Disaster for Charles—and winning bid halted

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32794, 20 December 1971, Page 26

Disaster for Charles—and winning bid halted

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. A disastrous two-over six on the seventeenth hole by R. J. Charles robbed the City of Auckland golf tournament of a thrilling finish yesterday.

It enabled G. B. Wolstenhohne to withstand Charles’s bold effort in the final round and win the tournament and first prize of $2500 by three strokes. Charles, who was within two strokes of Wolstenhohne with only two holes to play, slipped back to third place, and the runner-up was J. Phillips (Australia). Wolstenhome, the leader by five strokes after the third day’s -play on Saturday, was content to play par golf yesterday, and dropping strokes on the sixth and eighteenth holes, he finished with a twoover 73, for a four-round total of 275. Charles, seven strokes from the lead, immediately let it be seen that he had not given up the chase. He parred the first, and then with a brilliant recovery shot from trees on the left of the fairway, birdied the second to pull back a stroke. Another par followed, and then he recovered from a bunker on the fourth and sank a 4ft birdie putt. On the next hole he was again in a bunker, did not recover as well, and dropped a stroke, but he made up for this lapse with an Bft putt on the sixth and a 7-footer on the seventh. However, he had one-overs at the next two holes—his bunker shot at the eighth

rolling 14ft past the pin and his par putt at the ninth running round the lip of the cup and had to be content with a bogey.

,Now five strokes behind, Charles looked doomed, but fie did not give up. A 3ft putt on the tenth gave him back another stroke and more birdies came on the twelfth—-after a grand recovery shot from a bunker—and

the thirteenth after a 12ft eagle chip just missed. Now only two behind, Charles played par golf until the seventeenth when his drive ended in a hedge and his recovery shot landed in a bunker. He then two-putted for his two-over, and he was one over again on the eighteenth when his drive once more stopped in trees. Phillips, yrho had led after two rounds, went out one under with two birdies, and he looked a danger with two birdies in the first three holes of the second nine. He dropped a stroke however, at the short fifteenth, and then finished in par to collect the second prize of $l9OO. STEADY FINISH The first-round leader, D. Ingram (Australia) had two final rounds of 71 and shared fourth money with the consistent P. W. Thomson. The race for the amateur prize was tense, three finishing on 293—R. Gillespie’ (Remuera), the New Zealand junior champion, M. Nichol-

son (Tauranga), and R. Barltrop /Wellington). Tournament officials went .to rule books to sort out the winner. They decided to give it to the man with the best round—and all three had the some figure, 70. Next they decided it would go to the man with the best final round —and Gillespie and Nicholson both had a 70 yesterday. Finally, the organisers decided on the man with the best final nine on the first round—and Gillespie got the decisions with 35 against Nicholson’s 40.

Softball.—Auckland beat Waikato. 5-1, after a series of fielding errors by Waikato in the third innings allowed it to overcome K. Herlihy’s pitching. E. Kohlasse and P. Rogers were the best Auckland players.