PUNG AUSTRALIAN CLINGS ON TO LEAD Harvey survives after nightmare final round

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32473, 7 December 1970, Page 26

PUNG AUSTRALIAN CLINGS ON TO LEAD Harvey survives after nightmare final round

(By R. T. BRITTEN DEN)

A dream round on Saturday, a nightmare one yesterday—those were the experiences P. A. Harvey (New South Wales) had to survive before he won the Garden City Golf Classic at Russley, his second major tournament victory in three years of travelling professional golf’s hard road.

On Saturday, Harvey spread-eagled the field with a superbly skilful round of 64, a record for the present course. So he started the last round nine strokes ahead of his nearest rival; and two fine birdies at the two opening holes increased his lead.

But a poor tee shot at the fourth hole led to a ghastly two-over 6, and it seemed to serve as a reminder to this young player that he was fallible. And fallible he certainly was. For the rest of the round, it was a grim struggle for survival. Strokes were dropped regularly but just enough pars were made to keep him in front. With his loss of confidence and form came a succession of misfortunes, and the 64 of Saturday was an age away as he finally holed out in 79. And if he finished two shots clear of R. J. Charles (New Zealand) and R. Tuohy (South Africa), he had only one to spare as Tuohy reached the last green. Missed vital putt But Tuohy, bunkered with his second, failed to hole a putt of seven feet for his par. Harvey, who had sunk a very tricky downhill, curving putt of some seven feet at the seventeenth, in his Saturday manner, went to the last tee relieved to discover that he needed only a 5 to win. His drive was drawn a little much, but he banged his approach to the green and put a long approach putt pretty well dead.

So it was that although on Saturday night competitive interest in the tournament seemed almost extinct, it was very much alive all down the last afternoon. Harvey’s winning score, 281, was 11 under par, but nine strokes behind K. D. G. Nagle’s winning total last year. Yet the standard of golf this year was probably

better than in 1969. This time, the winds blew fiercely every day. But 17 players beat par, one more than last year, and three equalled it, compared with one. Course record Whenever this tournament is remembered, the talk will be about Harvey’s 64. Four years ago, T. J. Woolbank, of Australia, had a 63 in a Wills Classic, but since then there have been several alterations, notably at the tenth, which has been lengthened. So Harvey’s 64 is the course record. He gave an astonishing display in scoring it He missed the seventh green, and had an anxious putt of five feet for his par. There was a hooked drive at the seventeenth, and a hooked iron at the very difficult fifteenth, which is fully exposed to the wind.. Otherwise, his round was almost without fault. He set himself up with three birdies in the first six holes, dropped in an eagle putt from 35 feet at the ninth, and then had birdies at 11, 12 and 13, with a final one at the sixteenth.

To achieve these wonders, he produced a succession of splendid drives—one of the best, at the fourteenth, was 340 yards—he had his longer irons and approaches hitting and biting delightfully, and with a sensitive putting touch he allied a remarkable gift for reading the line to the hole correctly. Masterly round He looked absolutely astonished when he sank his putt at the ninth. Thereafter, each triumph produced a delightfully honest, infectious grin, especially at the eleventh hole, where he was above the cup, and 14 feet away. The ball trickled its way to the hole and sat briefly before falling in. Out in 32, home in 32; it was the round of a master. He had 28 putts.

There was reason to believe that such a lead would give him sufficient confidence to produce another good round. And he started his last one so well that this seemed even more likely. He drove the first green, the hole measuring 338 yards, and although he was woefully short with his approach putt, his last doubts should nave been resolved when he dropped in one of 14 feet for the birdie. On to the 470yard second—for him, a 4wood and an 8-iron, before

a putt which almost gave him an eagle from some 15 feet. Again at the third, a splendid tee shot, a putt which lipped the cup. But a hooked drive at the fourth set far more problems for him than had seemed possible. He was restricted in swing, made a poor attempt at the chip out, hit a wild third, chipped back so strongly he was almost in a bunker, and had a 6. Some bad luck, too There is no need to record his misdemeanours after that. But most of them were attributable to a quite vicious hook with his longer irons as well as his woods, and some to sheer bad luck. At the fourteenth, his second ran in behind a tree, and hard up against it, so he was stymied and had to reverse an iron and hit it back into play lefthanded. Twice balls which hit trees bounced back to Russley’s lush fairway grass, but Harvey was also handicapped by an attack of bleeding in the nose, which started on the fifteenth tee. To his eternal credit, he holed that putt at the seventeenth, but it was a relieved young man who learned that Tuohy, just ahead, had taken a five at the last hole.

Tuohy, the Australian-born South African, came into contention with a fine 69 on Saturday, and he had his chances yesterday. He was in close touch with Harvey’s progress behind him, but he, like the other leaders, could not mount the charge needed. Charles has 70s Charles, with two 70s, shared second place with him. He started the final round most unconvincingly, and as news of Harvey.’s collapse became known, so did Charles’s prospects improve. He was 11 shots behind with only 18 holes to go, but the rhythm of his game was restored to him, and he had birdies at the fifth and sixth, then at the twelfth and thirteenth.

But his effort ended on the fifteenth, where he threeputted, and he finished with nothing more spectacular than three pars. One of the week-end’s finest rounds was G. V. Marsh’s 67 on Saturday, for he did not get the birdies at the obvious places, the par-s’s as the others did fairly regularly. W. J. Godfrey had a fine 68 on Saturday and there were touches of the authentic P. W. Thomson in a- round of 69. He still hits the ball beautifully, but the putts will not drop for him. Woolbank was another who broke 70, and so was F. Phillips, who started the final round with three birdies. But T. Weiskopf, <he pretournament favourite, finished well down. He was in form for a while on Saturday but let chances slip, and he finished with 70. Yesterday, some back-hander putts

which missed helped him up to 75. And the great Nagle fell away further with a 76 yesterday. His back troubled him badly on the last two days. Another favoured player, J. M. Lister, could not get to grips with his game for long, and spoiled a fine third round with some three-putting. The best of the amateurs were R. M. Barltrop and R. C. Murray; Miss P. Dudding finished at the head of the six women players.