KENDALL IS NEW GOLF LEADER South African scores 86, then disqualified

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32460, 21 November 1970, Page 48

KENDALL IS NEW GOLF LEADER South African scores 86, then disqualified

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON.

The overnight leader, the 22-year-old South African, R. Cole, capped B6 in the second round of the $7OOO Caltex golf tournament at Paraparaumu yesterday by getting himself disqualified.

The lead passed to the New Zealander, T. Kendall, whose second round of 73 put him on 143, one stroke ahead of the Australian, F. Phillips. M. Bembridge (Britain) was one stroke further back.

sional, W. G. Godfrey, recorded the only sub-par round of the day, a two-under 69. But with an ounce of luck at the par-three fifteenth, Godfrey would have come home in sensational figures in conditions totally unsuitable for good scoring. The wind blew from the south-west, as against the north-east on the first day, making the course entirely different. On occasions, the ball was moving as players lined up putts. But Godfrey had six birdies in the first nine holes to turn in a re-cord-equalling 29. He did drop shots at 11 1 and 13, but he still seemed : likely to card a great round until the fifteenth. He hit a good tee shot, the ' ball landing about six inches ' to the right of the green, but 1 it then rolled down a fairly ■ steep bank. Seven for hole From long grass it took Godfrey a further three shots . to get on the green—and then he three-putted from 10ft for a seven. “I would not have minded had I hit a bad tee shot, but to watch a good one roll down the bank was terrible,” Godfrey said. Godfrey began with four successive birdies, sinking putts from 20, 6, 15 and 25 feet. Nagle and Thomson both had 74s but are handily placed to make a winning burst over the final 36 holes today. Professionals on 161 or better qualified for the final two rounds and amateurs on 157 or better.

On Thursday, the bigchitting Cole led the field with a three-under 68. Y’esterday, he could not master the difficult conditions and collapsed to 15 over. And then he was told he had been disqualified. Thinking his second shot on the twelfth was out of bounds, Cole hit a provisional ball. Unable to find his original ball, he continued with his provisional one but subsequently found his first ball. Under the rules of golf, a player can only play another shot with his provisional when his original ball has been declared either lost or out of bounds. Happened before Cole reported the matter to tournament officials immediately after his round, and

they had no option but to disqualify him. “I was disqualified under similar circumstances once in South Africa,” Cole said later. “It’s just bad luck really.” Commenting on his round, Cole said: “I played really badly. Almost every shot 1 had was the wrong club on the day, and I putted terribly: I had 40 putts.” Following Bembridge aftei two rounds was the defending champion, K. D. G. Nagle who was bracketed with a fellow Australian, G. Marsh, on 146. They were one stroke ahead of the Englishman, P. Beames, and another of the tournament favourites, P. W. Thomson.

The erratically brilliant, 29-year-old New Zealand profes-