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Golfing legend Kel Nagle dies, aged 94

Kel Nagle (right) with his good friend Peter Thomson. (AAP Image/Stephen Harman)
Expert
29th January, 2015
6

Kel Nagle was one of the nicest, most gentlemanly, and certainly the most highly respected sportsmen that I’ve been privileged to know, and the best putter I’ve ever seen – bar none.

Australia lost a sporting giant when Kel died early Thursday morning at Mona Vale Hospital on Sydney’s north side peninsula, aged 94.

Winner of the Centenary British Open in 1960 was brilliant enough, but to stave off one of the all-time greats in Arnold Palmer by a shot at the home of golf, St Andrews, was the icing on the cake.

During my interview with Kel at his Balgowlah home five years ago in my Green and Gold Greats series on ABC News radio, I had the Centenary British Open trophy in my hand, the coveted claret jug.

“I got lucky,” was Kel’s typically humble explanation.

But I reminded Kel of his great mate Peter Thomson’s prediction pre-tournament he would win.

“But I was 100-1,” Kel added.

All that proved was that Thomson was a top class judge. And it’s fitting to mention Peter Thomson so early in a salute to Kel Nagle.

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In the great Australian tradition, our sporting legends have come in pairs – Thomson and Nagle, Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor, Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad, with Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, to name the elite pairings.

Thomson and Nagle won two Canada Cups for Australia in 1954 and 1959, now known as the World Cup, when the tournament was rated highly worldwide.

But this piece is for Kel Nagle, winner of 81 tournaments around the world, a record 61 of them in Australasia, 30 more than second-placed Greg Norman with 31.

To underline his incredible consistency. Kel won at least one tournament every year from 1949 to 1975. The Centenary British Open and the 1964 Canadian Open were the individual highlights, beating Palmer in both – and losing the US Open in 1965 to Gary Player in an 18-hole play-off.

It’s interesting to note Player won $26,000, and Nagle $13,500. The 2014 US Open champion Martin Kaymer banked $1.44 million, the runner-up $860,000.

Kel was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007 in a very special way, reserved for a very special person. Kel wasn’t well enough to travel, so the Hall of Fame came to him in Sydney. That was the ultimate recognition, and a first.

So for a bloke who didn’t turn pro until he was 36 due to five years service during World War II, Kel Nagle made an enormous, and lasting, impact on the world of golf.

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Rest in peace Kel Nagle, and thanks for the many memories. I’ll leave the last words to five times British Open champion Peter Thomson, because he says it all.

“Of all the people I have met in the world of golf, this fellow is the finest.”

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