Young unknown hits 67 to lead P.G.A. title

Press, 10 December 1982, Page 32

Young unknown hits 67 to lead P.G.A. title

PA Tauranga After many of the big names promised to surge to the front, a sizzling five-under-par 67 put an unknown 20-year-old from Sydney at the head of the field after the first day of the fifty-seventh N.Z.P.G.A. golf championship at Mount Maunganui yesterday.

Wayne Riley is in his first year as a professional, and has led a tournament only once before — after 45 holes of Queensland's Koorabyn Open, but he immediately scored an eight, and “vanished." •T'm just over here trying to get better." he said, "but I did nothing startling today. I didn't hole many (long) putts, but I did hole* the ones I should have." said Riley. One stroke behind, on 68. were the New Zealanders. Alex Bonnington. Simon Owen. Walter Godfrey and lan Smalley, an Australian. Billy Dunk’ and an' American.’ Art Russell. Another stroke away was Bob Charles. Among the 22 others who broke par was another Australian. Jack Newton, on 70. Newton, with five birdies in a row from the fourth, threatened to burn up the course after a four-under 32 for the outward nine, and his fairway second had failed to drop at the thirteenth by little more than a blade of grass. But from that moment his “fire" began to fade. He had a bogey at 14. and, in his own words,’ "no concentration at all" on 15. He confirmed this when his tee shot on 16 went straight into a gnarled macrocarpa tree and

disappeared for ever in spite of some skilful young climbers. An otherwise excellent round became ordinary with a double bogey. John Lister matched Newton's outward 32. but the sixteenth also proved his downfall - having failed, like most, to birdie the twelfth, and failed with a short putt on 14. At 16 his drive was awkwardly under a tree, and he hung his head in despair when his second hit the next tree. Despair turned to anger, taken out on his club, when his chip out ran down well below the green — the result being a double-bogey, and finally a 71. The Wellsford professional. .Alex Bonnington. seemed to have the course at his mercy when he lay 6-under after I'2 holes, but in common with so many on the day. he cracked nearing home, dropping strokes at the fifteenth and sixteenth. Steadiness rather than brilliance made Bob Charles. Art Russell, and Billy Dunk high finishers, though many birdie putts slid past the hole. Charles had the pleasure of sinking one of more than 15 metres at the seventeenth. He had three birdies, dropping no strokes to par. First-round scores (N.Z. unless

otherwise slated) were. 67 - W. Rilev ('Austj. 68 S. Owen. W. Godfrey (Aust.). E. W. Dunk (Aust.). A. Bonnington. A. Russell (U.S.). 1. Smalley. 69 — P. Mateer. K. Southerden. R. J. Charles. 70 - M. Young. J. Newton (Aust.). F. Nobilo. B. Murray (U.S.). I). J. Clark. S. Reese. E Fisher (U.S.). 71 - G. Keats. B. Vivian. V. J. Singh (Fiji). G. Wolstenholme (Aust.). S. Andersen-Chapman (Can.). 72 - T. Daher. M. Colandro (U.S.). S. Bittie. B. Perry. J. Lister.. A. Johnston (Aust.). R. Stephens (Aust.). R. Coombes. 73 ■ D. Hartshorne. T. Ireland. A. Gilligan (Aust,). G. Smart. K. D. Nagle (Aust.). G. Watson. P. Jones (Aust.). B. Griffiths. 74 - C. Owen. S. Bann (Aust.). S. Stull (U.S.), D. Leary (Aust.). M. Moynihan. M. Lanner (Sweden). J. Anderson (Can.). 75 - K. Shanly. K. Tarling (Can.). F. Conallin (Aust.), G. Parkinson. D. Milne. D. Keown. R. Ellis. 76 -■ G. Grut. J. Wenman (Sweden). M. Guy. 77 — G. Healy (Aust.). M. Harwood. A. Nance (Aust.). A. Snape. J. Reid. J. Kelly (Aust.). S. Knapp (Can.). S. Bidwell. 711 - K. McCarthy (U.S.). N. Hayden. T. Leech. M. Dodd. 79 — K. Wiltshier. D. Sullivan. 80 - S. Hitchcock (Aust.). L. Lavery (Aust.). 81 -'•■ A. McKay. M. Tapper. W. Davies. J. Peragallo (U.S ). 87 - P. Dicker (Can.).