Golfers Accused Of Striking

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31585, 24 January 1968, Page 15

Golfers Accused Of Striking

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) SYDNEY. The Australiar Golf Union, the controlling amateur body of golf in the country, has accused Australian professionals of going on strike. The union’s executive, in a special inter-state telephone hook-up meeting at the weekend, decided to take all tournament control from the professionals. The feud between the two bodies, caused by disputes in tournament dates for 1968, threatens to be the biggest controversy in Australian golf history. “We can’t be stood up in this manner,” said the president of the golf uni.n (Mr A. Mills) by telephone from Hobart. “When the P.G.A. made its threat not to play in the Dunlop international title in October and to play their own national title on the Dunlop date, my executive deplored this action. “We consider such a threat as virtual strike action by the professional against a $15,000 tournament. “The sponsor company in the past has participated in the Australian circuit with the full support of the P.G.A.,” said Mr Mills. “The executive has always

been prepared to talk to the P.G.A. in the past, and we would have been prepared to do so again this year with regard to planning for next season.

“While this strike threat is held over our heads, we will definitely not meet the P.G.A. to seek a resolution. Mr Mills said that the golf union did not want to engage in an exchange of threats with the professionals, but added that his executive had discussed the withdrawal of any course in Australia as a venue for the Australian P.G.A. title.

This decision by the union could mean that the amateur body intends to assume com-

plete control of professional tournaments in Australia.

The dispute between the amateurs and the professionals began when the union reversed the original tournament scheduling and awarded the Dunlop tournament the “plum” dates of October 31 to November 3. The date, one of the most sought on the golfing calendar, is the week immediately after the Australian Open. The president of the Australian professionals’ association, P. Thomson, said on Sunday that his executive was still waiting for a meeting with the union. “We are hopeful of resolving the dispute over dates...

if a meeting can be arranged” he said. “But our decision to ban any professional playing in any tournament between October 31 and November 3, except the P.G.A. championship, stands.”