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Kendall has 30ft putt to tie with Briton

(New Zealand Pre.. Association; WELLINGTON. The 23-year-old Palmerston North professional, T. L. Kendall, and the Briton, M. Bembridge, on Saturday shared the first tournament on the season’s New Zealand golf circuit, the Caltex $7OOO at Paraparaumu.

The unassuming Kendall sank a 30ft putt for an eagle on the eighteenth in a spectacular recovery after the title had seemed certain to go to Bembridge.

It enabled Kendall to create Only the third tie for the first place in the 16-year-old tournament. Kendall and Bembridge, who had his first win of the year, and his first in New Zealand on his fourth visit, finished with 72-hole totals of 286 (two over par). QUEENSLAND WINNER The 1969 New Zealand P.G.A. title was Kendall’s first major success, and earlier this year he won the Quensland Open. Kendall and Bembridge also

broke the stranglehold on the tournament in recent years fay K. D. G. Nagle, P. W. Thomson and R. J. Charles. But although Nagle and Thomson were eighth equal on 292, there was certainly no suggestion in their play last week that they will not be strong contenders for the New Zealand Open at The Grange, Auckland, this week. SIGNS OF STRAIN Kendall, who played with Bembridge over the final 36 holes, began to show signs of strain early in the last round, after he had increased his Overnight lead of one stroke to thaee in the morning. He dropped shots at the third and fourth holes, and when Bembridge sank a birdie putt at the fifth, Kendall’s lunch-time lead had disappeared. Then, Kendall, who putted badly on the last day, needed only a par at the ninth to go two ahead, but to the astonishment of the gallery he missed from 2jft. While Bembridge hung on tenaciously, Kendall looked to be letting the situation slip away when he threeputted the twelfth. BEMBRIDGE AHEAD They were all square at the thirteenth, and for the first time in the tournament Bembridge took the lead when he won the hole with a par-four to a one-over five. When Kendall allowed Bembridge to inctease his advantage to two at the parthree fourteenth, the tournament looked all over. But Bembridge played a weak second at the seventeenth, which failed to reach the green, and a par by Kendall was sufficient to clip Bembridge’s lead to one. Then came Kendall’s magnificent eagle putt at the last hole, which Bembridge, try as he might, could not emulate, and he had to be satisfied with a birdie and a tie. While Kendall and Bembridge captured most of the attention, an almost unnoticed Australian, G. Marsh, went close to upsetting both. MISSED SHORT PUTT Going into the final round, the 27-year-01d Marsh was on 218, three behind Bembridge and six away from Kendall. But when Bembridge bounded to his two stroke lead with four holes to play and Marsh birdied the sixteenth to go two under the card, the Australian, was only a stroke behind the tournament leader.

In fact, Kendall was in third place at that stage but Marsh spoiled his tourna-ment-winning prospects on the seventeenth when he missed a 3ft putt for his par. Marsh, who played the round with hardly a spectator for most of the way, birdied the eighteenth to finish with a two-under 69. He spfent sev-

eral anxious minutes waiting for Kendall and Bembridge to finish but in the end had to concede (Jefeat by one stroke. “I missed too many short putts to win the tournament,” he said. “It was one of those days. Had I been able to sink a few more putts, I would have had a superb round.” .

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19701123.2.210

Bibliographic details

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 26

Word Count
614

Kendall has 30ft putt to tie with Briton Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 26

Kendall has 30ft putt to tie with Briton Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 26