Unknowns lead men’s golf

Press, 20 October 1976, Page 38

Unknowns lead men’s golf

PA New Ply-mouth Two relatively unknown golfers, Pat Carrigan (Grange. Auckland ) and John Thomson (Waikare, Waikato , led the field after the first qualify ing round of the New Zealand men’s amateur golf championships at the New Plymouth Golf Club’s Ngamotu links yesterday.

Carrigan (23) made light of the tricky winds that fooled most of the others to score a three-under par 69 and Thomson (29) scored 70. The 18-y ear-old Harewood golfer. Stephen Street, was well up. in a bunch of six who scored 73. Some of the more favoured players were unable to cope with the winds that shifted direction three times during the day and the thick rough that many were unable to avoid. Sharing third place were the Wellington representative, Chris Alldred (Hutt) and the Hawke’s Bay representative, Kim Soiitherden 'Napier), with one under par 71s. Southerden (23) made up dr a poor start, when he ,vas four over par after two toles, to finish birdie, par, drdie, eagle. His eagle three vas at the final hole, when vith a following wind, he lit’ a five iron to the elevated green and sank a 20oot putt. Greg White (Wellington) vas alone at even par 72 md was followed by a runch of six on 73 including ?hil Reid (Muriwai), who von the foursomes title on Monday. Stephen Street, .vho finished with two birdes, the Wanganui one-handi-capper, Neil Gaskin, former Taranaki No. 1 Rai Pease (Hawera), Barry Laurence (Tahuna), a Waikato Freyberg Rose Bowl player, and another 18-year-old, Allan Smith (Te Aroha), a New Zealand junior representative this season. Smith scored five birdies during his round and could have been two strokes better but for an out-of-bounds at the seventeenth. The two recent former title-holders, Rodney Barltrop (Miramar) and Mike Nicholson (Tauranga), struggled to keep within reach of the leaders. Barltrop was not too badly placed on 76 while Nicholson, who had one brilliant i patch with four birdies within five holes, faded to 79. The second qualifying ] round will be played today • and the top 64 scorers qua!- < ify for the match play chain- ‘ pionship starting tomorrow. There are 120 in the field. s So far there are 72 play- < ers with 79 or better. - j R. I. Donaldson, of Greymouth, scored a creditable 76 while the two other South Island golfers were further i down, with N. Horgan (Hare- ' wood) on 81 and R. K. Hazel- ‘ dine (Hokitika) on 84. The leader, Pat Carrigan, a * sales representative, said that <

She gained in confidence as his round progressed. But it was not until the par three fourteenth hole, which he birdied to go two under par. that he really felt good about his game. He got his first birdie at ithe par three sixth, his second at the par five seventh but dropped a shot at the par five tenth, to be only one under the card. After his birdie at the fourteenth he parted the remaining holes until the eighteenth (par five'-, when he easily made the green in two and finished with a comfortable birdie It is only Carrigan’s second national championships.