Masters Golf Officials Criticised

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31656, 17 April 1968, Page 13

Masters Golf Officials Criticised

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) AUGUSTA (Georgia). Telegrams poured into Augusta yesterday criticising the controversial finish of the Masters golf tournament, Associated Press reported.

“We’ve received quite a stack of them,” said Mr C. Roberts, chairman of the tour-

nament, “and not one said we did the proper thing. “The ones we got all say you gave that fellow a bad deal.” That fellow is R. de Vicenzo (Argentina), who tied for the Masters title on Sunday but was dropped to second because he signed a card which listed his score incorrectly. The ruling left R. Goalby the winner, and it also left the Masters embroiled in controversy.

Mr Roberts said the critics “don’t understand the difference between golf and spectator sports, such as football and baseball,” and pointed out that the Masters was complying with golf rules. “You must remember,” he said ip an interview, “that baseball and football players have no responsibility about keeping scores. “In golf, this responsibility is pinned on the player, who must turn in an accurate score.”

Mr Roberts said that hiring scorekeepers to accompany the golfers would not work because only the players know how many shots they have taken in the rough, or if they have incurred a penalty stroke. De Vicenzo's partner was T. Aaron, who gave the Argentinian a four on the seventeenth hole although de Vicenzo had a birdie three there. When the score was

totalled, it showed de Vicenzo with a 66 instead of the 65 he shot. De Vicenzo, upset over scoring a one-over on the eighteenth hole, signed the card and was ushered away for the final ceremonies. Then Aaron discovered the error, and de Vicenzo had to accept the score he signed for. That gave him a total of 278, one stroke more than Goalby’s 72-hole total.