1924 New Zealand Open: Hosted by the Auckland Golf Club for the third time since its inception, though it was not destined to return to Middlemore until 1955.
Played on September 5th and 6th in fine weather, the unexpectedly poor scoring drew some criticism of the greens. Described as slow, with the holes unchanged during the event and placed in difficult positions, these apparently contrasted with an otherwise well-presented course.
The fine opening round of 71 by the amateur Arthur Duncan, saw him the inaugural winner of the trophy presented by Earl Jellicoe of Scapa for the lowest individual round of the championship.
He was unable to maintain this form, however, and the title was won by Ernie Moss whose steady play after trailing by eight strokes in the first round, became the feature of the tournament.
1927 New Zealand Open: Hosted by the Hamilton Golf Club. The return to St.Andrews on September 2nd and 3rd of this year saw a combination of excellent weather and perfect course conditions produce golf of the highest standard with eighteen players bettering the bogey of 80 over four rounds.
Shaw, who had beaten Moss in a play-off the previous year, began the final day with a two-stroke lead. A relatively poor third round, however, gave the initiative to the fast-improving Moss and he had to settle for second place with local amateur Norrie Bell.
The second title for Moss was somewhat overshadowed by the Jellicoe Cup winning 71 by Sloan Morpeth in his third round. Entries for the championship were dominated by those from the upper North Island with only five from the South which may have indicated some difficulty in travel other than between the main centres.
1933 New Zealand Open: Titirangi was played on a course providing narrow fairways, wooded gullies and quite severe terraced greens allowing an S.S.S. of 75. The winning score was well above that of the previous three years and some regarded the test as too severe.
After the second day, with excellent playing conditions, the field was led by Auckland amateur R.H. Menzies who scored 71-78-149. The layout was taking its toll with the dreaded thirteenth hole, the “wrecker”, proving difficult to master in the freshening northerly wind. When the final round began on the third day the Auckland professional Moss, held a two-stroke lead from Shaw, was three ahead of Blair and five ahead of a group that included Otago professional Douglas.
Shaw lacked his usual confidence in the afternoon and a fine outward nine of 33 saw Douglas complete his round in 71 to tie with Moss who played steadily for 76.
A play-off took place on Monday, October 16th and proved a rather one-sided affair with Moss playing soundly for scores of 74 and 72, while Douglas, out of bounds with his first shot of the day, never recovered and scored 78 and 77.
