SPECTACULAR RECOVERY BY TREVINO Nicklaus 2-1 winner in memorable finish

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 26

SPECTACULAR RECOVERY BY TREVINO Nicklaus 2-1 winner in memorable finish

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON.

Jack Nicklaus, five holes up with only nine to play, resisted a great rally by Lee Trevino to beat him 2 and 1 in the all-American 36-hole final of the Piccadilly world match-play golf championship on Saturday.

The pair waged a tremendous battle over the tough Wentworth course, and in the 35 holes the match lasted, 26 birdies and three eagles were registered.

The victory was worth $12,522 to Nicklaus, and the final stages of the match were reminiscent to the play-off of this year’s British open championship.

Then, Nicklaus was four strokes ahead of Doug Sanders after 14 holes and won

by a stroke on the eighteenth. Trevino, a wise-cracking player and one of the biggest crowd-pullers in international golf, collected $7393. Eight under par

Nicklaus played magnificently in the morning round, covering the 6997-yards course in an eight-under-par 66 to Trevino’s 69. He raced to the turn in 32 in the second round, but his game deteriorated for a spell as Trevino staged his great come-back.

Helped by birdies which won him the sixteenth and seventeenth, Nicklaus ended the first round three up. Trevino took the nineteenth with an eagle three, but Nicklaus captured the twenty-third and the twenty-fifth, where he had a lucky break. His second shot hit a man on the shoulder at the back of the green and rebounded to within 7ft of the pin. Then Trevino, in a pond with his second, conceded the twentysixth hole to go five down. Almost an ace Then came Trevino’s sudden revival. He won the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirty-first and the short thirty-second where he missed the pin by only 18in with a great tee shot, and was only one down. Nicklaus retaliated with an eagle three at the next but lost the thirty-fourth to a birdie three. Finally, Trevino hit a wild drive at the thirtyfifth which ended his chance. With the excitment rising rapidly in the huge crowd, the match ended in anticlimax as Trevino lashed his tee shot at the thirty-fifth out of bounds. Nicklaus played safe with iron shots off the tee and the fairway, and Trevino conceded the hole and the match. Luck played part Both players said afterwards that the lucky rebound for Nicklaus at the twentyfifth was the turning point. “The whole match could have gone the other way,” Nicklaus said, adding: “Lee made me go, and he played very well.” “I am glad to have made a fight of it,” Trevino commented. “I played better this week than I have played in my life.” In the semi-finals on Friday, Nicklaus took command over Tony Jacklin, British holder of the United States open title, in the afternoon round to beat him 5 and 4, and Trevino played brilliant golf all the way to crush his fellow American, Dave Stockton, 7 and 6.

Trevino had figures of 11 under par for the 30 holes played in his semi-final, and afterwards Stockton, who has beaten R. J. Charles in the first round, commented: “He made no mistakes, and every time he hit a putt, it either went in or looked like going

With Jacklin playing badly, Nicklaus cruised into the final by just waiting for the winning holes to come. Jacklin won only .six holes in the match—all gained through mistakes by Nicklaus rather than by good play himself.