Charles amazes Palmer with brilliant putting

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 60

Charles amazes Palmer with brilliant putting

From 808 SCHUMACHER in Auckland

Arnold Palmer said recently that he considered Bob Charles and Bobby Locke the two best putters he had seen. He had a slight correction to make after the second round of the Air New Zealand Shell Open at Titirangi yesterday. Palmer, playing with the New Zealand left-hander, had just watched Charles putt his way to a commanding lead at the halfway point of the $75,000 tournament.

Charles needed only 27 putts, and five more went within 15cm of falling.

“Correction,” said Palmer, “he is the best putter.

“I’ve said it many times and I’m totally convinced that I am right.' Not only is he the best putter but he has the best putting stroke. Locke was more unorthodox.

"Robert made all the putts: God, what a great round that was,” he said. Indeed, Charles's courseequalling score of 64 warrants further study, for it could so easily have been 60. Palmer took all the early glory and, with four birdies in the first five holes, had the spectators converging like a cloud of locusts, charging over the mounds, through the trees, eager to see the birdie burst continue.

It was sustained, except that the focus switched from Palmer to Charles. The fourth hole was the turning point for Charles/ He had dropped a shot on the third when he missed the green and two-putted. “I had putts on the first three holes that went very close but missed. I was a little down on it.” The situation did not look any brighter tvhen he was bunkered on the par-three fourth and exploded out to within sm. On that green, Peter Thomson, who wasl partnering Charles and Palmer, holed a 10m putt for a birdie and Palmer made his birdie from 6m. “If they can do it, I can do it,” Charles thought. “1 drilled the ball in the middle of the hole and never looked back.” He birdied the next four’: holes from 2m, 9m, 5m and, 9m. and all putts were in the centre of the cup. His fifth successive birdie attempt, on the ninth, sat on the edge from 12m. He was close again with birdie putts on the next two holes and it was surprising to see him faced with a 2m putt on the twelfth for a par. It never looked like missing. Charles almost had an eagle on the thirteenth, but settled for a simple birdie. His birdie putt on the fourteenth almost defies description. He missed the green and was 25m from the flag with a little slope and then a much harsher one between him and the flag. His uphill putt seemed kilometres to the left but it

slipped over the big slope at a 45deg angle and shuddered against the pin, bobbled and dropped. “I must admit I was only trying to get it close,” he said.

By now Charles, Palmer and Thomson were surrounded by 1500 spectators. A course record looked a distinct possibility with Charles in such dynamic touch. On the sixteenth he hit the hole wnth his chip but stayed out and he was two roils short of a birdie on 17. He waited until the last green to score his seventh birdie and to equal the record. In front of a massed gallery’ he trickled a 5m putt downhill and it got there on the last gasp. Charles, without a major tournament win for so long, is hitting the ball so straight from the tees and putting with such wonderful judgement that a New Zealand victory seems imminent even though 36 holes still remain. Charles’s round was the best of the day, three strokes better than three Australians, Rodger Davis. Stewart Ginn and David Graham. After 36 holes he leads by that margin from Graham, with Ginn and the American, Bob Risch, two shots back. One stroke behind them is Davis and Rafe Botts (United States). i Although he considered that he did not play as well yesterday as he ’ did on Thursday, Graham stayed the closest challenger to Charles with his second successive 67. Graham’s driving has been unsurpassed by I anyone in the tournament land he was pleased with his (iron shots, hitting 14 greens in regulation figures. Graham was teeing off on the first tee as Charles played the last hole and conditions became harder in the afternoon as the south-west-erly wind increased in force and the greens showed some signs of traffic. The 32 year-old Australian found he was hitting as many as seven clubs difference into some of the holes facing the wind. He had simple birdies on the second and fifth, but selected the wrong iron on the ninth and sacrificed a shot.

He holed a Im putt for a superb eagle on 13, but missed a putt of similar size for a one-over on the next. His inconsistency continued

t with a birdie from 2m at 15, i a dropped shot after a bad i chip on 16, and another 1 birdie from 10m at 17. t Ginn, often a good moneyearner on the New Zealand ■ circuit, had his good score . of 67 marred by one hole. . He was extremely steady i over the first 15 holes, with , 12 pars and three birdies, ; two easily gained, the other from sm. But disaster struck ; on the sixteenth. He had a ; perfect drive, but shanked j his second and that bad shot . cost him two strokes. ; “Safety first” was the j motto of Risch, who had > four birdies and three oneovers, his only real indis- . cretion occurring on the sevt enth when he missed a 2m i putt. A three-over on the pari four twelfth cost Davis a » grand chance of finishing on ; 64 with Charles. Second in J the Otago Charity Classic, , Davis had two birdies on the 5 front nine and started the j back nine with two birdies before his disaster. > He was in the rough with

his drive and rebounded oil a tree, with his second finishing in an unplayable lie. An eagle at the next and a birdie on 14 cancelled those strokes, but he lost another when he struck a camera-cart at 16. Davis’s misfortune at the twelfth was not as bad as that experienced by Mike O’Leary (New Zealand). He was 28 over par when he played the hole and 39 over when he had putted out. O’Leary did not put his card in.

With Charles a clear leader and the Auckland weather staying kind, huge crowds are expected at Titirangi over the week-end. Most will be cheering on Charles, and. although his lead is considerable, golfers of the calibre of Graham, Ginn, Vance Heafner (United States), Jack Newton Australia), Palmer, Graham Marsh (Australia) and Simon Owen (New Zealand) are within range should Charles lose his present fine form.