31 American Golf Classic

Round 4 - I expected this to be the most difficult round, and so it proved. Before Hans Kunok drove off at the 1st he was under par - when he walked off the 18th green he most certainly wasn't, beaten black and blue by the course and conditions and coming in with a 78 to finish tied 41st. The same story applied to Olly Jose-Maria, but to a lesser extent, his 74 still good enough to earn a share of 14th. Barney Buss began the day as joint-leader and I'm sure he had high expectations when he teed off on the opening hole, but after also carding a disastrous 78 those expectations lay in ruins, and he had to settle for a share of 11th place. In a tie for 8th spot were PGA pro George Archer, late starter Roger Instell after a 71 today, and Randy Grant who achieved his best-ever finish by shooting a 72 in his final round. Mark Lipping's closing 71, Ian McKinley's concluding 68, a fine effort, and joint-leader Bob Fletcher's catastrophic and birdy-less 76, had them ending the tourney in a tie with 3 PGA pros, one of whom was the legendary Jack Nicklaus. A very disappointing result for Bob especially as he'd played so well for the first three days. Two strokes clear of this group was professional Frank Beard, whose 71 clinched the victory!!

See you next week for the 1970 season's final Major, the PGA Championship, at Cedar Ridge, where the conditions are forecast to be as tough as they were this week!!