Wolstenholme loses P.G.A. title with sudden collapse

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 30

Wolstenholme loses P.G.A. title with sudden collapse

PA

Tauranga

The Englishman, Guy Wolstenholme, handed the New Zealand P.GA. golf championship to Simon Owen, of New Zealand, yesterday with two unbelievable lapses on the homeward nine on the Tauranga golf course.

The possibility of Owen pipping Wolstenholme, did not even arise until Owen birdied the last hole. Owen’s 4m birdie putt at the eighteenth immediately followed the news that Wolstenholme, two holes back at the sixteenth, had made his first serious lapse of the four-day tournament.

Such was Wolstenholme’s lead however, that although he double-bogeyed the sixteenth by taking three shots to reach the green and another three putts to get the ball in the hole from 4m, it was not felt that he would lose the championship.

Then Wolstenholme shocked the large gallery by also double-bogeying the seventeenth leaving himself one stroke behind Owen. When Owen walked up the eighteenth fairway he was five under the card while Wolstenholme at the same time on the sixteenth fairway was nine strokes better than par. No-one in his right mind would have placed a wager, no matter what the odds, on Wolstenholme losing because he had been consistently straight and true, rarely in any sort of bother, from the beginning of the pro-am on Friday until the third-to-last hole.

Even Owen himself generously expressed his commiseration with Wolstenholme, saying that the situation was unfortunate, though “at the same time I’m happy as hell myself.” “Winning,” said Owen, "gave me a great thrill, especially because this week I have my wife, and my mother and father here watching me. It’s been a real family affair.” Other than Wolstenholme, Owen was the only golfer of the large field of 111 starters — with 'he notable exception of the amateur, Geoff Clarke — who was truly consistent, and as such he was a deserved winner. While Owen had some bad

luck, Wolstenholme was desperately unlucky, especially on the final day. To illustrate: a 1.5 m putt at the eleventh sat on the very lip of the hole: so too did another rather longer putt at the fourteenth: a putt of more than 13m at the fifteenth, on the right line all the way, stopped less than two inches from its target: | even a putt on the | seventeenth, when the situation had suddenly turned desperate, sat on the side and looked down into the hole without falling. The reainder of the time Wolstenholme was, by genjeral consensus, playing well . within himself, probably i even enjoying his lead which I was, with only nine holes to go, seven strokes clear of Owen.

When Owen, in an earlier dramatic incident, hit out of bounds when he was in hot pursuit of Wolstenholme, and took seven strokes for the par-four tenth hole, the final day lost much of its intrigue.

Wolstenholme and Owen filled the two major roles on the final day. There were other smaller parts, such as the fight of the young New Zealander, Stuart Reese, to hold on to third place, a fight he partly lost (he tied for third with David Good) by missing a very short putt on the eighteenth. Another was Good, whose last three rounds were better than anyone else and whose 64 was one of the two best scores of the final round.

The New Zealand amateur, Geoff Clarke, won a lot of admirers for his gallant display, his four-round total being three better than par and bettered only by Owen and Wolstenholme among the professionals. Clarke scored five birdies on the final day and was generally impressive in all of his play.

Wolstenholme scored two birdies and an eagle on the outward nine, his eagle gained extremely easily and

preceding Owen’s out-of-bounds hit by a couple of minutes. He dropped five strokes on the homeward nine.

Owen birdied three holes going out and after his triple bogey, birdied three more coming home. His triple bogey resulted when he overhit an approach shot into the tenth green, the ball striking spectators and running out of bounds. It would probably have done so anyway even without help.

Scores: 274—5. Owen. 73. 70. 64. 67 ($6000). 27a—G. Wolstenholme. 69. 67, 67, 72 ($3600). 277— G. Clarke (amateur), 70, 67. 72. 68 278— S. Reese, 74. 71, 64, 69; D. Good, 79. 69, 66, 64 ($lB9O each). 279— J. Lister, 75. 68. 67, 69; S. Ginn. 71, 72, 69 67 ($ll4O each). 280— P. Croker 73, 69, 68, 70: R. J. Charles. 71, 69, 71, 69 ($9OO each).

281— G. Pidlaski. 71, 75. 71. 64 ($780). 282— W. Britten. 75, 68, 70, 69; K. Nagle. 70, 74, 70. 74; V. Somers. 69. 72, 69 72 ($660 each). 283— P. Firmstone, 74. 73, 69. 67 ($576). 284— P. Hart, 71. 75, 67. 71 ($540). 285— W. Macintosh. 73. 72. 72, 68; G. Hamilton, 73. 73, 70. 69; B. Jones, 72, 71, 72 70 ($4BO each). 286— M. Moynihan. 73. 71, 72, 70; T. Kendall. 75, 70, 70, 70; J. Hall 79, 69, 67. 71 ($390 each). 287— R. Coombes, 74, 73. 70, 70; A. Cooper, 74, 68, 71, 74; W. Beauchemin 72, 70. 70. 75 ($3OO each).

288—B. Vivian, 76. 70, 72. 70; K. Southerden. 76. 70. 70. 72; P. Hamblett. 77. 70. 66. 75 ($228 each).

289— T. Ireland, 76. 72. 75, 66; A. Snape. 74. 75. 71, 69; R. Davis, 73. 73. 72, 71; G Smart. 71. 73, 74, 71; P. Headland, 75. 69, 69, 76 ($183.60 each). 290— R. Morpeth, 76. 74, 69. 71 ($162).

291— J. Kinsey 68, 76, 73. 74; D. J, Clark 80, 68, 73, 70 ($153 each). 292— C. Owen 77, 67, 79. 69; A. Bennington (amateur) 72. 71, 75, 74; G. Holst 73. 71. 70, 79 ($l4l each).

293— J, Evans 78, 76, 68, 71; S. Cook 76, 71, 74, 72; J. Carter 74, 76. 69. 74 ($126); M. Nicholson (amateur) 77, 74, 69. 73. 294— P. Hay 71. 74, 78, 71; H. Kennedy 79, 73, 73, 69; K. Francis 68, 75. 75. 76 ($108); P. Mosley (amateur) 75, 75. 72, 72. 295— J. Clifford 81. 70, 70. 74; B Coxon 76. 68, 74, 77 ($93 each).