeaten partnership of 221 for the fourth wicket by Neil Harvey (145 not out) and Sam Loxton (76 not out), set in Bloemfontein in 1949-50. Hayden was still rehearsing his pull shot, the stroke which brought his downfall to short midwicket from paceman Brad Player (4-107), when Free State began their innings. Healy needed his 100-minute hit-out after his ordinary batting as Australia slipped to 3-1 down in the limited-over series. Meanwhile, with David Gower gone, Mark Waugh stood as one of the landscape painters of modern cricket with India's McCooke sends Tassie hopes flicker after minor victory PETER FITZSIMONS It's this whole KerriganHarding thing. What a MISERABLE and pathetic ending that as.

I mean it. Damn nigh every one of us had paid our dues, hadn't we? We'd invested hours of our time to follow the whole saga, burying ourselves in every wretched detail and going over all the possible theories and scenarios like freaked-out JFK junkies who just couldn't get enough. And why did we do all that? We did it because it was first-class sporting theatre, damn it. Because the wretched thing had everything we require in modern schlock entertainment sex and violence, good and evil, cops and thugs, sport and politics, glamour and glitz, underdogs and princesses all wrapped up in two principal protagonists who'd overcome enormous obstacles to fight their way right to the finale. Hell, it even had a bit of class warfare to bring the intellectuals in on it.

So what did we get, we billions around the planet who put off the washing-up and kicked the dog out early to fully savour the delicious denouement. WHAT DID WE GET? Not just an anti-climax, for that would have been bearable by comparison. We got something so low it could have tap-danced under a snake's belly-button with high-heels on. We got a lousy silver medal for Kerrigan, a regulation "thanks-for-coming" for Harding, and a gold medal for someone whom we'd never heard of before and never will again. In fact, a storv of such passion, such OOOO.MPH, required nothing less than a gold medal for one of them and a near miss for the other.

If I'd been writing the script, we would have seen the only thing possible to satisfy the expectations of the billions who'd invested their faith in the story. Harding would have been almost out of contention before her final skate after Kerrigan's own brilliant performance and taken the ice knowing she'd lost it bar a miracle. Gritting her teeth, she'd have decided to go for broke in attempting something she'd only ever dreamt about, but never had the courage to actually try: two triple-axels with a double somersault in the pike-position, degree of difficulty 2.2. She glides, she flexes, she soars and twirls as the world holds its breath and lands so perfectly the judges have no choice but to give her straight sixes which puts her ahead of Kerrigan by the length of a bee's big toe. The only down side of Tonya's joy would be that in landing, she somehow so badly hurt her knee she'll never skate again.

Or something like that But it will never happen. I want my money back. A tearful Tonya Harding leaves the ice. Mohammad Azharuddin and the West Indies' Brian Lara in his outdoor studio of Springbok Park yesterday. For just over three hours, the artistry was inspired in Waugh the Younger's 154, precisely a run every ball faced against Orange Free State, his strokes for four sixes and 16 boundaries like rays of the sun on the canvas.

His partnership with his four-minute-older twin Steve would have satisfied the lustiest limited-over fans. No enfant terrible, a man without an egotistical breath in his body, he dismissed it with a fulsome: "Yeah, felt pretty good today." Waugh acknowledged the absence of Free State's new-ball bowlers, Allan Donald, nursing a sore right foot in Cape Town, and Frankly Stephenson, on holidays at home in Barbados, saying: "Obviously, their attack was not as good as it could have been. "Still, it's always nice to hit the ball in the middle and get your confidence going." I' A little-used veteran and a youngster vith nerves of steel experienced euphoria and despair when Victoria achieved a thrilling three-run victory over Queensland in their Sheffield Shield match at the MCG yesterday. Steve McCooke, the 34-year-old spinner, playing in only his second first-class game, captured six wickets in the final session, including last man out Jim Maher, who almost steered Queensland to victory. In darkness and with the last wicket falling at 7.53pm, McCooke was mobbed by his team-mates as Victoria grabbed the outright result and moved to second place on the Shield ladder, albeit briefly.

The Victorians' elation, however, was soured later upon hearing that they had been docked one point for a slow over rate and relegated to third place behind and South Australia. NSW have been confirmed as the minor champions with 31.8 points, but the table is so congested that last-placed WA (17.8 points) can still reach the final. Victoria are considering an appeal, including captain Darrin Ramshaw's submission for lost time after haing been stung by a bee while gathering sawdust for the bowlers' run-ups. Queensland, chasing 218 runs Tasmania decided two points from their journey to Perth was enough and ignored a near-impossible run chase set by Western Australia as the Sheffield Shield match ended in a limp draw at the WACA Ground yesterday. The home state gave Tasmania the monumental task of scoring 253 runs from 36 overs at 7.05 runs per over for outright points.

But it was an assignment that did not attract interest from Tasmania, who finished with 1-53 from 34 overs. However, Tasmania had previously gained the two Shield points for a first-innings lead and believed that was enough to boost their chances of making the final. And WA were wary of the points situation when they made a bizarre declaration at tea yesterday. With WA's second innings total at 6-286, captain Geoff Marsh declared in an attempt to avoid losing points for failing to bowl a required number of overs. The WA bowlers delivered 137 overs during Tasmania's 534-min-ute first innings three overs less than the stipulated quota.

The situation resulted in an afternoon of farcical cricket when 34 overs were bowled in 102 minutes by the likes of Tom i Kiwis poised for sweet Test win finds the way back tough going Hughes began with three successive maidens with a variety of deliveries sent well wide of off stump to well wide of leg without being punished by a generous umpire David Orchard. At least there was no suggestion of the back spasm which crippled him in Pretoria. Later, when swung to the Willows end, Hughes bowled several short balls and again was treated generously by umpire Robert Noble when a wide should have been called. Before the match's resumption, Allan Border had an extended centre-wicket practice against McDermott to keep both in tune for Friday's Test while Mark Waugh had the misfortune to lift his left thumb nail at fielding practice. Acting captain Taylor closed Australia's innings after three-quarters of an hour this morning, time enough for more batting practice for Hayden (31) and lan Healy (38), far from satisfying though the outing was lhkiilhuklh: a resolute unbroken partnership of 144 by opener Bryan Young and Shane Thomson left New Zealand set for an improbable victory at the end of the fourth day of the third and final Test against Pakistan yesterday.

New Zealand today need just 47 to win and have six wickets in hand. Young, after batting for six hours and 45 minutes, was still there on 1 15 and Thomson on his highest Test score of 93. After conceding a first innings deficit of 144, New Zealand bowled Pakistan out for 179 on Saturday to give themselves a slim chance. They started yesterday at 0-9, needing 324 for victory and ended well placed at 4-277. A win would be sweet for the New Zealanders, who have already lost the series 2-0 and were earlier this summer beaten 2-0 in the series against Australia.

At 4-133 in mid-afternoon and with all their experienced batsmen gone, their hopes seemed sunk..