Two late bogeys cost Owen British Open

Press, 17 July 1978, Page 24

Two late bogeys cost Owen British Open

NZPA St Andrews, Scotland For a few precious minutes yesterday the New Zealander, Simon Owen, had the British Open in his grasp.

Just three holes to play he led by a stroke. Perhaps, if the man breathing down his neck one shot behind happened to be anyone but Jack Nicklaus. he would have won it. The 27-year-old New Zealand P.G.A. champion had blazed his way to the Iqac from nowhere. After shooting a three-over-par secondround 75, Owen could have been forgiven for not dreaming that he would be walking up the seventieth fairway at St Andrews with the British Open go : f championship dangling before him. His stunning third-round score of five-under-par 67, as good as any the touraament produced, suddenly brought him into contention. He was level with Nicklaus going into yesterday's final round, just one shot behind the leaders. Tom Watson and Peter Oosterhuis. Owen made the front nine in 37 yesterday. Nicklaus in 35. Not many people can afford to give Jack Nicklaus two shots with nine to play. Then some remarkable things started to happen. Owen birdied the tenth to bring him within a stroke of the maestro. Then he birdied the twelfth, but so did NickImk> But when the New Zealander almost drove the green at the par-five fourteenth, and then notched another birdie, he shared the lead with Nicklaus for the first time.

The following hole put him on the threshold of an upset. He was just off the green in two and sent a 25m chip shot scuttling into the hole for another birdie. At seven-under-par he was the outright leader. But how quickly his tantalising lead disappeared. The adrenalin must have been coursing through his veins when he pumped a sand iron to the sixteenth green. It flew over on to an adjoining tee and he took three putts from there to get down in bogey five.

Nicklaus, meanwhile, laid a nine iron stone dead and rolled in a 2m birdie putt.

I From one up, Owen was one down in the space of a hole. The American increased his lead to two by making a jpar at the seventeenth, the [infamous Road Hole, while [Owen’s second shot went through the green and over [the road, and he took three more to get it into the hole. Even on the eighteenth green the pendulum had swung back Owen’s way. Only 4m separated him from the birdie and it was conveivable that Nicklaus just might three-putt from the back of the green, and that a play-off would be needed.

But Owen’s putt slid by the hole and Nicklaus made it safely in two. The American's final round of 69 gave him a seven-under-par total of 281, a two-shot victory, his seventeenth major title, and his first for three years.

Owen’s 71, he said later, still represented the greatest day of his career, and it was good enough for joint second place on 283 along with the American trio of Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and Ray Floyd. Owen, who comes from Wanganui, said: “I’ve never played with Nicklaus before. 1 was as nervous as a kitten on the first few holes, playing with Jack, not havmg been in that situation before, and with the crowd hooting and hawing. “But the tension soon went away and 1 started to really enjoy it I was just on a hot patch when I hit the front. I just didn’t think I could fee! so good at that time. “I hit such a good drive down the sixteenth, and I guess the adrenalin was flowing a little too strongly,” he said. “I hit a great sand iron straight at the flag. It was a little unlucky. It caught a downslope and ran 30 metres through, leaving me with one of the toughest up-and-downs I’ve had. “It was still on coming up the eighteenth, but unfortunately my putt just missed. “Jack did play better than I did but I guess I’m quite happy. I’ve never been this

close to winning a major championship before. I just hope I come this close again,” Owen said, as he was embraced by his Scottish wife, Cathy. Nicklaus, who will make another appearance in this year’s Australian Open, said the sixteenth hole was “obviously the key to winning the tournament.”

He said that at the eighteenth he forgot the Owen was playing with him. “I didn” think about me making a birdie and him making a birdie. I thought the cmly way I could lose the tournament was if I left my seven iron approach at the eighteenth short. I ran back in the valley, and I three-put-ted.

“So 1 ran the ball about 35 feet by the pin, which didn’t upset me until I turned around and realised that if Simon made a birdie and I three-putted it would be the same thing.”

