Green three strokes ahead in U.S. Masters golf

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 32

Green three strokes ahead in U.S. Masters golf

NZPA-Reuter Augusta, Georgia Hubert Green scorched around the tough Augusta National Golf Course in seven-under-par 65 yesterday to open up a three-stroke lead over the rest of the field after three rounds of the Masters tournament.

Green, current holder oL the United States Open title, | finished the day on 206, fol-1 lowed bv the defending; champion. Tom Watson, and p 45-year-old Californian, ! Rod Funseth, on 209, Gene; Littler on 210, and the Australian open champion,; David Graham. Lee Trevino.' Hale Irwin, and Bill Kratzertl on 211. Green made the most of almost ideal playing condi-j tions, with a eentle breeze) over the hilly 7040-yard| Augusta course taking the j edge off the heat on a’ bright, sunny day. Although t not driving as well as he. wanted, he wielded his. wedge brilliantly around the green even,- time he got in) trouble, chipping his ball close enough to the pin to link the putts. Graham. a 31-year-old! from Sydney who now lives.'

I in Florida, has been playing | well all week but was being j held back by his putting. In his first round of 75 he kept leaving his approach putts short, but improved to 69 m this second round after con- ) vincing himself that the ) greens were really slower 'than expected. I Green. a Sl-year-Md Alabaman, birdied three of the first holes and added’ (two more at the seventh and; ) eighth on his way to an out-’ llward half of 31, one stroke) off the record. On the tenth he hit his i worst drive of the day into ■ the trees to the right, but made a marvellous recovery with a three-iron from .vhat [he called “the wilderness,” fading it about 15m to the green, where he made his par. Birdies at the thirteenth I and fifteenth, two par-fives, 'completed his round of 65,

also one shot off the record. Green was partnered by Watson, who also carded a fine round, a 68 that was even better than it looks. After the second where his approach went into the crowd but rebounded on to the green, he fell back to one-under by the sixth after three bogeys in four holes. But then he began a rally ) that turned into a match- . play duel reminiscent of the two battles he won last year ) against Jack Nicklaus in the ,Masters and British Open. Watson stood at onei under, five behind Green. Both birdied the seventh and eighth and parred the ninth, and Watson closed the gap with a birdie at 10. Both parred the next two, then Watson birdied the next three while Green did the same at two of them, and thev closed out their rounds with p at the last four holes. Funseth and Littler, two 45-vear-olds, stayed the pace with identical rounds of 70 that left them well in contention.

The favourable playing conditions, and the greens, which are still slower than predicted, yielded a crop of low scores yesterday. Green led the way with his 65. followed by Graham and Kratzert with 675, Watson, Bill Rogers and Severiano Ballesteros (Spain) on 68, and Gay Brewer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (South Africa), all on 69.

Nicklaus, the pre-tourna-ment favourite, at last began to score well with a 33 on the back nine, but ended the day eight shots off the pace on 214 in a group that also included Britain’s Peter Oosterhuis, who turned in his second successive 70. The other foreigner of the 53 players who survived the cut, Bobby Cole (South Africa), also came in with his second 70 in a row to stand at one over par. But the sentimental favourite, Arnold Palmer, four times winner of the Masters, fell off the pace with a 74 that left him on 216.

Of the amateurs, Lindy Miller turned in a fine 70 to finish well up on 215, but the British amateur champion, Peter McEvoy, slumped to a 77 for an aggregate of 225, 19 shots behind the leader. Leading scores going into the final round (all American unless stated):— 206—Hubert Green. 72. 69, 65. 209—Tom Watson, 73, 68. 68. 209— Rod Funseth. 73, 66, 70. 210— Gene Littler, 72, 68. 70. 211— David Graham (Australia), 75, 69. 67; Bill Kratzert, 70, 74. 67; Lee Trevino, 70, 69. 72; Hale Irwin, 73. 67. 71. 212— Wally Armstrong, 72. 70. 70.

213 — Severiano Ballesteros (Spain). 74. 71, 68; Gary’ Player (South Africa) 72. 72, 69; Gay Brewer, 73. 71, 69; Tom Weiskopf 71, 71, 70. 214—8i1l Rogers, 76. 70, 63; Peter Oosterhuis (Britain). 74, 70. 70; Jack Nicklaus, 72. 73, 69; Ed Sneed, 74. 70. 70: Don January. 72. 70. 72; Joe Irman, 69. 73. 72.