OUR STORY 3 of 10: 1931 – 1946
Throughout the next 10 tournaments, Andrew Shaw continued his dominance on the New Zealand Open capturing four more titles bringing his tally to seven including four consecutive championships between 1929 and 1932. He also finished runner up in three more tournaments bringing his silver medal tally to six.
His seven victories, then a record, came across six different courses with victories at Miramar, Manawatu, Christchurch, Wellington and New Plymouth and two at Wanganui.
There were also three tournaments won by amateurs during this time with John Hornabrook capturing his two titles in Hamilton and Miramar. After a six-year break in the tournament due to World War II, Bob Glading went on to win the first of his two titles at Manawatu.
Between 1931 and 1946 only one tournament was won by a non-kiwi with South Africa’s Bobby Locke who broke the longest winning streak by any nationality (16) by claiming the 1938 title in Otago by three strokes from Andrew Shaw and Basil Smith Jr. Bobby had just turned pro as a 20-year-old and went on to have 74 professional wins including 15 on the PGA Tour and four wins at British Open.
Interestingly, when comparing these 10 tournaments with the previous 10, eight were won by scores under 300 compared to only two and the average winning score dropped almost 10 strokes from 302.4 to 292.6.
The lowest winning total was set by Alex Murray in Christchurch winning by 2 strokes with a 286 total across the four rounds. While the highest winning score was set by Bob Glading who won in a playoff over fellow kiwi Norman Fuller, both finished with a total of 306.
| Year | Champion | Nationality | Course | Score | Winning Margin | Runner Up |
| 1931 | Andrew Shaw | New Zealand | Christchurch | 287 | 1 stroke | Ewen Macfarlane (a) |
| 1932 | Andrew Shaw | New Zealand | Wellington | 289 | 5 strokes | Arthur Duncan (a) |
| 1933 | Ernie Moss | New Zealand | Titirangi | 300 | Playoff | Ted Douglas |
| 1934 | Andrew Shaw | New Zealand | Wanganui | 288 | 5 strokes | Norrie Bell |
| 1935 | Alex Murray | New Zealand | Christchurch | 286 | 2 strokes | Andrew Shaw |
| 1936 | Andrew Shaw | New Zealand | New Plymouth | 292 | 5 strokes | Tom Galloway Alf Guy |
| 1937 | John Hornabrook (a) | New Zealand | Hamilton | 299 | Playoff | Ernie Moss Andrew Shaw |
| 1938 | Bobby Locke | South Africa | Otago | 288 | 3 strokes | Andrew Shaw Basil Smith, Jr. |
| 1939 | John Hornabrook (a) | New Zealand | Miramar | 291 | 3 strokes | Alex Murray |
| 1946 | Bob Glading (a) | New Zealand | Manawatu | 306 | Playoff | Norman Fuller |
Read the previous articles: Our Story: 1907 – 1920 | Our Story: 1921 – 1930
