Golf: Former New Zealand representative Frank Gordon dies

Frank Gordon was the first No 1 to go unbeaten in the history of the Freyberg Rosebowl inter-provincial golf tournament. Photo/File

Expect extra metres to be added to drives and putts when matches are "replayed" at the memorial service for former New Zealand golf representative Frank Gordon today.

Although Gisborne-raised Gordon won numerous matches and titles on both sides of the Tasman Sea he lost his battle with cancer last week. He was 87.

A former member of the Hastings and Napier golf clubs, Gordon, the eldest of eight children, took a liking to the sport in 1940 when he went to the Poverty Bay Club's Awapuni course hunting for balls he could sell. In 1943, while still at school, Gordon began caddying for Buster Barker.

"Golf was a closed shop in those days. But I was lucky enough to be able to join in 1949 on a 16 handicap and by the end of the season I was down to a three," Gordon recalled during an interview with the Farmers Weekly in 2013.

By 1951 he gained plus-one status, which required scoring three under par in medal play on three different courses within three months. That year Gordon broke the Awapuni course record with a six under 68.

Gordon had birdies on the second, eighth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 17th holes. The significance of the "amateur record" was the fact it bettered professional Alf Guy's record of 69 which had been set in 1939.

Gordon's wife, Evelyn, who he met on the golf course, remembers the October 22 date well.

"Other players in Frank's group told me he was running late from work and only just made the tee off time. He teed off with one golf shoe on and then put on the other. As the group went through the turn around lunch time one of them rang me and told me to come and watch as Frank was looking good for a record score . . . I couldn't as I had had a baby that week."

In 1954, playing at No 1 for Poverty Bay-East Coast in the Freyberg Rose Bowl inter-provincial at Hokowhitu in Palmerston North, Gordon won all six of his matches, the first No 1 to complete the feat in the history of the tournament.

In the wake of this success pundits tipped Gordon to turn professional within the following year but he said his swing wasn't sound enough for the pro ranks.

Later in 1954 Gordon moved to Hawke's Bay to work for Dalgety's. On the way to winning the 72-hole Hawke's Bay Stroke Play Championship at Bridge Pa in 1959 Gordon set a course record of 63 which at the time was an all-time New Zealand best round.

In 1961 Gordon was selected in the New Zealand amateur team which spent a month playing in Australia. When he returned his job, fat stock drafting, became more of a priority than golf.

"In three years I was selling to 44 butchers, and had Hawke's Bay by the throat, killing 300 cattle and 1500 sheep a week," Gordon said during his 2013 Farmers Weekly interview.

It was obvious he was just as competitive in business as he was on the golf course.

"We called him Grumpy Gordon because he had a bit of a temper. He used to throw the odd club when things weren't going well," former Hawke's Bay teammate John Dorreen recalled.

"At the same time he had a heart of gold and would do anything for you. He was also the best putter I had ever seen."

Dorreen and Gordon were in the 1963 Hawke's Bay team which won the Freyberg Rosebowl. Other members of the team were New Zealand legend Stuart Jones, Harley Lowes, Harry Larmer, Ian McDonald and manager Ken Waters.

Other highlights of Gordon's career include:
-1962 North Island strokeplay champion
- member of 1961 Hawke's Bay team
- Poverty Bay club champion in 1953 and '54
- Poverty Bay Open winner 10 times between 1952 and '69
- Hastings club champion in 1960 and '63
- Hastings Open winner in 1959 and '60
- Hawke's Bay Matchplay champion in 1959
- Napier club champion from 1967 to '69 and in 1971 and 1977
- Kapi Tareha Memorial tournament winner in 1969
- Hawke's Bay Amateur Champion in 1959

Gordon is survived by his wife, Evelyn, three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His memorial service will be held at the St Columba's Presbyterian Church in Taradale today. It has a 1pm tee off time.