AMERICAN SHATTERS COURSE RECORD Nicklaus opens big lead with superb 63

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32764, 15 November 1971, Page 24

AMERICAN SHATTERS COURSE RECORD Nicklaus opens big lead with superb 63

(N.Z.P. A. -Reuter—Copyright)

PALM BEACH. The American, J. Nicklaus, can set an individual scoring record and boost the United States to its eleventh win in 19 years when the World Cup golf championship ends today.

Nicklaus shattered the course record by four strokes when he carded an amazing nine-under-par 63 in the third round.

This performance put the burly American seven strokes ahead in the individual championship and lifted the i United States six strokes clear of South Africa in the team competition. And if Nicklaus can shoot [ 68 or better today he will; beat R. de Vicenzo’s indiIvidual record for the cham-| pionship of 269, which the] Argentinian set in Buenosj Aires last year. Nicklaus had a 16-under-

par total of 200 after three! rounds. G. Player (South j iAfrica) was second in the! race for the individual title,! on 207, and de Vicenzo was! third, on 210. Charles fourth i The New Zealander, R. J. I Charles, and Liang-Huan Lu! '(Taiwan) shared fourth position, at 213, and Charles’s partner, J. M. Lister, after a j magnificent 68 in the third ground, was on 214. L. Trevino, Nicklaus’s partner, carded a one-under 71, to leave the United States on 415—17 under par. South Africa, leader after the first two rounds, was on 421, New Zealand was third, on 427, and Argentina came next, on 431. England (433) was fifth.) Canada (434) sixth, and)

Taiwan and Australia (436), the holder, shared seventh place. South Africa lost ground to the Americans when Player, with a two-over, and H. Henning, with a one-over, were in trouble on the eighteenth hole. Player said: “We would have been in good shape if we had parred the last hole and gone into the final round three strokes back. But now we’re six behind . . . and that’s something else again.” But it was Nicklaus who starred on the day, and he shrugged off his recordbreaking effort on the 7086yard course with the comment: “It was just one of those putting rounds.” Nicklaus, playing with the smaller English ball—players have the option of using either the small or large ball in this international compe-

[tition —had only 25 strokes on the greens, scored 11 oneputts, and made his round on a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie burst, starting at the fifth, hole.

“Actually, I played better, yesterday," Nicklaus said, when he scored a 69. “I missed only one fairway in that round and had the ball closer to the hole. But this time the putts wenf in.” Trevino, troubled with his putting, had 71 for 215. “Jack is playing absolutely incredibly,” Trevino said. “I’m just dead weight. And I guess he’s feeling it.”