Nagle And Murray Head Qualifiers

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30610, 28 November 1964, Page 13

Nagle And Murray Head Qualifiers

(Aew Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, November 27.

The Australians, K. D. G. Nagle and A. A. Murray, headed the qualifiers in the Galtex £2OOO golf tournament at Paraparaumu Beach today after being among the very few players to return respectable second-round scores in a north-westerly gale.

Murray, placed early in the draw, was able to card 69 before the wind reached its zenith. He was the only player to break 70.

The imperturable Nagle shot a one-under-par 72, and in the conditions was quite happy to escape with that.

Hard on the heels of this pair were J. J. Sullivan, of South Australia, one stroke away, and E. A. Bail, of New South Wales, two strokes away, both of whom seemed

likely to figure in a probable all-Australian finish tomorrow.

The American, R. Howell, one of the overnight leaders, crashed in a nightmarish round of 81 to be virtually out of the running. Another overnight leader, P. Thomson, of Australia, was three over par today and dropped four strokes behind Nagle and Murray. The surprises were not confined to the fairways and greens. Among those to toss in the sponge today were the young Auckland professional, W. J. Godfrey, only recently in trouble with the Professional Golfers’ Association, and the South African, S. Davies. Apparently disappointed with his second round 80—which enabeld him to qualify comfortably—Godfrey announced that he was pulling out from tomorrow’s play. Dashed For Plane Davies, feeling the effects of eight months’ of concentrated tournament play overseas, shot the best outward run of the day but then fell to pieces over the second nine. He tossed it in at the seventeenth hole, and made a dash for the city to catch the mid-afternoon air flight to Sydney. Murray was fortunate to be back in the club-house before the gale reached its peak. He was hitting the ball infinitely better than he did in the first round. He was one under at the turn, and could have been two under but for missing a Ift putt at the sixth.

He had four birdies on the inward run, but dropped a stroke on the par three sixteenth where he landed in rough behind the green and chipped out short. Nagle was a model of consistency, splendidly accurate on both the fairways and the greens. He did the first nine in par figures, scored a birdie at the tenth, dropped one at the eleventh, and another birdie at the eighteenth. He brought a roar of surprise from the gallery when he shanked his second shot in the eleventh and it was this shot that cost him a par for the hole. Eight To Hole Hls partner, Howell, met one disaster after another. It started on the first, when he overshot the green and dropped two. On the par-four ninth he holed the ball finally In eight strokes. His first drive went out of bounds, he played the third off

the tee, his fourth went through the green into a water hazard, and then he chipped short to the green and two-putted. Though he was five over par after nine, his card to that stage showed three birdies. “I can’t blame the weather—it was just that I was hitting the ball badly,” the disconsolate American said afterwards. The greens were the undoing of Thompson. For the most part his woods and irons were long and accurate, but he was missing the greens badly at times. He was three over going out and even with the card coming back. He three-putted both the ninth and eleventh. Sixteen Par Holes Sullivan was remarkably consistent—he parred 18 holes, dropping a stroke at the third and recovering it immediately at the next hole with a birdie Ball, out in regulation figures, came home with a burst to be only two strokes behind the leaders. He passed the tenth and eleventh, two-putted for a birdie at the twelfth, played a wood and a wedge to within 10ft of the pin and sank the putt for an eagle on the thirteenth, and sank a birdie two on the fourteenth. Legrange shot a 72—37 out and 35 back—to be the only outsider among the Australians. The British golfer, G. Wolstenkholme. improved markedly today to shoot one of the best rounds of the day, a two-under-par 71. The Otaki inter-club player, W. Page, showed up the many more illustrious amateurs to shoot a par 73 to be top amateur among the qualifiers. The five top amateurs included two other veterans, W. G. Horne and B. M. Silk.