Nagle Wins Fifth N.Z. Open Golf Title

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31531, 20 November 1967, Page 15

Nagle Wins Fifth N.Z. Open Golf Title

(New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON. Knowing that his closest rivals had to play well under the card to get near him, the Australian. K. D. G. Nagle, cruised round the St Andrews course in par figures on Saturday to win his fifth New Zealand Open golf championship.

Nagle’s fourth round of 71 gave him an aggregate of 275 (nine under par) and he finished four strokes ahead of another Australian, E. A. Ball. Ball had a brilliant threeunder 68 in his final round to snatch second prize from the 21-year-old Englishman, P. Townsend, who was one stroke away, third. The top amateur and first New Zealander was the Tokoroa player, E. J. McDougall, on 285. His 67 was the best of the day. McDougall won the Bledisloe Cup awarded to the best amateur. CHARLES WAS SIXTH The title winner at Paraparaumu last year, R. J. Charles, finished sixth on 287. while another of the pretournament favourites, P. W. Thomson, was well behind the leaders, on 293. Nagle, whose course recordbreaking 64 on Thursday swept him to the front, was • never seriously challenged from that point, although both Ball and Townsend looked ■ like turning on the pressure "at times. Nagle’s previous wins in the Open were in 1957, 1958, 1962, and 1964. i Although players were hampered by frequent heavy rain and a brisk wind, scores over-all were better than in the third round on Friday. Just as Nagle and Ball walked ' off the last green, the skies opened up and in minutes the course was under water. !

Nagle was out in 37 and home in 34 for his 71. He fired birdies on the seventh and ninth, but dropped shots at the second, fifth, and eighth. Coming home, he birdied the tenth and played the rest of the round with the card. On the last hole, his tee. shots landed in a greenside • bunker, but he blasted out 1 magnificently to get his three. ! Ball finished dynamically. • He was out in the regulation ! 36, but came home in 32, three under, with birdies at : the tenth, eleventh, fourteen, • fifteenth, and seventeenth. • His only blemishes were oneovers at the twelfth and thirteenth. Townsend was out in 36, but a five at the seventeenth ruined any chance he had of taking second. At this hole his approach was too strong and he had to chip and twoputt to get down. His birdie on the eighteenth was only good enough to give him third. OVERTOOK CHALLENGERS McDougall’s feat of finishing fourth should make him a strong contender for a place in the New Zealand amateur team again. While some of the team members and contenders were slipping behind, McDougall, accompanied by a huge gallery, forged on. He started ■the day two behind J. D. Durry (Paparparaumu) and one behind S. G. Jones (Hastings). After nine holes he had . caught and passed Jones, but i was still one behind Durry. j Both birdied the tenth and had pars on the eleventh, but i Durry could not mach Me- ’ Dougail’s birdie on the ] twelfth, and they were equal, i Both took fours at the thir- : teenth and the short four- ’ teenth was the undoing of 1 Durry. He dropped a shot to the card, while McDougall t had a regulation three. This < seemed to unsettle Durry and 1 he dropped another shot at < the next hole. Taking the bit in his teeth, I

McDougall played the fifteenth brilliantly. When his birdie putt dropped the top amateur place was as good as his. But be was not satisfied. Another birdie came at the sixteenth for him to go four ahead of Durry and that was how they stayed to the end. Although both had big followings, Charles and Thomson just could not turn on the fireworks. Charles's one-over 72 included only one birdie, while Thomson had his third 74, also with one birdie. Among those to come with a late burst were the Waitomo amateur. T. Ormsby, who had a final round 68, for 293 and be fourth amateur, R. .Vines, the young Brisbane professional, who also finished with 68, and the North Shore professional,’ D. Sullivan, who had a 69.