“But when he missed his putt, and 1 ran my first putt about two feet away, it made the hole a lot larger for me.” A Nicklaus-Owen battle was the last thing many people had expected. A repeat of last year’s thrilling British Open finish, when Tom Watson beat Nicklaus by a stroke, seemed one of the more likely climaxes. But Watson, who was joint leader with Peter Oosterhuis after the third round, soon crashed on the front nine with bogeys at the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh holes and was never again a serious threat.

He finished with a 76 to lag six strokes behind Nicklaus. Oosterhuis, who was still sharing the lead until the ninth hole yesterday, bogeyed the Road Hole and finished with a 73, which gave him sixth place on 284. Nicklaus won $22,800, while Owen, Floyd, Crenshaw and Kite received $13,338 each. Oosterhuis won $9120 for sixth place. Final scores (British unless otherwise stated): 281—J. Nicklaus (U.S.), 71. 72, 69. 69.

283— S. Owen (N.Z.) 70, 75, 67, 71; R. Flovd iU.S.) 69, 75, 71, 68; T. Kite (U.S.) 72, 69. 72, 70; B Crenshaw (U.S.) 70. 69, 73. 71. 284— P. Oosterhuis 72, 70, 69 73. 285— R. Shearer (Aust.) 71, 69. 74, 71; J. Schroeder (U.S.) 74, 69. 70. 72; N. Faldo 71, 72, 70, 72; I. Aoki (Jap.) 68, 71, 73, 73. 286— M. Cahill (Aust.) 71, 72, 75. 68; O. Moody (U.S.) 73, 69, 74, 70; D. Hayes (S.A.) 74, 70, 71, 71. 287— M. Hayes (U.S.) 70, 75, 75, 67; M. Ozaki (Jap.) 72, 69, 75, 71; T. Watson (U.S.) 73, 68, 70, 76. 288— T. Nakajima (Jap.) 70, 71, 76, 71; S. Ballesteros (Spain) 69, 70, 76, 73; B. Byman (U.S.) 72, 69, 74, 73; G. Hunt 71, 73, 71, 73; T. Weiskopf (U.S.) 69. 72, 72, 75. 289— B. Gallagher 72, 71, 76, 70; N. Job 73, 75, 68, 73. 290— H. Irwin (U.S.) 75, 71, 76, 68; A. Garrido (Spain) 73. 71, 76, 70; C. Mason 70. 74, 72. 74; J. Newton (Aust.) 69, 76, 71, 74; P, Thomson (Aust.) 72, 70, 72. 76. 291— L. Trevino (U.S.) 75, 72, 73, 71; J. Morgan 74, 68, 77, 72; G. Norman (Aust.) 72. 73, 74, 72; T. Britz (S.A.) 73, 74. 72. 72; H. Green (U.S.) 78, 70, 67, 76. 292— G. Player (S.A.) 74, 71, 76, 71; B. Barnes 71, 74, 75, 72; G. Cullen 73, 67, 79, 73: A. Palmer (U.S.) 71. 71, 75, 75; K. Brown 73, 72, 71, 76.

293—M.' Krantz (U.S.) 75, 72, 75, 71; P. McEvoy (amateur) 71, 74, 76, 72; N. Price (S.A.) 74, 73, 74, 72; G. Wolstenholme (Aust.) 73, 74, 71, 75; D. Graham (Aust.) 73, 74, 70. 76. 294—F. Abreu (Spain) 73, 73, 76, 72; M. Ballesteros (Spain) 73, 71, 74. 76; M. Miller (amateur) 70, 74. 74, 76; H. Clark 70 , 75, 73, 76. 295—A. Bean (U.S.) 73, 70, 79, 73; A. Brodie (amateur) 73, 72, 75, 75; R. Charles (N.Z.) 72, 76, 72, 75; N, Coles 71, 73, 73, 78.