Kendall 3 Ahead Of Charles After Record 63

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31881, 8 January 1969, Page 20

Kendall 3 Ahead Of Charles After Record 63

(New Zealand Press Association)

TAURANGA.

A record 10-under-par 63 yesterday after his first round of 69 gave the 21-year-old Manor Park professional, T. Kendall, the lead at the half-way stage of the Stars Travel P.G.A. tournament, at Mount Maunganui.

Kendall is three strokes ahead of R. J. Charles, and J. Lister (Timaru) is two strokes back in third place.

Kendall, who started the day a shot behind Charles, beat the record of 64 set by R. Newdick in 1966, and equalled by T. Jacklin in 1967.

In contrast to the driving rain of the first day. the second round yesterday was played in fine weather.

Kendall’s effort narrowed to only three strokes the margin between him and Lister in the competition for the New Zealand World Cup team place with Charles. Lister started the day seven strokes in front of Ken-, dall in the cup place competition but his six-under 67, the same as Charles’s, only just allowed him to stay in front and much will depend on whether Kendall can maintain this pace. Kendall’s card yesterday read.—Out: 3,4, 4,3, 4,4, 4, 3, 2—31. In: 4,4, 4,3, 2,4, 4, 3, 4—32.

He started with a birdie on the first, fifth, and sixth and then on the eighth played a five-iron down the middle of the 496 yd par-5, and then sank a 15ft putt for his eagle. He had another long putt on the fourteenth when he sank a 25ft putt for a two. Kendall followed his eagle

with a birdie on the next hole and then on the second nine had birdies on the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth and just needing par figures for the rest of the course realised these without any apparent trouble. Costly Shot

F. Malloy’s wonderful early spurt crashed on the last two holes. He was eight under at the sixteenth when he took a four-iron on the short seventeenth, hit his shot off the green, costing a shot to get back.

On the eighteenth he threeputted, finding the new green hard to read.

The young Rotorua professional, D. Clark, showed considerable improvement with a 66 yesterday, seven under, to share third place with Malloy and ensure that New Zealanders held the first five places in the tournament, something not often seen in the New Zealand circuit, before the present series.

Then came a trio of Australians on 141, one shot behind, these being A. A. Murray, R. Stanton, and S. Peach, the latter having a particularly good round.

The top amateur, S. Jones, played his usual consistent game for a par round to end on 144, two shots ahea' of B. Rafferty (Hutt) who had 69, the best effort by an amateur in this tournament.

P. Hart, the young Australian professional who came

into the second round coleader with Charles, also slipped out of the reckoning especially after the sixth, a par-5 hole which took him seven strokes In the women’s competition for the Bay of Plenty Times Gold Bracelet, Miss H. Booth, the British match play titleholder, led with 162, after her round of 77, the best by any of the women in the tournament yesterday. The cut-off for the field was 153, and 52 players qualified. The women will continue their own private contest today, too.

Dockyard Plan.—A Lisbon shipyard plans to build a dry dock capable of handling ships up to 750,000 tons, it was announced today. The yard already has the largest dry dock in Europe, for vessels up to 300,000 tons.—Lisbon, Jan. 7.