Golf: What price for disaster?

By WYNNE GRAY

Tucked away near the mangroves in the far corner of The Grange is a scrap of a hole. It looks a doddle for professional golfers, almost an afterthought from a golfing architect looking to squeeze an 18-hole layout into the middle of Manukau City.

The par three fourth is just 109m, less than the longest distance recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a golf ball. But many fine golfers have been burned by this innocuous-looking hole.

Golfing legend Nick Price was perhaps the most famous casualty in 1992 even though he managed to win the Air New Zealand Airlines Classic in a playoff with Lucas Parsons.

Were it not for the fourth, Price would have won in a canter. But his troubles underlined the care needed on every hole around The Grange layout.

In the opening round Price went out of bounds over the back for a double bogey, while in the next two rounds he under-clubbed and spun back off the front of the green for bogeys.

In the final round, Price conquered the hole, or at least made his peace with the mini-monster when he parred on his way to a superb seven under 63 and eventual victory.

But a tournament total of four-over par on this hole for one of the world's finest golfers underlined the potential for disaster.

For the first few hours yesterday there were few tremors with the pin in a generous position on the large undulating green. From the elevated tee, the golfers faced a green sloping from back to front guarded by twin bunkers on each side.

The wind behaved early and for most of the field the only difficulty was choosing which wedge to hit.

The first group to tackle the assignment arrived about 8am yesterday and had Wayne Perske not chipped in for birdie on the previous hole, Grange assistant professional Stuart Thompson would have had the honour of first strike.

He did not disappoint on his turn. He knocked his pitching wedge to about 2m and joked to the gallery he would likely get half the day's jackpot for that effort.

That did not happen but Thompson holed his putt and marched off on his way to an impressive 67.

A number in the field failed to hold the top layer of the green with their ball spinning all the way back to the collar of the green and a difficult recovery. Most managed that feat, even a disconsolate Steven Bowditch, who had a five over-par nine on the opening hole then successive bogeys before he reached the shortest hole.

It was not until the sixth group went through that the short hole claimed any victims. They were in the same group - Australians Marcus Cain and Nathan Green each three-putting for bogey.

New Zealand pro Ben Gallie went closest to a hole in one as the first quarter of the field passed through, his wedge finishing about half a metre from the pin.

No one in the first 40 players found the sand although Ben Burge wished he had. Somehow his ball settled on the lip of one bunker.

A normal stance and shot was impossible.

Burge surveyed a number of options before deciding on chipping with one foot down in the bunker, his other steadying his stance above him on the green. The situation disconcerted Burge, his result was average, his language reflected his displeasure.

The benign conditions were reflected in the early statistics. About 75 per cent of the field hit the green in regulation.

Although troubles at the fourth yesterday were minimal, the warning for the rest of the tournament will still be: remember Nick Price.