CHARLES PIPPED AT LAST POST Young American wins dramatic play-off

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33700, 25 November 1974, Page 32

CHARLES PIPPED AT LAST POST Young American wins dramatic play-off

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

In one of the most dramatic rags-to-riches chapters in the story of New Zealand sport, a 23-year-old American, B. Gilder, won the BP New Zealand Open golf championship at Shirley yesterday after a thrilling three-way tie with R. J. Charles (New Zealand)’ and J. Newton ’(Australia).

Gilder had his introduction to golf at the age of 10, but his knowledge of the professional game goes back only 18 months.

He failed to qualify, by four strokes, for the United States circuit a few weeks ago. In his first major tournament at Auckland last week, he shared last paying place and won $137.80.

But when the last act in the week-end’s drama was played, this affable young man showed skill and nerve which brought deserved success — and with his win went $3500. There has not been a New Zealand Open quite like it. There was a triple tie 37 years ago, and one of the players in it, A. J. Shaw, was there to watch yesterday. But golf today, with its high stakes and its pressures of publicity, almost certainly carries stronger stresses than it did before. And young Gilder made the eighteenth hole his own. They might even re-name it.

He holed a 15-foot putt there to force his way into the play-off, and then, when only he and Charles were left, he holed one there of some five feet, for another birdie and a great victory. Gilder’s charge to victory began late. A brilliant 68 in the third round on Saturday left him in second place, two strokes behind Newton. But with only seven holes to play yesterday, he was still four in arrears, and he had been borne on fortune’s wings, once or twice, to stay ■so close. Always behind He trailed Newton and Charles all the way to the last hole. By that time Charles, three behind at the start of the day, had caught and passed Newton. But Gilder was two behind the lean left-hander. Charles, ahead of the other two, drew his tee shot into the eighteenth hole rough and in pitching out, hit a down-slope inside the bunker and raced through to the trap which is overlooked by Shirley’s famous bay window, and the assembled knowledge which usually sits there. He came out wide, and he was a shade short with his 10-foot putt. Newton must have had horrid memories when he cut his final drive into the rough. Twice he had scored 5s at the hole. He pitched over the pot, and he too ran swiftly, but only to the far edge of the green. From 30 feet he left himself a putt of 12 inches to tie and holed it calmly. Firm and true The boyish-looking Gilder had to have a birdie to survive. His putt, from 15ft, was firm and true; and his delight was shared by the thousands grouped around the green. So to the three-way playoff, which started, because of the claims of commerce, on the sixteenth tee. There were three beautiful drives at the beginning of one of the major haggles of New Zealand golf: $l5OO separated third prize from first.

Gilder played a fine shot 22ft from the pin; Newton hooked a little and was through the green, 60ft from the hole; Charles’s iron landed a foot from the flag and ran on to the back of the green, 40ft away. All

three had testing final putts and sank them.

At 17, Charles was 20 yards in front, Gilder was in light rough. He played another fine aproach. The others, from distant parts of the green, had three-footers to match Gilder’s easy four. First to go Charles might well have dropped out there. His putt did a wall-of-death act round the perimeter, sat on the edge, and dropped reluctantly. Poor Newton, so often this year first out of the barrier, lipped out and retired. Charles had a marvellous chance when he hit a perfect 3-wood down the final fairway, for Gilder was in heavy rough, his ball deep in the thick grass. From there, he pitched just over the bunker —perhaps 2ft to spare—and his first bounce, from quite thick grass, was a high one, not flat. The ball obeyed the contours of the ground and turned in to stop about sft from the hole. That sand-iron will surely remain a treasured memory. But Charles, most unexpectedly, was much too strong. He went through the back of the green, and although he chipped soundly, Gilder was again sure with his putter. Alive putter Gilder played with Newton, and for all his restricted back-lift, was on terms and sometimes ahead of the strong Australian. His putter was much more alert and alive than some of the gallery who had watched the Rugby test; he holed a 14-footer at 4 for his first birdie. Then came a damaging passage. He dropped a shot at 6 and another at 7—where he was extraordinarily lucky he did not blow the tournament. This is a 235-yard par 3 and Gilder’s hooked iron struck the last tree before the left. The ball dropped, bounced, jumped the creek, reached the fairway side, and then ran far enough to take it clear of the hazard markings. When he dropped another shot at 10, he seemed almost out of contention, but he played out of thick rough at 14 to three feet and a birdie. Newton succumbed, just a

little, to the pressures of the last nine holes. He had some brilliant holes, some bad ones—he dropped shots five times, had three birdies. He asked, at the eighteenth, for course officials to tell him what Charles had done, and he had a meritorious 4, but he was not quite at his best. R. Shearer (Australia) was only three behind at the start of the day. He again played well, but had a frustrating time with putts which repeatedly slid just past the hole. P. W. Thomson, the greatest figure in the tournament, had a sad day. He began but four in arrears, and had beautiful birdies at 3 and 4.

But a sorry decline began after a good drive at the fifth. He was in a bad lie, and elected to try a 3-wood where lesser mortals would have seized an iron. He duffed the shot, dropped a stroke, and from that moment it was a round for him, and everyone else, to forget. Godfrey’s 67 The play-off is how the tournament will be remembered, but there was some great golf on the last two days. W. J. Godfrey won the award for the best round, with a five-under 67. He did not drop a stroke, his graphite driver worked magnificently, and he putted with wonderful touch. E. W. Dunk had a 68 on Saturday, S. Ginn a similar score yesterday. It was a great occasion, but all things are of passing fame. The talk at Shirley yesterday was not all on Gilder and Charles and Newton. Some of it was about the fixture, this week, at one of the country courses, between the clergy and the undertakers.