Good takes golf open after 278 play-off

Press, 24 October 1977, Page 24

Good takes golf open after 278 play-off

From R. T. BRITTEN DEN in Auckland . A curling metre-long putt in a sudden-death pay-off put the $15,000 first prize in the New Zealand Airlines-Shell golf open into the pocket of a man who was told three years ago that he could not play golf again and should find some other way to make a living.

Success at Titirangi yesterday was a special triumph for David Good, who beat Billy Dunk at the first extra hole after they had tied with four-round scores of 278, two under par.

In 1974, when playing in South-East Asia, Good, aged 29, contracted viral arthritis so severely that he had to crawl to his morning showet. He was in severe pain, the disease affecting ail parts of his body, but particularly the arms, hands ind shoulders.

He attributes his recovery chiefly to meeting a professor of acupuncture who had studied in China. Seven treatments had him on the mend and yesterday his courageous fight for fitness brought a magnificent regard.

It was quite the most important success in the career of the popular Tasmanian. But it came only after a disastrous string of mistakes in the final round and an squally spectacular recovery.

It came, too, at the end of one of the most exciting major tournaments ever played in New Zealand. Before the final round began, four strokes covered a dozen slayers.

During the afternoon, the field concertinad dramatically and, at one stage, the lead was shared by six players all one under the card.

If Good had putting trouble and seemed to have lost his chance of victory, so did the others. The playing of two rounds on the final day did not allow time for pin replacements and, although there must have been some advantage in this in judging distances, the greens became quite bobbly with Dersistent wear.

The leader after three rounds was the dapper Stewart Ginn, whose morning 70 left him one ahead of Chris Witcher, Graham Marsh, Good, and John Lister, with Bob Shearer and Greg Hohnen one shot further back.

First Ginn went overboard, quite abruptly. Good went to the front with an eagle at five and it was a deserved advance, for he had putted calmly and ably all day without getting anything significant to drop for him. He three-putted the next

one, holed a good one for a birdie at seven, but then had a horrifying run. He threeputted eight, 10, 11, and 12. He said later that when he put his second on the green at the other par five, the twelfth, he felt that there was every prospect of another three-putt. But he got this one close, had his birdie, and his confidence returned. “Until then 1 could not see light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. It came quickly — a two at the short fourteenth from 12m, one of the rare birdies at this difficult hole. He saved his par at 17 with a firm putt of sm.

Apart from that patch of putting worries, Good played immaculate golf.

In the 36 holes, he missed the fairway but once. It seemed that he, like the others, had shied away from the prospect of victory as it appeared. The tournament favourite, Marsh, was with Good and, although he himself was struggling, he found the leader coming back to him steadily.

Marsh made a determined effort to take his third successive tournament. He was desperately unlucky. At 14, 15, and 16, his birdie putts hit squarely and jumped to the back of the cup.

Little wonder he dropped out with a three putt at 17 after such frustrations.

The bespectacled Dunk, winner of more than 100 tournaments and one of the smallest players in the field, played superbly organised golf to turn in two 68s yesterday.

He was in the clubhouse with his two-under total as Good tried for a 4m putt and outright victory. It missed minutely. It was highly delightful fare, all of it, for the crowd of 5000 which watched in pleasant sunshine. Titirangi, among the most handsome of New Zealand courses, came out of it very well — there was quiet satisfaction there that pre-tournament scoring predictions had been confounded. Perhaps there were putting problems yesterday but the main contribution to modest scoring came from a fresl. southerly wind. It tightened the three easy

opening holes, where there had been many birdies earlier, and it converted the twelfth in particular, into a most testing assignment. This is 415 metres long and the green is very hard to get at. Titirangi is usually played as a 72 but two of its long holes were made fours for this tournament. A fair-haired young American, Bob Byman, had a fine 68 in the last round to share third place with Marsh, the powerful Greg Norman and Bob Shearer, Burgess blew his chance at the par 5 thirteenth, where he had an 8 after getting himself into a patch of gully fern and an impossible lie. Witcher went when he fourputted the short fourth for a 5 and Lister dropped out at the long fifth. He was desperately unlucky for his drive was straight and true. But it rolled over a mound and headed off the fairway, requiring him to cut his next shot if he was to get the green for the birdie this hole is expected to yield. He hit a long iron but the cut did not come and his ball raced through an entrance gate and out of bounds in a road. He finished on 285 and was the best of the New Zealanders. Scores:

278: D. Good (Aust.). 69 , 68, 71, 70: W. Dunk (Aust.), 73. 69, 68, 68. 280: B. Byman (U.S.), 73, 70, 69, 68; G. Norman (Aust.). 72, 69, 70, 69: G. Marsh (Aust.), 66, 70, 72, 72; R. Shearer (Aust.). 70. 72, 67, 71. 281: T. McDonald (Aust.). 74, 69, 71. 67; B. Burgess (Aust.). 67. 71. 72. 71. 282: C. Witcher (Aust.), 73, 66. 69. 74: T. Gale (Aust.). 70. 71. 72. 69. 283: G. Wolstenholme (Aust.). 71. 72, 70, 70 284: S. Ginn (Aust.), 71. 66. 70, 77. 285: J. Clifford (Aust.), 67. 71, 73. 74; J. Newton (Aust.), 72, 71, 71, 71; J. Lister (N.Z.). 69. 69, 70. 77. 286: A. Geiberger (U.S.). 68, 70. 75. 73; M. Morlev (U.S.), 72. 72, 70, 72; N. Ratcliffe (Aust.), 72, 74. 71, 69; S. Owen (N.Z.), 69. 72. 72. 287: P. Headland (Aust.), 76, 69. I 70. 72; P. Hart (Aust.), 68. 73, 71. 75: R. Wood (Aust.), 69. 73. 75. 70. 288: J Benda (Aust.), 73, 73. 72, 70. . 289: K. Cox (U.S.). 74. 72. 68. 75: S. Cook (U.S.). 70. 72. 68. 79; I. Stanley (Aust.). 70. 74, 68, 77: : R. Davis (Aust.). 73 . 73 . 74. 69: B. Dassu (Italy). 71. 71. 72. 75. 290: A. Cooper (Aust.). 73 . 73, 75. 69: P Firmstone (Aust.), 76. 71. 67. 76; G. Smart (N.Z.). 69. 76. 72, 73: N. Lye (U.S.), 72. 73. 75. 70 291: A. Russell (U.S.). 71. 76. 71. 73. 292: G. Hohnen (Aust.), 71, 67. 71. 83. 293: M. Tapper (Aust.), 71. 76,

73. 73; K. Southerden (N.Z.). 74, 73, 75, 71; M. Foster (U.S.), 74, 71, 75, 73; V. Somers (Aust.), 70, 76, 74. 73; M. Fergusson (Aust.), 72. 73. 74. 74; G. Burrows (U.S.), 71, 74, 78. 70; T. Woolbank (Aust.), 69, 73, 78, 73. 294: D. Clark (N.Z.), 67, 78, 74, 75; G. Serhan (Aust.), 74. 73, 72, 75, 295: A. Snape (N.Z.). 67, 75, 75, 78. 296: D. McClelland (U.S.). 72, 75, 72, 77. 297: E. Nival (U.S.), 73, 74. 75, 75; K. Nagle (Aust.), 71, 75, 76, 75; W. Macintosh (N.Z.). 74. 70, 78. 75. 299: B. Brask (U.S.). 72. 75, 70. 82. 300: M. Krantz (U.S.), 72. 72, 78 . 78. 302: P Hamblett (N.Z.). 74, 73, 77, 78. 305: J. Bartak (U.S.), 74, 73, 82, 76.