Nagle Repels Rivals With Superb Finish

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31234, 5 December 1966, Page 3

Nagle Repels Rivals With Superb Finish

"The Press” Special Service WELLINGTON. K. D. G. Nagle, of Australia, was the centre point of yet another incredible finish on the 1966 golf circuit when he won the B.P. £2OOO tournament at Titirangi on Saturday.

Nagle finished birdie, eagle, par to beat off the challengers of Clark (England) and M. Roesink (Holland) who had both caught him with three holes to play.

Nagle had rounds of 68. 70, 69, 69, for a total of 276 three strokes clear of Clark (69, 69, 74, 67) and Roesink (70. 72, 71, 66). Nagle was square with the card when he was caught by Clark and Roesink, and the position called for something extra. Nagle was able to provide it. He knocked in a 15-footer for a birdie at the sixteenth and then shattered his opposition by sinking a 35-footer for an eagle on the seventeenth. Clark played one of the greatest single shots of the tournament on the fourteenth. He had birdied 6, 10, 12 and 13, and from the tee of the 216-yard fourteenth slammed a tremendous four-wood to within four feet of the pin. Roesink, who was playing in the trio ahead of Nagle and Clark, gave no hint of what was to come as he moved through the first stages of his final round. He was one under after 11 and picked up birdies on two holes to be three under. Then he sank a 1-O-footer on the fifteenth, a 15-footer on the sixteenth, and chipped to with, in three feet on the seventeenth for three successive

birdies and a round of 66 the lowest of the tournament. A 30-foot birdie putt ended G, B. Wolstenholme’s final round of 70, for a total 282. He had his chances to win this tournament but his form slipped at the crucial stages. As Clark, Roesink and Nagle moved out from the field, Wolstenholme struggled to make any real impression on par. The strongest finishing burst of any was provided by another English golfer, A. Jacklin. He was moving along quietly and after sinking an eight-foot birdie putt on the thirteenth was one over the card. But suddenly the Jacklin putter turned hot and he birdied the last four holes, sinking putts of 25, 5,4, and 15 feet to wind up the tournament with a 69 and a total of 283. R. R. Newdick lifted his game after it had faltered badly on the outward nine of the last round to card four birdies coming home and end up with his second round of 70 for the day.

A shanked two-iron off the eighth tee cost Newdick two strokes when it landed in a gulley by some trees. But he recovered well to share sixth place with F, X. Buckler (Lochiel). Buckler’s game is suited to Titirangi and he followed a sound third round of 69 with a final 71 for his 284. At one stage he was within a couple of strokes of the lead, but he could not press his claim further. R. J. Charles never got going in this tournament. He punctuated his play with birdies and one-overs and had considerable trouble among the many trees that abound Titirangi. Ten penalty strokes and one air shot were included in Charles’s four-round total of 288—12 strokes behind Nagle. Charles was five strokes ahead of the next group of golfers, which included the top amateur, K. R. Hankin, and two New Zealand professionals. B. T. Boys and W. J. Godfrey, all of whom were on 293.