Wills Classic
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Established | 1960 |
| Course(s) | Royal Wellington Golf Club |
| Par | 70 |
| Tour(s) | New Zealand Golf Circuit |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | £NZ2,000 |
| Month played | September |
| Final year | 1964 |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 266 Ted Ball (1964) |
| To par | −14 as above |
| Final champion | |
 Ted Ball | |
| Location map | |
.png)  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 | Ted Ball |
266 | −14 | 5 strokes | Barry Coxon Bob Tuohy |
Wellington | [1] |
| 1963 | Bruce Devlin (2) |
287 | −5 | 4 strokes | Ted Ball Kel Nagle |
Russley | [2] |
| 1962 | Bruce Devlin |
281 | −7 | 6 strokes | Ted Ball |
The Australian | [3] |
| 1961 |  Gary Player |
286 | −2 | 3 strokes | Eric Cremin |
The Lakes | [4] |
| 1960 | Peter Thomson |
633 | −15 | 3 strokes | Gary Player |
Various[5] | [6][7] |
References[edit]
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Win to Devlin in N.Z." The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 September 1963. p. 67.
- ^ "Devlin in easy go - Six-stroke margin from Ball". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 October 1962. p. 67.
- ^ "Player's triumph - Tragic shot fatal for Cremin". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 October 1961. p. 48.
- ^ "Hard hitting Mike for golf classic". The Cumberland Argus. 22 June 1960. p. 23.
- ^ "Souchak leads in tourney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 September 1960. p. 19.
- ^ "Marathon golf to Thomson". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 October 1960. p. 19.