Young Victorian May Be Thomson Of The Future

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30938, 20 December 1965, Page 3

Young Victorian May Be Thomson Of The Future

Producing all the shots and revealing the ice*cold temperament of a champion in the making, the 20-year-old Victorian, G. F. Donald, magnificently broke the P. W. Thomson-K. D. G. Nagle stranglehold on this year’s New Zealand golf circuit when he swept to a five-stroke victory in the Wills Masters 72-hole tournament at Russley on Saturday.

From the first day when his 69 allowed him to share the lead by one stroke with B. J. Coxon until he came to the last green on Saturday evening knowing that he could six-putt and still win his first major tournament, this bantam-weight Australian had dominated the tournament. .

His 72-hole total of 276 represented four rounds of superb golf and was 16 strokes under the card for the 73-par, 6627-yard Russley course.

However, if the excitement of an eight-eenth-green finish was destroyed by Donald's ruthlessly efficient golf, there was Nagle to set a course record, and show what might have been had he been completely fit for the three days. Nagle tore the course apart with his seven-under 66, coming from the back of the field after his first-round 76 to finish second on 281. The young, long-hitting South African, C. Amm, was third, on 283. followed by Thomson (284). W. J. Godfrey, and J, J. Sullivan (286). and M. Roesink and last year’s Masters winner, E. A. Bail, on 287. Equal Ninth R. ,J. Charles had a disappointing last two rounds to finish equal ninth with the tall Englishman, G. B. Wolstenholme, and K. D. Foxton, 12 strokes behind Donald. In spite of Nagle’s 66, and the equally brilliant rounds of 67 by R. R. Newdick, F. X. Buckler, and another young Victorian, F. M. Conallin, the final day belonged almost exclusively to Donald. One question mark hung over the third round when play began on Saturday morning: would Donald, four years a professional, whose total winnings for thq previous six tournaments on the New Zealand circuit had not added up to £7O. crack under the pressure of leading the field with the pace being set ahead ofj him by Nagle, Thomson, and | Charles among others? ‘ Twenty holes later the| question had been answered; to everyone’s satisfaction: Donald had tied up the tournament as neatly as he could have wished, and a cheque for £4OO was waiting for him in the clubhouse. Six-stroke Lead His third round of 68 put him six strokes ahead, and the first two holes of his final round, both bringing him birdies, left him nothing more to do than to keep the ball in play for the rest of the round And he did that, and more. He continued to attack every hole as he had done from his first tee shot on Thursday, refusing even to compromise when his driver gave him wayward shots at the eighth, ninth and eleventh in the final run for home. As he said afterwards: “1 wanted that record, as well. If I had tried to play safely I might have done some silly things." The record eluded him as he finished with a 70. but it needed the mighty doings of Nagle to cut down his lead by one to a finish of five strokes ahead of the field.

If one facet of Donald’s play more than any other stamped his class it was on the greens. There he played like a charm, his putter working minor miracles every time he called on it for an extra effort. Calm Manner Putts ranging from 40ft to the tension-filled two-footers were all met in the same calm, deliberate, confident manner, and in the morning his puttins let him down only once, on the eighteenth green, where he three-putted from seven yards when two would have given him a course record of 67.

Then came the final round, and there were still many who though his fantastic run could not last. But his confidence withstood even this final test.

At the first hole he put his 60-yard wedge shot two feet from the pin and sank the putt for a birdie three. At the second, from a greenside bunker, he splashed the ball out two inches from the hole and was down in a birdie four.

These were, without doubt, two of the greatest-played holes in the tournament and stamped young Donald as a Masters champion. He went on playing courageous, accurate golf to turn in 34 (three under), striking the ball beautifully. He gained another shot with a birdie at the thirteenth, dropped one when he was badly placed on the back slope of a bunker beside the fifteenth.

He came to the eighteenth and his seventy-second hole needing an eight on the 408yard, par-four to win. His drive was cut on to the seventeenth fairway and then, as if to brand his brilliance on the memories of the 4000 spectators lining the fairway and green, played a glorious shot over the trees, the ball seven yards from the pin. Victory Acclaimed Two putts followed, and then his delighted fellow Australians bore him off, triumphantly, on their shoulders. These were young professionals joyously proclaiming a victory by one of their own: they would have been more circumspect had it been Thomson or Nagle. But although Donald's greatest deeds were performed on the greens his putter alone did not win him the tournament. For such a slight youth (five feet and a bit and nine stone and a bit more), he hit the ball tremendous distances, both with woods off the tees and irons off the fairways. And his powers of recovery from almost any situation were exceptional for one of his limited experience. Donald’s future plans are to return to New Zealand next year for another round of tournaments, and then to try to make his fame and fortune, as his countryman, Bruce Devlin, has done, on the fiercely-competitive American circuit. The golfers of Christchurch will watch for his future successes as they once did those of another young Victorian, the then 19-year-old Peter Thomson after he had won the New Zealand Open at Shirley 15 years ago.