THE DEMON 4th

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31196, 21 October 1966, Page 13

THE DEMON 4th

It must have been a great moment for Charles, stepping on the first tee of his home course before such a gallery.

And immediately, hi s high, rhythmic swing began to bring him results.

He placed his drives perfectly, and only twice in the round did he fail to reach the green, and then only narrowly. Palmer missed greens four times.

At the second hole, a wellcontrolled sand iron shot put Charles 6ft from the hole, but the putt stayed out. The first three holes were halved in par figures, and Palmer’s crash at the fourth was an error in tactics. He elected to play to the right of the fairway and from there he nominated a hook, to be drawn outside a tall, lone poplar by the boundary. This was a line which would have taken the ball out over the road and back again, a short cut certainly. But he hit the ball inside the tree, and a wicked hook carried it across the fairway and to within 6in of the fence on the left-hand side.

His situation was desperate. He was in thick rough, unable to play the ball right handed because of the uninviting barbed wire fence, and with only the narrowest of gaps between the fence and a huge macrocarpa tree. Palmer, always the adventurer, elected to play a lefthanded shot —with the back of a 1-iron. He did extremely well to pitch the ball out of the thick and on a few yards to a bunker. But from the sand he struggled out, then chipped

too strongly, and had two putts. Charles was bunkered off the tee, came out indifferently, but a fine chip gave him his 5. Uncommon Error On the fifth tee, Palmer’s head was again cocked on one side, in the manner of a bird listening for good news, as he watched his drive go out to the rough at the right, but he played a fine second and had a birdie 4. Charles chipped about 12ft short, an uncommon error for him. There was a superb drive from Palmer at the 437-yard sixth, where he played a fliron to within 4ft of the hole and had another birdie. Charles had one at the seventh, with an enormous putt of about 40ft; he watched the ball drop unemotionally. Palmer again stretched out at the eighth and Charles, who had used a 3-wood off the tees at the early holes, also hit a good one. Charles’s 4iron was a beauty, and at this 434-yard hole he had a birdie 4. Palmer, however, threeputted. The tenth had Palmer’s firm signature written on it. 4th From Eagle A glorious drive was followed by a 7-iron which left him a putt of little more than 4ft for his eagle. Charles was second, with a birdie. Each hole produced something of particular quality—at the twelfth, Palmer’s great bunker shot, and at the thirteenth, another fine putt for a birdie by Charles. The quality of the golf remained near perfection as they punched great drives down the fourteenth, found the fifteenth green, and at the sixteenth defeated the strong wind with beautifully controlled shots.

Palmer attempted to beat the creek at the seventeenth, but only won half the struggle. His ball pitched over the water but into the bank and he had a difficult lie and stance. But he hit a 9iron just over the left side

of the green and a good chip and putt gave him his 4. Charles, from 25ft, holed another magnificent putt for his fifth birdie, and with his 4 at the last hole, he finished the round without dropping a stroke.

They came down the eighteenth with superb drives, and to the whole huge crowd, gathered together for the first time. It was a moment to remember—Palmer bending over his putter studiously, nearly holing his birdie putt, and Charles also going very close to his 3. Then the reception the players were given by the gallery; there are simply no winners and losers, in this international language.