PALMER LONGEST

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31195, 20 October 1966, Page 19

PALMER LONGEST

Off the first tee, Palmer was 50 yards ahead of Charles, and the New Zealander was in front after the drives only three times in the round. One of these occasions was at the second hole, where Palmer’s drive went to the third fairway and rolled downhill a considerable distance. Charles struck the first telling blow here, with a putt of 35 feet for a birdie. Second Birdie The third hole measures 299 yards but Charles was on the green with his drive, after his ball had bounced over a bunker, so he had his second birdie. There was a third at the 453-yard fifth and he stayed three shots ahead until the ninth. This is Balmacewen’s most spectacular hole. There is just a ribbon of fairway between steep hills, with thick bush ■ crowding down from the left, and the right ablaze with [bright gorse. And here, Palimer was at his most spectaci ular.

He takes the club away smoothly, and is very quick on the downswing. At this hole his drive from the high tee was superb. It never wavered from the line of the hole and found the green, 25 feet short of the cup. He had his first birdie, while Charles missed a little one and three-putted. Charles was, therefore, out in 34, two under, and Palmer 35. Soon Lost It Palmer thus took the honour for the first time at the tenth and promptly lost it. He three-putted, while Charles had only a two-foot putt for this birdie after a splendid 7-iron to the green—a shot of 160 yards. Charles went four under at the long eleventh, and Palmer had a birdie there, also. The twelfth was an unhappy hole for Charles. There is a new green, and the hole now dog-legs to the right, very sharply. Charles’s second was his only really loose shot of the round. It finished down a hill far wide of the green, and he could not sink a difficult putt for his four. Palmer, however, won con-

siderable satisfaction by holding a long one for his par four —another instance of him charging the hole, but this time hitting it squarely. Charles’ Eagle Charles again led by three strokes when Palmer threeputted the thirteenth, and the left-hander played the 250yard fourteenth superbly. A 2-iron put him just off the green at the back and he holed out with a putt from 25 feet, for an eagle two. With yet another birdie at the short sixteenth, this time with another putt of 25 feet, Charles went to six under. He had to struggle for his four at the seventeenth, accomplishing it with a very fine chip, and at the eighteenth it seemed he was certain to drop a stroke when his approach putt raced 12 feet past the hole. But he sank the return with calm certainty for his magnificent 66. Notwithstanding the pressures of the gallery, the round was completed in just three hours, and the players, in everything they did, offered a splendid advertisement for their match at Shirley today. Find His Touch Charles is playing splendidly, and Palmer will surely find his putting touch. With his woods and irons, he is a most entertaining player, for he attacks with vigour. His control of the iron into the wind, his length off the tees, should bring him more fame, and perhaps a little more fortune at Shirley. This was among the finest rounds Charles has played. But if it set a new figure for the course, it will not remain a record because of course reconstruction. The seventeenth green was not used, the twelfth being played again at that hole. So Charles’s figure will not be in any of the record books. But his performance will endure, for all that.