Townsend In Front With Superb 65

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31547, 8 December 1967, Page 15

Townsend In Front With Superb 65

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND.

The 21-year-old English golfer, P. Townsend, played brilliantly to score a seven-under-par 65 in the first round of the S4OOO B.P. tournament at Titirangi yesterday.

He drove straight and true and putted most economically to collect seven birdies and 11 pars.

Out in 32, his only blemish was a wayward shot into a bunker at the fifth. He was home in 33, with birdies at the last three holes.

However, in conditions ideal for low scoring, Townsend leads by only one stroke, from P. W. Thomson (Australia), W. J. Godfrey (Auckland), and J. M. Lister (Timaru), all on 36. Townsend’s run to the finish began with a 24ft put* at the sixteenth hole. He was pin high at the 488-yard seventeenth for two and nearly scored an eagle, and put a 9-iron 4ft from the hole on the last green for his third successive birdie.

Godfrey had a 10ft putt at the eighteenth to share the lead with Townsend, but the ball stopped on the edge. Godfrey played with great accuracy in his halves of 31 and 35. He sank a 15-footer for his birdie at the fourth and produced another long putt at the fourteenth after being bunkered. Thomson and the 20-year-old Lister also welcomed the rain’s softening effect on the greens and kept their approach shots up to the pin. “I suppose that’s about what one should score under the conditions,” said Thomson. Scrambled Pars He stroked in a 20ft putt at the eighth and had several others of long distances. Six under par on the seventeenth tee, Lister had a great chance of matching Townsend’s 65. But he pushed his approach shot into the macrocarpa trees and had to use his putter to play out sideways. However, he pitched to within three feet of the hole to secure his par. Again at the final hole he approached weakly and was bunkered, but exploded out brilliantly to within five feet and sank the putt. Probably the most consistent performer on the circuit, G. B. Wolstenholme had five birdies in his round o* 67. three of them in a purple patch from the fifth to the seventh. B. P. Vezich led the amateurs on his home course with an excellent 68. He carded six birdies and spoiled his round by dropping two shots

at the ninth where his recovery from a bunker nearly ended in the implement shed. R. J. Charles and K. D. G. Nagle, two of the favourites, had indifferent rouuds, although Charles played perhaps the shot of the day when, after being bunkered on the fifth fairway and jus* chipping out, he sent a full iron into the green three feet from the hole to score a birdie. But, uncharacteristically, he handed the stroke back when he three-putted the next hole. Ruined Round

The potentially brilliant New South Wales professional, R. J. Stanton, saw his score soar from three under to three over in three holes. He missed a short putt at the fourteenth, was astray off the tee at the fifteenth for a twoover six, and then ruined his round with a seven at the next.

The 18-year-old Manukau amateur, P. Shadlock, a former schoolboy champion, was four under after 13 holes, but faded under pressure and finished with a 71.