GODFREY’S PUTT ON LAST GREEN WINS HIM $800

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31549, 11 December 1967, Page 24

GODFREY’S PUTT ON LAST GREEN WINS HIM $800

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND. W J Godfrey, the 26-year-old New Zealand professional, featured in a storybook ending to the B.P. golf tournament on Saturday when he won the $BOO first prize by a stroke from the Australian, P. W. Thomson.

The greatest drama came on the last green, with Godfrey and Thomson, playing together at the tail of the field, fighting out the finish. Godfrey played one of the finest shots of the tournament a sand wedge to within two feet of the hole. He had to sink it to ensure a tie with Thomson. And as it turned out, the putt became even more crucirl. Thomson, stymied in a grove of trees, ran a 4-iron shot from a nearly impossible lie, to a spot to the left of the green. He chipped too strongly and missed the return putt. Godfrey carefully lined up the putt which would now win him the tournament and to a huge roar of delight from the gallery stroked the ball home. It gave Godfrey a final round of 70, and added to his previous rounds of 66, 68 and 69, an aggregate of 273 (15 under par) for the 72 holes, one better than Thomson. But it was a close thing. Godfrey had scored a six at the seventeenth hole, and

seemed to have thrown away bis chance.

But fortune favours the brave and it certainly smiled on Godfrey. After his effort on Friday when he used a lot of luck and a modicum of brilliance to tie with Thomson and K. D. G. Nagle in the lead at the half-way mark, Godfrey stuck to his guns in the crucial third round on Saturday morning, and came home five under the card after being two over going out. A 15ft putt for an eagle at the seventeenth enabled Godfrey to go to lunch level with Thomson on 203 after Thomson had earlier eagled the thirteenth with a 25ft putt. Nagle was three shots back. Godfrey was first to falter In the final round when he missed the green with his approach at the third hole and dropped a shot. He went two down with another wayward second at the seventh. However, a fine putt for a birdie at the eighth reduced Thomson’s lead to one stroke. Nagle’s five at the same hole virtually put paid to his chances.

It was Thomson’s turn to slip at the short eleventh where Godfrey’s par put them square. Both had birdies at the twelfth and thirteenth and Thomson was lucky to halve the fourteenth after a poor tee shot.

On the fifteenth Thomson missed a six-foot putt for his par and Godfrey went into the lead. But two holes later he hooked into the trees and found his ball lying badly in high rough. He recovered well but then chipped through

the green and three-putted for a six.

Thomson had his birdie and was two strokes ahead. But Thomson made the final error when he pulled his tee shot at the eighteenth and Godfrey took his chance like a champion. 273: W. J. Godfrey (Auckland), 66, 68, 69, 70. 274: P. W. Thomson (Aust.), 66, 68, 69. 71. 277: K. D. G. Nagle (Aust.), 70, 64, 72, 71. 278: P. Townsend (Britain), 65, 71, 71, 71. 279: *S. G. Jone* (Hastings), 71, 66, 73, 69. 280: M. Roesink (Netherlands), 70, 76, 67, 67; R. J. Stanton (Aust.), 73, 68, 70, 69.

281: B. Bent (Aust.), 73, 69, 73, 66.

282: B. Coxon (Aust.), 70, 71, 70, 71; G. Wolstenholme (Britain), 67, 68, 73, 74.

284: R. J. Charles (Christchurch), 71, 71, 69, 73; D. Clark (Rotorua), 71, 69, 73, 71.

285: *B. Raferty (Akarana), 73, 70, 72, 70. 286: *B. P. Veich (Titirangi), 68, 72, 72, 74. 287: E. A. Ball (Aust.), 72, 72 , 69, 74; H. T. Boys (Hamilton), 71, 69, 72, 75; F. Phillips (Aust.), 74, 70, 73, 70; M. Bembridge (Britain), 70, 71, 72, 74. 289: P. Lee (Britain), 69, 73, 75, 72; J. M. Lister (Timaru), 66, 73, 74, 76. 290: S. Peach (Aust.), 73, 74, 72, 71; T. Woolbank (Aust.), 69, 73, 73, 74. * Denotes amateur.