Casper Has Record Round, Charles Equal 2nd

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31730, 13 July 1968, Page 15

Casper Has Record Round, Charles Equal 2nd

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

CARNOUSTIE.

The heavy-weight Californian golfer, W. Casper, who is on a weight-reducing diet, tamed the long, tough 7252-yard Carnoustie links with a record score of 68 in the second round of the British Open championship yesterday.

Casper, aged 37, shot to the front by four strokes as the qualifying axe dropped on 59 players, including four Australians— R. Vines, T. Woolbank, S. Peach and N. von Nida.

“teeth” yesterday as the strong winds which pushed up the first round scores gave way to milder, warmer weather.

South African, G. Player, had a 71 for 145, A. Palmer improved with a 71 for 148, and the defending champion, R. de Vicenzo, had a par round for a 149. Sharing fifth position on 145 is a little known Irishman, P. Skerritt, with rounds of 72 and 73. Of the Australians, P. W. Thomson enjoyed the easier conditions with a one-under--71, to be bracketed with five other players on 148 and to come back into the reckoning. He is one stroke ahead of K. D. G. Nagle (74, 75) and B. Coxon (77, 72) on 149, followed by B. Devlin (77, 73), R. Shaw (75, 76), and F. Phillips, who scraped in on 154 (81, 73). Among the first round leaders, M. J. Bonallack, the British amateur champion, slumped with a 77 for a 147, and M. Bembridge (Britain) had a 75, for 146. The American, G. Brewer, shot a second round 73 for a 147, but other Americans, B. Yancey 153 (78. 75) and D. Sanders 154 (78, 76), are struggling. After the third round the field will be cut from 70 to 45 for the final 18 holes.

Casper’s 68 was a record for the slightly longer course. “I like to be out in front and let the other players catch me," he said. The American methodically showed the field how to play Carnoustie. He took only 28 putts. Casper’s record round moved him a step closer to be-

Seventy players will continue in the third round, the qualifying score of 155 being the highest in the British Open for 21 years. Sharing second place, on 144, are the New Zealander, R. J. Charles, the first-round leader, B. Barnes (Britain), and the leading British professional, T. Jacklin. Charles, the winner in 1963, had his second score of 72. Yesterday he went out in 37 after playing short on the 475yard ninth and dropping a shot He birdied the thirteenth when he hit a seven-iron 15ft from the pin and sank the putt for his two. At the fourteenth he reached the edge of the green in two and took two putts for a birdie four. Charles dropped a shot on the difficult last hole when he drove into the bum, dropped out, and took six to get down. Casper, twice winner of the United States Open, is the top money-winner on the American circuit this season. He has won $115,716. Carnoustie was without its

coming only the third American to win the British Open at his first attempt. The first was B. Hogan, at Carnoustie in 1953, and the second was A. Lerna at St Andrew’s in 1964.

Of the other top contenders, J. Nicklaus pulled in seven strokes with a three-under-69, for a 145 total. The

Flax Gifts.—A plaited flax kit will be presented to each member of the French Rugby side when it visits Taranaki next week. The kits, which can be used to carry Rugby gear in. are being made in Maori fashion.