DRAMATIC FINISH TO CLASSIC Miller "steals” 1st prize with 16ft, 40ft putts

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33078, 20 November 1972, Page 24

DRAMATIC FINISH TO CLASSIC Miller "steal s” 1st prize with 16ft, 40ft putts

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN.

The 25-year-old American, J. Miller, in a “sudden-death” play-off, dramatically won the Otago Charity Golf Classic — the opening tournament on the 1972 New Zealand circuit — at St Clair yesterday, after appearing to have cast away his chance by three-putting the 71st hole.

But the fair-haired American, who then went to the last hole one stroke behind Lu Lianghuan (Taiwan), retrieved everything with two fantastic putts, of 16ft and 40ft. Miller, who was playing immediately behind Lu, was among the huge crowd at the eighteenth green, after having played his drive, and watched the Taiwanese miss what would have been a tournament-winning birdie putt by an inch, but safely score a par-4. Miller carefully stepped out the distance from the green to his ball, and then delicately chipped to 16ft from the hole — almost the identical distance Lu’s had been. Putted to tie To a roar from the crowd, the American steered his putt into the hole, leaving himself and Lu tied on 281. Both went to the first hole to start the “sudden-death” play-off, and Lu hit his tee shot straight up the centre;

the longer-driving Miller found the right-hand rough. The Taiwanese played first, and put the pressure on Miller with a fine approach shot which bit sharply and finished 15 feet from the cup. Miller’s approach looked good but it was hit short and checked sharply, leaving the American a 40ft putt. Past mistake Later, Miller said his intention was to lay the putt as close as possible, and not to overrun the hole by four or five feet as he did against J. Nicklaus in the Bing Crosby tournament earlier this year., Instead, Miller "read” the right-to-left borrow perfectly, and his long putt dropped neatly into the hole. The bewildered Lu now found that he had to putt to save the tournament — one that he felt he had won on the 72nd. He recovered his poise quickly, joked with the large gallery, and then became all serious as he took up his putting stance. But the ball shaved the hole, and the event was all over. Returned to U.S. Miller collected the first prize of $3OOO, and soon afterwards he and J. Heard caught a plane to return to Los Angeles. Lu had to be content with the $2400 second prize. This was Miller’s first victory for more than a year, since he won the Southern Open in Georgia. He said of it: “The wierdest things happen when it is your turn to win.” There was a three-way tie for third place, between G. V. Marsh (Australia), Hsieh Min-nan (Taiwan), and the top New Zealander, T. C. Kendall. Each won $1466.66. One shot back was the 1971 Australian P.G.A. champion, E. W. Dunk, while the veteran Australian, K. D. G. Nagle, and Heard were equal sixth on 285. Had his troubles Before his spectacular finish, Miller’s putting in the final round had not been impressive. He had an eagle 3 at the tenth with a 4ft putt, but three-putted the fourteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth. Lu made an unimpressive beginning to his fourth round, three-putting the first for a one-over five. However, he regained this shot with a birdie at the second. He parred the fourth and the fifth, but a good chip at the sixth gave him his second birdie.

He followed two further pars with birdies on the ninth and tenth, but three-putted the eleventh. He had five consecutive pars, but his drive at the seventeenth found the right-hand trees and he failed to recover, dropping a vital stroke. The most threatening performance to the leaders came from Kendall, who began his round by sinking a 40ft putt on the first for a birdie three. He had another birdie at the fourth, followed this with two pars, and joined the leaders when he sank a 15-footer for a birdie at the sixth. However, a wayward drive cost him a stroke at the ninth and he dropped another at the thirteenth when he was deceived by a cross headwind.

He picked this up with a birdie four at the fourteenth, despite having to explode from a green-side bunker, and remained two under until the eighteenth green when he carelessly three-putted from 15ft. Marsh “blew” his chance of a tournament victory when he went out in 38 in the final round, while Hsieh, despite a fine 69 yesterday, had lost all chance of a win with a 73 on Saturday. The tournament will be one R. J. Charles and J. M. Lister will wish to forget; they shared equal eleventh place, on 288, with the young Australian professional, I. Stanley. Charles, who was only one stroke behind the leaders after the third round, had a disastrous 78 yesterday.