Dorrigo farm boy became our golfing world beater

Arnold Palmer was pipped at the pin by an outsider from Australia in 1960 who robbed him of his first Open Championship, it was the pinnacle of Kel Nagle’s career.

1962 : Kel Nagle narrowly misses a putt on the 6th green at Royal Troon during the 1962 British Open. Golf A/CT Historical

One of the greats of golf, American golfer Arnold Palmer looked a dead cert to win the British Open at St Andrews in 1960. Then a 35/1 outsider from Australia came along and putted his way to a one-stroke victory. It was the pinnacle in Kel Nagle’s illustrious career.

Nagle, who died yesterday, aged 94, was one of Australia’s finest golfers. He went about winning tournaments with a quiet, gentlemanly, determination that earned him the admiration of fans and fellow players.

He was born Kelvin David George Nagle in North Sydney in 1921, but the family packed up their belongings on a horse and cart and moved to Dorrigo, about 580km north of Sydney, during the Depression to run a dairy farm.

As a boy Nagle had to round up and milk cows before riding to school on a horse. The previous tenant of the farm had left a lot of golf balls lying around so the boys made good use of them. Using clubs made from the roots of a she-oak they taught themselves to play golf.

To earn a quid Nagle also trapped rabbits and later worked at a sawmill. That lasted until he was 15 and his father sold the farm to move back to the city.

He had started working as an apprentice carpenter but having developed a taste for golf Nagle also fossicked for balls or caddied at Pymble Golf Club. He eventually scored a position as assistant golf pro and gave up carpentry.

Hours of practice on the green took some of the rough edges off the style he had developed whacking the ball around with tree roots in Dorrigo, but in 1942 he enlisted to serve in the army. He was posted to an artillery unit in Darwin and New Guinea, reaching the rank of sergeant but all the while kept focused on his goal of becoming a champion golfer when he got out of the army.

Returning to Australia in 1945 he was so eager to get on with that career that he jumped into his first tournament at Manly, still wearing his army uniform.

“I didn’t do any good. I didn’t do any good for a long while, for a matter of fact,” he later recalled.

The problem was his powerful backswing. After watching professionals such as Norman von Nida, he shortened his backswing and had more success. With persistence and determination he won the Australian PGA title in Perth in 1949. It was the beginning of an extraordinary run, he would win at least one tournament every year up until 1975.

Partnered with golfer Peter Thompson in 1954 he won the Canada Cup (later known as the World Cup) and again in 1959. In good form after winning the New Zealand PGA Championship in 1960 he headed overseas to play in his first major, going head to head with Palmer in the British Open at St Andrews.

Nagle was already a veteran at 39 but Palmer was then on his way to becoming a golfing superstar. Palmer already had a legion of fans, Arnie’s Army, cheering him on, but it was Nagle who grabbed victory on the final hole, despite missing a putt only a metre from the pin.

Palmer won the Open the next year but Nagle was runner-up in 1962, albeit six strokes behind. In 1964 when Palmer was his runner- up in the Canadian Open, he quipped to Nagle: “You have a habit of getting in my way.”

In 1965 Nagle tied with Gary Player for first place in the US Open only to lose in a playoff.

From the end of the 1960s and into the ’70s Nagle remained one of the top golfers according to sports agent and writer Mark McCormack’s unofficial rankings published each year in the World of Professional Golf Annual. Sam Snead once remarked: “If I had Nagle’s putting stroke, nobody would ever beat me.’’

Nagle won three World PGA Seniors Championships in the ’70s but he played his last tournament in 1977 troubled by back pains.

In 1980 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to sport and in 1986 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007. His name will live on as every year the Kel Nagle Plate is presented to the best rookie at the Australian PGA Championship.

Nagle was married to Dorothy Lewis from 1942 until her death in 1980. They had had four children.

Originally published as Dorrigo farm boy became our golfing world beater