GOLF DEVLIN WINS BY FOUR STROKES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30231, 9 September 1963, Page 17

GOLF DEVLIN WINS BY FOUR STROKES

Strong Attempts To Catch Him

The four-stroke margin by which B. W. Devlin of Australia won the Wills Classic £2OOO tournament at Russley on Saturday gave no hint of the thrilling struggle which preceded it.

Until he played an astonishing shot on the sixteenth fairway, Devlin was in danger of defeat. But his score of 287—five under scratch —and his final round testified to his temperament and skill; at the end, it was not Devlin, but the others, who faltered.

Devlin, who had been in front from the first round on Thursday, was twice behind K. D. G. Nagle, and only one ahead of E. A. Ball at stages of the final 18 holes. But his courage never failed him, nor did his putter. He won like a true champion —and a modest and popular* champion at that.

It was a superbly entertaining day’s golf, in the tournament’s first sunshine, and the fierce fight for first place was thoroughly appreciated by galleries of about 1200. Although the greens still posed many problems, there was an appreciable improvement in the scoring, five players beating the scratch score in each of the last two rounds.

If Devlin’s magnificent golf won admiration, so too did the extraordinary effort made by Ball to make up his lunch-time deficit of five strokes. In a phenomenal burst of scoring, Ball had six b.rdses in the first 10 holes, seven in his round—quite the most spectacular phase of a tournament productive of much fine golf. , Best Of Morning

Nagle, three behind Devlin et the start of the day, picked up two strokes in the morning through an effort almost as astonishing as Ball made later. Nagle, the best reader of the green in the tournament, scored five birdies m eight holes going out On the outward half, Nagle had only one bogey, a remarkable state of affairs. But his progress home was almost pr.m—seven bogeys, a birdie, and a one-over.

This 71 by Nagle, two under scratch, was the best round of the morning. His putting wa« quite beautiful to watch. While B. J. Coxon, second overnight, and D. Welch, equal third, slowly slipped sway from the leaders, Coxon throiigh losing some of his extraordinary accuracy with irons, Welch through a frustrating succession of missed putts, P. W. Thomson. P. R Mills and Ball improved their positions. Mills, a vigorous, attacking golfer, had a 72, and Thomson, with something of his old assurance, was also one-under This was commanding golf. Somewhat slimmer these days, and with a decidedly flatter swing than he used to have. Thomson played his round in his most relaxed and fluent style, and only the short tenth hole spoiled a grand effort. TTiere he was bunkered, and went from there to the bunker across the green, from which he took two to emerge. Offered His Putter He fought back courageously, although when be missed his birdie putt at the fourteenth he offered a spectator his putter. And he might have been wise to dispose of it, for in the afternoon it was putting which

ended Thomson’s challenge. At the first hole a perfectlydrawn iron from the rough defeated the extension of the bunker, but he missed his putt. At the second, a fourfooter for a birdie missed the mark —and so it went on, for Thomson to finish with 78, his worst round of the tournament

Eight strokes behind Devlin after two rounds, the free-swinging L. Thomas (West Australia) played proficiently for a 72, one under scratch. Yet even his fine round of 70 in the afternoon was not good enough to make much impression on the leaders. So at hmch Devlin still led by one stroke. But there were portents in his putting of evil days ahead. He had tost his ability to hole his short putts convincingly. On several occasions the ball barely dribbled to the lip before falling.

Nagle in Lead After three of the last 18 holes had been played, it was Nagle who was in the lead. A fine pitch at the first put him 13 feet from the hole. He made his usual minute examination of his putting line, and after casting aside a worm or two

announced that in Christchurch it was not necessary to go to the rivers for whitebaiting. While the crowd still smiled, Nagle holed his putt. Devhn surrendered the lead when he found the bunker at the left of the third green—the trap which had cost him a

dreadful six the previous day. This time his ball was nearly embedded, and it was on a down slope near the back of the bunker—a most difficult position. Devlin, aware that Nagle was level with him, might have been .tempted to try for his three. But be showed mature judgment in taking his safest hne to the green, instead of the highly risky’ one to the hole. He dropped a stroke and the lead, but it was only two holes later that he was again on terms, wheta Nagle missed a five-foot putt.

Devlin was three under for the rest of the round, surviving several crises, but never faltered when faced with awkward putts. He holed everything he could reasonably be expected to sink. Nagles bold

iron at the eighth put him just through the back, but he made a calm survey of the situation, removed the flag-stick, and from 15 feet gently chipped in to the hole for his birdie—and again he was in front.

There was no mistaking Devlin’s ability under pressure. He had been in trouble at the fifth in both rounds, with drives dragged to the left and beneath the trees. Each time he recovered magnificently, with irons thrust wide to the right and drawn back spectacularly. In the final round, his 50-foot putt at this hole » struck the cup and stayed out. And at the ninth Devlin played two mighty woods to the back of the green. Not for the first time, his lack of faith in his chipping was reflected in the use of his putter from off the green, but he had his birdie, and with nine holes left he and Nagle were on 253, with Ball 255.

Devlin, whose walk and mannerisms. even his build, recall R. J. Charles, was a little strong with his irons at the next two holes, but each time his putter kept his figures intact, and when he was short at the twelfth, he holed an eightfooter for his four.

The thirteenth provided one of the two final turning points. There Nagle, ahead of Devlin, had missed his birdie putt. Devlin hit a tremendous drive, observing after it had gone that this was no time to hold back. Then he struck a fine five-iron and had his birdie and a one-stroke lead. This became two when Nagle missed the green at the fifteenth and failed to hole a five-foot putt. Devlin, again using his putter from off the green, left himself a putt of eight feet, but in it went, sweetly and truly. Drew Level At this stage, Ball had drawn level with Nagle, and they were two behind the lean, brown, smiling Devlin. But Devlin had little cause to smile at the sixteenth, where, it seemed, his lead might easily disappear. His drive found a fairway bunker well to the left of the line and from a difficult position he gained only a few feet. Anything but a first-class shot could well have led to him dropping two strokes. But he took his driver and played the shot of the day—a tremendous blow, drawn with such precision round the tree-line that he was only 20 yards short of the green —two hits giving more than 500 yards, with a minimum of run. So he his five, and confirmed his superiority by holing a considerable putt for a birdie at the seventeenth. He could haw taken seven at the last hole and still won. He nearly had a birdie: the putt of 30 feet struck the hole, but did not drop. Nagle, quite uncharacteristically, lost touch on the greens in the final stages, and ended the tournament by three-putt-ing, a fate Ball shared with him. Until then, Ball had provided the tournament’s most exciting golf. The 18-foot putt he holed on the first green apparently aroused in him an avid appetite for birdies. He had a birdie at the second with a seven-footer, and another at the third with a putt of similar length. He was dreadfully unlucky to three-putt the fourth, for from no more than two feet his ball darted sharply off line. Apparently there was a heel mark there.

Ball's fourth birdie, at the long sixth. was achieved through a chip to three feet from the cup. A fine iron left him six feet away at the eighth, where he gained another birdie. Quite the fastest swinger of all the professionals, Bail went his spectacular way with a magnificent tee shot at the short tenth. The birdie putt of two feet was a formality. Ball was never closer than then, one behind Devlin.

He dropped a shot at the eleventh with a» bunkered drive, regained ft at the thirteenth with two great shots to the green, and then had to struggle home. He holed two fine saving putts, at the fifteenth and seventeenth, but at the last he had two putts after his chip.