CHARLES DOMINANT IN EXHIBITION

Taupo Times, Volume 20, Issue 1, 7 January 1971, Page 12

CHARLES DOMINANT IN EXHIBITION

Bob Charles, fresh from four sub-par rounds and third place in the Spalding Masters tournament at Tauranga on Saturday, cruised round the Taupo Golf Club's course on Sunday in a six under par 65.

His opponent, John Lister, who finished two strokes behind Charles in the Masters, was round in 69. The 18 hole exhibition, watched by a crowd conservatively estimated at 1000, was

sponsored by Gollin and Co. (N.Z.) Ltd and the two golfers competed for a purse of $600. Together they pieced together 13 birdies — eight by Charles, five by Lister. Lister started with three

birdies, but dropped two ; shots on the par five fourth and one on the short sixth, the only times he failed to match or better the card. Charles, on the other hand, returned an immaculate card after losing shots to par on the second and seventh holes. He had three birdies in the first half and five on the back . nine. In all he took 26 putts and missed nothing under 10 feet in length. In fact in this department Charles demonstrated why he is judged as probably the best putter in the world. It all looked so easy, from address to stroke all the way from tee to green. Charles' swing, so smooth and correct kept the ball on line throughout the round while Lister, much longer off the tee but with a tendency to slice into trouble, was a model of contained power. A feature was the accuracy and ' control of their approaches, high shots which hit the greens and stopped — demonstrating to local players that a properly struck shot will bite. Lister played the shot of the day when, snookered by trees after cutting his drive on the I2th, he struck a massive seven iron through and over the foliage to give himself a chance of a par five, which he made. Charles hit all but three greens in regulation figures, one of them the last which looked like spoiling his card. But his putt, from about five feet downhill and across the borrow was finely judged to give him a par. The players arrived from Tauranga in time for lunch and practised before a large gallery before hitting off in the match which was umpired by the immediate past president of the host club, Mr G. F. Barlow.