Eight-Stroke Win By Murray

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30711, 29 March 1965, Page 12

Eight-Stroke Win By Murray

Spectators—and there were precious few of them—at Russley for the club’s open event and the Canterbury stroke championships at the week-end gained some indication of how R. C. Murray took third place among the world’s best amateur golfers at last year’s Eisenhower Cup tournament when the Canterbury captain won both titles in brilliant fashion.

Murray was not over par in any one of the four rounds and achieved a four-under total of 288 for the 72 holes to win by eight strokes from his nearest rival. E. H. M. Richards. D. R, Hope was a further nine strokes away, in third place.

Russley’s damp course provided conditions remarkably similar to the L’Olgiata course near Rome, where Murray won such a fine reputation in last year’s world amateur team’s tournament.

The course had missed the heavy downpour of Friday, but the rain on Saturday morning and late on Saturday night had reduced the run drastically and produced conditions under which Russley was playing to every inch of its 6627 yards. Murray, however, was never at a loss in the heavier going; indeed, he steadily improved from very good to excellent. In the final round he played his best golf of the tournament to reel off a three-under-par 70 to put a further five strokes between himself and Richards. He won the Canterbury event for the fourth time in its seven-year history.

Driving Was Long Events of the last six weeks have given Murray little time for practice, but it was evident from his consistently high standard of play during the two days that he had reached the happy state where all parts of his game were in accord. His driving was long and well placed, his putting, at the very least, was sound—he had only one threeputt green in the 72 holes—and his iron play was nothing short of immaculate. His final round provided a good example of his mastery of all his clubs. Where others ahead of him had struggled, Murray played on serenely, gathering three birdies in the first eight holes and extracting himself from difficult lies without the slightest hint of bother.

He was two under at the turn, dropped a shot at the twelfth, but gained birdies at the thirteenth and sixteenth to come home in triumph. It was a remarkable display and Murray was not flattered one whit by the excellence of his score or the vastness of his winning margin. This contention was given added weight by the display of Richards, who has seldom, if ever, hit the ball so well in a competition of such length. Like Murray, Richards responded to the conditions, and his fine all-round play brought him a handsome return of four rounds of 75 or better.

By Saturday night Richards was four strokes behind Murray, but he closed the gap to three at the three-quarter stage with a splendid 72 on Sunday morning. But he could not match Murray's brilliant last round. Missed His Putts

In his third round Richards was three under after 13 holes, but the hiccoughing of a spectator disturbed him as he was playing the fourteenth. He dropped a stroke at the hole, then another at the eighteenth, and finished one under. It was a good round, but Richards was left wistfully recalling the number of times that birdie putts had somehow wriggled away from the hole at the last second.

The field for the senior event was exceptionally tight, ranging from Murray on plus two to the four handicappers. But in this exalted company the 18-year-old Hope made a distinct impression with his consistent scoring. He followed an initial score of 77 with three rounds of 76 to win third place clearly.

R. B. Townsend and B. L. Clegg also had their moments, but the performance that captured much of the interest yesterday was the

one-under-par round of 72 played by the evergreen M. W. Stanley, who earned sixth place on the strength of his fine finish. He was two under after two holes, and although he dropped three strokes in the middle stages he finished: with two birdies in the last three holes. Results:—

Championships Senior.—R. C. Murray. 73. 72. 73, 70—288: E. H. M. Richards. 75, 74. 72. 75—296: D. R. Hope. 77. 76. 76, 76—305; B. L. Clegg. 75. 77. 80, 77—309: R. B. Townsend. 80. 73. 78. 78—309: M. W. Stanley. 79. 84. 78. 72—313: R. E. Clements. 79. 77. 79. 79—314: A. T. Baxendine. 81. 79. 77. 78— 315; J. R. Broadhurst, S 3, 77. 78. 77—315: P. .1. Amos. 79. 78. 82. 79—318; J. A. Orr. 82. 80, 76. 80 —3lB.

Intermediate —B. W. Johnson, 85. 80. 84. 79—328; A. 1. McNish, S 4, 81, 83. 81—329: P. Harvey, 88. 86. 81, 79—334.

Junior—R. C. Sweet. 89, SO. 82, 83—334: R. Hopkinson. 85, 86, 89. 86—346: B. Cotton. 91. 91. 84, 93—359: D. M. Ruddenklau. 90, 89, 87, 93—359. Saturday 36 Holes Gross.—Senior: R. C. Murray. 145. Intermediate: B. W. Johnson. 165. on a count-back front A. I. McNish. Junior: R. C. Sweet. 169. 36 Holes Net.—Senior: B. L. Clegg. 148. Intermediate: P. G. A. Combe. 151. Junior: R. Hopkinson, 153. Morning, 18 Holes Net.—Senior: R. S. Peate. 77. 4—73. on a count-back from B. L. Clegg. Intermediate: J. McGavock, 84, 7 77. Junior: J. B. Groom, 88, 10—78. Afternoon. 18 Holes Net.— Senior: R. B. Townsend, 73. 2 71. Intermediate: W. Stark, 81, 6—75. Junior: M. W. Parrott, 86. 9—77. Sunday 36 Holes Gross.—Senior: R. C. Murray, 143. Intermediate: B. W. Johnson. 163. Junior: R. C. Sweet. 165. 36 Holes Nel.—Senior: M. W. Stanley, 144. Intermediate: P. Harvey, 148. Junior: K. Perrin. 156. Morning, 18 Holes Net.—Senior: E. H. M. Richards, 72. scr—--72. Intermediate: R. Hitchon, 84, 8— 76. Junior: B. Cotton, 84, 9 75, on a count-back from P. J. Spiller. Afternoon, 18 Holes Net.— Senior: J. R. Broadhurst, 77, 3 74. Intermediate: K. H. Drylan, 84, 8—76, on a count-back from A. I. McNish. Junior: R. Hopkinson, 86, 9—77.