Three share lead in golf open

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 32

Three share lead in golf open

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

Twenty-eight years ago Bob Charles won the first of his four New Zealand Opens as an amateur at the tender age of 18. Today at Shirley he starts the second round as joint leader with an American, Art Russell, and Grant Waite, an amateur, aged 18, from Palmerston North.

While Charles remains the outstanding name in New Zealand golf, Waite, the Australasian junior champion, is certainly among the most exciting prospects. Unfortunately, he will join the exodus of leading New Zealand amateurs to the United States later this year. He has been granted a scholarship at the University of Oklahoma.

face. When I hit the ball there was not the same zip, just a dull thud.” He, too, was pleased with his round as he knew it could have been worse.

Waite has been playing golf only four years. For most of his round, it was remarkably steady golf in the high wind. There were birdies at 7 and 10, but he dropped one at the 393 m thirteenth, a very difficult, well-guarded hole right into the teeth of the wind.

Charles had a start which he described as “miserable,” a one-over on the comparatively easy opening hole. However, he settled quickly into rhythm and his professional approach was evident from that point. He drove strongly and accurately and missed only two fairways and that was no mean feat as they have been narrowed considerably. There were a couple of unconvincing chip shots, but Charles had most situations under control and on the putting surface he was the master of the trade.

From that point, Waite had to guard his good score with saving putts. It spoke volumes for ‘ his temperament that he managed to hole them at 16 and 17, which were very testing in length and borrow. He finished off a fine performance spectacularly, by sinking a 20m putt at the last green to earn a share of the lead.

A boisterous . northwesterly wind, which became gale-force late in the piece, blew many hopes away and sent scores in the BP-spon-sored event sky-high. As well as the strength-sapping wind, the field of 134 had to contend with hot temperatures. It proved too much for one Australian, who suffered from heat exhaustion and withdrew after 11 holes. Yet there was'- still some superb scoring in the adverse conditions. The leading trio finished two-under par on 70 and three other professionals, Mike Harwood and lan Baker-Finch, both of Australia, and the Christchurchborn unattached, Peter Hamblett, beat par by one. There were only two par rounds, by Maurice Bembridge (Eng‘land) and Robert Stephens (Australia). The wind, the narrow fairways and the thick rough put a premium on accuracy off the tees. Charles and Russell met that demand admirably; Waite not quite so convincingly, but he recovered exceedingly well and, as with his joint-leaders, he made many telling putts. Charles was “pretty happy” with his 70 and “delighted” with his finish. “I had a few lapses but I held on when things could have slipped away. “I drove it really well and had a solid putting round. I got the ones I had to make.” Charles, who keeps a personal record of the number of putts he has in each round, has been averaging -30 this year. Yesterday he had 27. Charles felt some sympathy for his playing partner, Bob Shearer, of Australia who shot 74.' “He probably felt let down and jaded after his Australian Open win, and would rather be dangling his feet over a boat with a fishing rod in hand. “But he played well and hit some great shots. He is not out of contention,” said Charles. Shearer did admit that it was hard to get going after what’ he called his biggest win ever in the Australian Open. “I didn’t give it away at any stage and my putting kept me in the hunt.” In spite of some magnificent drives, the 34-year-old Melbourne professional was not happy with his timing. “Most shots did not come from the centre of the club

Hamblett, aged 26, attributed his very accomplished round of 71 to a different approach. He did not have a happy Australian tour and made only the one cut — the New South Wales Open where he finished with 292.

Apart from the first hole, Charles’ only other dropped shot was at the thirteenth, a long hole into the wind. He had a simple birdie at 16, but his other three birdies were the products of long putts, from 5m at the sixth, 8m at the eleventh? and again from 8m at the seventeenth.

“I was trying too hard and getting worked up. Today I relaxed and my game came right,” said Hamblett. He was two-under after 14, but dropped a shot at 15. He had an excellent putting touch throughout the round and did not three-putt any' green. Also on that score was a young Queenslander, BakerFinch, an athletic - and suntanned golfer who has been consistently placed in Australian tournaments, sometimes in the top 10, nearly always in the top 20. Baker-Finch, who has just, turned 22, hit 15 greens in regulation figures, but a lack of confidence in his putting prevented him from doing even better. “I putted terribly and have been doing so for a while.”

Shearer courted danger on the front nine and, in spite of holing several sizeable and vital putts to achieve his pars, his luck did not hold. He was in trees off the tee at the sixth and dropped two more shots at the ninth when he did not clear the rough properly and three-putted. Shearer was in real danger of falling off the pace when he went four-over par at the tenth and, although he birdied the eleventh from 1.5 m, he dropped another shot at 13.

It said much for Shearer’s temperament that he fought back immediately and with shots of true class. He birdied the fifteenth from 2m and the sixteenth with a 5.5 m putt from off the green. At the end he looked distinctly ominous.

The third player to score 71 was Harwood, a tall Sydney professional. He has been a professional eight years without winning particular distinction, although he was in the first 50 in the Australian and New Zealand order of merit last year. However he seems to have a liking for Shirley, and for the strong wind. He scored 73 in the Pro-am on Wednesday and there were four birdies in his 71 yesterday. John Lister, a very popular figure at Shirley, started well, but was soon in trouble. However he gave his many friends a tremendous thrill at the last hole, where his drive almost reached the green, 320 m away. He made a careful assessment of the situation, played a sand iron which was within millimetres of an eagle and the $lO,OOO prize which would have gone with it. Very handily placed is Ken Tarling. a Canadian making his first visit to New Zealand. He had three birdies in his 73.

Russell, from Freeport, Texas, missed only two greens in his fine round. Yet he was not entirely satisfied: “I was happy with 70 but disappointed in the manner it was achieved,” he said. “I didn’t feel that I made too many good shots but I hit the fairways all day long. The American had nine straight pars on the front nine and one-putted only one green,' the ninth from 3m. Then began the spectacular: birdies at 10, 15, 16 and 17 with putts from Bm, 7m, 2.5 m and 1.5 m.

Russell was four-under par and he seemed set to become the tournament’s first-round leader. Disaster struck at the last — he had a big hook off the tee and “the ball finished somewhere downtown Christchurch.” He made par with his second ball and, in spite of the costly blemish, he was away to an excellent start.