Wills Classic

Wills Classic
Tournament information
LocationWellington, New Zealand
Established1960
Course(s)Royal Wellington Golf Club
Par70
Tour(s)New Zealand Golf Circuit
FormatStroke play
Prize fund£NZ2,000
Month playedSeptember
Final year1964
Tournament record score
Aggregate266 Ted Ball (1964)
To par−14 as above
Final champion
Australia Ted Ball
Location map
Royal Wellington GC is located in New Zealand
Royal Wellington GC
Royal Wellington GC
Location in New Zealand

The Wills Classic was a series of golf tournaments held in Australia and New Zealand from 1960 to 1964. The first event in 1960 was contested by four players over nine different courses between 17 September and 2 October; the winner determined by the aggregate score. Total prize money was A£5,100. The players were Stan Leonard, Gary Player, Mike Souchak and Peter Thomson. In 1961 the event became a 72-hole tournament with prize money of A£3,000. From 1963 the Australian tournament was replaced by the Wills Masters and the Classic event was moved to New Zealand. The New Zealand tournaments were part of the New Zealand Golf Circuit and had prize money of NZ£2,000. The sponsor was W.D. & H.O. Wills, a cigarette manufacturer.

Winners

[edit]
Year Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Venue Ref.
1964 Australia Ted Ball 266 −14 5 strokes Australia Barry Coxon
Australia Bob Tuohy
Wellington [1]
1963 Australia Bruce Devlin (2) 287 −5 4 strokes Australia Ted Ball
Australia Kel Nagle
Russley [2]
1962 Australia Bruce Devlin 281 −7 6 strokes Australia Ted Ball The Australian [3]
1961 South Africa Gary Player 286 −2 3 strokes Australia Eric Cremin The Lakes [4]
1960 Australia Peter Thomson 633 −15 3 strokes South Africa Gary Player Various[5] [6][7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Ball takes five stroke win in Wills Classic". The Canberra Times. Vol. 39, no. 11, 027. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 14 December 1964. p. 18. Retrieved 22 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Win to Devlin in N.Z." The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 September 1963. p. 67.
  3. ^ "Devlin in easy go - Six-stroke margin from Ball". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 October 1962. p. 67.
  4. ^ "Player's triumph - Tragic shot fatal for Cremin". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 October 1961. p. 48.
  5. ^ "Hard hitting Mike for golf classic". The Cumberland Argus. 22 June 1960. p. 23.
  6. ^ "Souchak leads in tourney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 September 1960. p. 19.
  7. ^ "Marathon golf to Thomson". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 October 1960. p. 19.