JONES N.I. GOLF CHAMPION

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31144, 22 August 1966, Page 3

JONES N.I. GOLF CHAMPION

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND. The New Zealand representative golfer, S. G. Jones, of Hastings, in an intensely exciting finish, beat the reigning national champion, J. D. Durry, by one stroke in the North Island championship at Te Awamutu yesterday. Jones's aggregate for the two-day, 72-hole event, which was played in fine almost windless conditions, was 284. Durry scored 285.

B. A. Stevens, the Waikato captain, who equalled the course record with a magnificent second round of 67, was third on 290. Jones entered the last 18 holes a stroke ahead of Stevens, with Durry a stroke further behind, and E. J. McDougall heading the others.

Jones looked certain of victory at the turn, then twice in succession his putting lapsed. A glorious 7-iron shot to within five feet of the hole at the sixteenth helped him but then he hooked his second at the seventeenth, and dropped a shot. He scored a par 4 at the last hole. Steven’s hopes perished

when he played two shots In a bunker at the eighth, and McDougall and last year’s champion, E. J. Gordon, of Poverty Bay, were inconsistent. Durry needed to finish with two birdie threes to snatch the title. At the seventeenth a 12-foot putt—for the birdie, stopped an inch short. Chances of a three at the 374-yard last hole, and a half share in the title, seemed lost when he cut his second shot to the right, about 60 feet from the hole. Then Durry chipped magnificently. The ball rolled and rolled but stopped within three inches of the hole, and

Jones had won the title by a stroke. The leading scores were: 284: S. G. Jones (Hastings), 73, 69, 72, 70. 285: J. D. Durry (Para paraumu), 75, 71, 70, 69. : 290: B. A. Stevens (Hamilton), 293:’ I. D. Woodbury (Hutt), 71, 75, 74, 73. 295: T. S. Leech (Taupo), 73, 77, 76. 69: E. J. McDougall (Tokoroa), 72, 72, 73, 78. 297: J. P. Means (Castlecliff), 76. 70, 75. 76. 299: P A. Maude (Waitomo), 71, 73. 81, 74; R. D. Gillespie (Remuerai. 78, 78, 76, 77. 300: T. Ormsby (Waitomo), 76, 74. 75, 75.