DRAMATIC FINISH TO P.G.A. TITLE Kendall Wins Place In World Cup Golf Team

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31882, 9 January 1969, Page 8

DRAMATIC FINISH TO P.G.A. TITLE Kendall Wins Place In World Cup Golf Team

(New Zealand Press Association! TAURANGA. The 21-year-old Manor Park professional, T. Kendall, scored a dramatic win in the Stars Travel New Zealand P.G.A. championship at Mount Maunganui yesterday. In a tense finish, he won by one stroke from R. J. Charles and J. M. Lister, who tied for second place.

Kendall had rounds of 69, 63, 70, and 72, for a 72-hole total of 274. He needed a four on the eighteenth to win the tournament.

His second went through the green, but he chipped back and sank the putt to a burst of cheering from the big gallery.

ing birdies in the latter stages to move up to share second place with Lister when he finished his round. Kendall and Lister had halved the seventeenth, and at the last hole Kendall’s ball bounced through the green and into the rough, while

Lister played a perfect second on to the green. Kendall lifted out of what had been a flooded area the previous day and dropped the ball. He played a copybook chip back to the green, finishing 4ft from the pin. The pressure was then on Lister, ■ who had a putt of about 25ft, but his ball /an past the hole and he had to be content with a four. His only hope was that Kendall would miss his putt on a green that throughout the tournament had been noted for causing difficulties. However, as he had in each round on this green. Kendall lined up the shot and sank it. “That was the longest fourfooter I can remember,” he said. His win was marked by a tremendous cheer for the young player, who is going off to campaign in Australia for the next 10 months, was a most popular winner. Lister, who played consistent golf throughout the two tournaments and once again had to be content with second —he was runner-up to Charles in the Spalding Masters—said later that he had tried everything to put the pressure on Kendall and make him crack. “The tougher things went, the better he played. What can you do with a player like that?" he asked.

Kendall not only won the title, but he also took a cheque for 8750, a ticket to Singapore to accompany Charles in the New Zealand World Cup team, and the double of the course record of 63, which he set on the second day, and the fourround tourney record. Charles, who won the special prize of $250 for the best aggregate score over the four rounds of last week's Spalding Masters and this week’s Stars Travel tournament, had rounds of 68. 67, 71, 69.

Lister, pipped on the post by Kendall for the World Cup team, scored 70, 67, 69, 69. Lister’s Consolation

The top amateur was B. Rafferty, who finished on 283 in fifth place. The Australian professional, R. J. Stanton, was fourth with 281. Lister’s main consolation in finishing in equal second place was that he forceC Kendall to produce his best golf. In fact, at the eighteenth, with the last three players— Kendall, Lister and D. Clark (Rotorua)—coming in, it looked as though there would be a three-way tie, which would have forced a further round today. Kendall, who had been playing outstanding golf, on the fourteenth had a threestroke advantage over Lister but on the fifteenth Lister regained a shot, and at the next hole Kendall dropped one to make the margin only one.

In the meantime, Charles was still in the picture, scor-