Rotorua pro. in form

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

Rotorua pro. in form

Under very trying! conditions, the young Rotorua professional, D. Clark, shot a remarkably fine round of 69 four strokes under the card—to establish a new course record and win the major prize in the Terry Kelso Pro-Am tournament at the Templeton Golf Club’s course yesterday.

On the same course in January, Clark has been successful in the Templeton Summer Open tournament. Clark described his round as a very solid one. His five birdies were scored after he had pitched accurately to the green and had left himself with short putts. The only hole on which he dropped a stroke was the 379 yard par--4 sixth. After pushing out his second shot, Clark chipped short and then missed the putt. In the amateur section, G. D. Brown fired a two-under-

par 71 to finish the tournament with a three-stroke advantage over South Canterbury’s R. C. Murray, who had occupied a similar place in last year’s event. Miss S. Hamilton was the best of the women golfers, scoring a 76. And her round was played in one of the later foursomes when conditions were at their worst.

Heavy rain fell persistently during the afternoon, and the sodden fairways brought the ball to an abrupt halt. Most of the greens carried sizeable puddles of water and made putting extremely difficult The course measures 6604 yards, but to many players I it must have seemed twice as ■ long, and, in fact, several i failed to play the full 18 I holes. For the small gallery of spectators who braved the elements, it was the foursome containing the American professional, J. Heard, the tournament organiser. T. F. Kelso, and two former Canterbury Freyberg Rose Bowl players, E. H. M. Richards and J. R. Broadhurst,

that captured most interest. Although all players did produce some shots of high quality, they counteracted these with an equal number of wayward ones. Heard, who was not relishing playing in the cold, driving rain, had to settle for a 78—the same score as Richards. Kelso completed his round in 77. The South African, S. Sewgolum, shot a useful round of 75. It was a good preparatory round for the Garden City Classic this week.

Top prefessionals scores were: 69 —Clark.

72 A. Cooper (Australia), P. Silton (New Zealand), L. Thomas (United States). 73 Caldwell, H. Kennedy (New Zealand. 74 L. Sharp (Australia), G. McHardy (New Zealand). 75 Sewgolum. ,76—8. G. Bent (Australia), B. C. Rafferty' (New Zealand), A. Snape (New Zealand). Top amateur scores were:— 171 —Brown. 74 R. C. Murray. 75 T. M. Stout, G, E. Nahkies. i 76 —R. P. Newburn, M. Strange, R. Wakefield, D. Beggs. 77—G. C. Saunders. The leading women were:— 176—Miss Hamilton. iBo—Miss M. Doherty. 82—Mrs N. D. Cullen.