Nagle At His Finest

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

Nagle At His Finest

If youth had its day with a happy veni geance, the veteran ' Nagle produced a brave, glorious 66. It was fashioned in the mould of a champion determined that if he must surrender the major prize to a young challenger, he would leave his name imprinted on the tournament in another way. The course record had been set at 68 by Wolstenholme in the second round. It was broken by Conallin with his 67 in the third round and this total had been equalled by Buckler and Newdick in the afternoon.

Faithful Few Only a faithful few who would rather see Nagle on an off day than not see Nagle at all, went with the former New Zealand and British Open champion when he started his fourth round nine strokes behind Donald. And they were to enjoy every minute and every shot of it. Four birdies got Nagle to the turn in 32 and three more on the way back gave him his 66. And there were three putts for eagles that lipped the cup that would otherwise have given him a record to have stood for many years. On the thirteenth tee Nagle was seen at his greatest. On this difficult dog-leg hole he took out his driver, pondered a moment the trees that jut out on to the line of fire, and then made to replace it in his bag. Then he turned quickly, took his stance, and said: i “Heck, what have 1 got to i lose now. Let’s have a go." I And he did. The ball took off [on the perfect line, fading around the trees, and stopping in the middle of the fairway. This was one of the three holes where Nagle’s putts for eagles so narrowly missed. It was a pity, for at the thirteenth he had deserved an eagle if anyone did.

In third place was Amm who had the mortification of dropping two penalty strokes in his morning round after he had been seven under par. His heavily-sliced drive at the sixteenth crossed Memorial avenue on the full, and he finished the round with a 69.

He had dropped a stroke also at the previous hole, but before these misadventures had played some of the finest golf of the tournament—booming drives, delicate chips and masterly putts. However, Newdick went even closer than Amm to sharing the course record with Nagle. After three very ordinary rounds he found his touch on Saturday afternoon and was five under when he putted from 10ft at the eleventh. The ball [stopped three inches from the hole. He prepared to tap the ball in but the blade of his putter touched the ball and cost him a stroke. He went on to finish with a 67. Wolstenholme, who had set the record of 68 on Friday, seemed all set to improve on that after two holes of his third round. A birdie at the first, an eagle at the second put him three under, and he looked capable of doing anything. But the let-down came soon afterwards with two drives that drifted under the trees, and for the rest of the day he was struggling for his figures. “Best Dressed” At the prize-giving function afterwards he thanked the organisers for awarding him first prize as “the best dressed professional on the course,” congratulated those who had finished ahead of him in the tournament and warned those that came behind him “that they would have to play very much better in the future.”

Thomson and Charles, only in patches, produced the scores that had been expected from them. Both looked and played like men who had had enough golf for one year. Both were only once under 70, and in the perfect conditions on Saturday—a hot sun, a cooling breeze, long runs on the fairways and the greens still perfect—Thomson's 69 and 72 and Charles's 75 and 71 left them far behind the splendid golf of Donald and Nagle.

Charles went in and out of form during all his four rounds, although his 69 on the Friday had more than hinted that he would be in at the death. But on Saturday his driving too often put him in a position where he had to struggle for bis pars, and his putting rarely threatened to save his score.

There were the usual run of hard-luck stories, none so heart-breaking as R. D. Gillespie's failure on the final day. This Auckland Frey berg representative had been the leading amateur after his first two rounds of 72 and 71. Paired with Thomson on the final day hte golf went to pieces in further rounds of 81 and 78. The trophy that Gillespie looked so sure to take finally went to R. C. Murray, who came through with a spurt in the Inal round, to score a 68 and total 289. Out in a disappointing 38 (one over). Murray played the hottest nine holes of the tournament oh the way back la 31. The young Christchurch

amateur, D. R. Hope, also reserved his best for Saturday. On Friday night he had won one of the qualifying places in a ballot with those on 156 after struggling to record two 78s. In the morning. however, he played beautifully for his 69, and followed it with a 73, to finish joint second amateur with J. M. Lister (Timaru). The last day also brought the second hole-in-one of the tournament. The Australian, R. J. Stanton, had scored the first on the opening day, and the North Otago amateur, A. J. Palmer, capped it with his “ace” at the 161-yard tenth in the final round. It came at a time when he was five over for the first nine holes and, possibly, when he was wishing he had never taken up with golf.

Most Money To Thomson

P. W. Thomson and K. D. G. Nagle were the leading money-winners of this year’s New Zealand golf circuit, which finished with the Wills Masters at Russley on Saturday. They were the only two golfers to win more than £lOOO. Another Australian, J. J. Sullivan, took £995. The complete list of moneyearners is:— Thomson, £1568; Nagle, £1363; Sullivan, £995; G. B. Wolstenholme (England), £887; C. Amm (South Africa), £840; B. J. Coxon (Australia), £678; A. A. Murray (Australia), £578; E. A. Ball (Australia), £535: W. J. Godfrey (New Zealand), £521; R. R Newdick (New Zealand), £497; G. F. Donald (Australia). £465; R. J. Charles (New Zealand), £375: M. Roesink (Holland), £365; P. Green (England), £352: F. X. Buckler (New Zealand). £330; R. J. Stanton (Australia), £325; S. Peach (Australia). £322: C. McGregor (Australia), £245; R. A. Mesnil (Australia), £162; J. Davis (Australia), £140; E. A. Southerden (New Zealand), £115: B. Shelton (New Zealand), £77: T. A. Brady (New Zealand). £62; F. M. Conallin (Australia), £55: J. Carter (New Zealand), £52; E. W. Dunk (Australia), £47; D. J. Sullivan (Australia), £4O: M. Wolveridge (New Zealand), £37; L. Sharp (Australia), £37: R. McDonald (New Zealand), £3O: F. Stobie (Australia), £2B: G. Q. Attrill (New Zealand). £18: R. L. Cunningham (New Zealand), £l5: P. F. Keys (New Zealand), £lO.