Goldfinger

Chapter 5. Playing to Win

The golf course at Royal St Marks is very difficult. There are many areas of long, rough grass and bunkers full of sand.

At the third hole of the course, Goldfinger hit his ball into the rough. The ball stopped beside a large tuft of grass. It was going to be very difficult for him to hit the ball because the tuft was in the way. Goldfinger looked at the ball for a moment. Then he stepped heavily on the tuft and made it flat. Now it was easy to hit the ball towards the hole.

Bond frowned angrily. He'd seen how Goldfinger had flattened the tuft of grass. Goldfinger had cheated! But Bond also knew that he couldn't accuse Goldfinger of cheating. Goldfinger would deny it and then he would accuse Bond of telling lies.

As they approached the fifth hole, Bond was preparing for a difficult shot. He swung his club high in the air and thought about hitting the ball well. But suddenly Goldfinger made a sharp noise, and Bond swung his club in the wrong way. He hit the ball badly. He turned towards Goldfinger. His eyes were cold with anger.

'I'm sorry,' said Goldfinger carelessly. 'I dropped my club.'

'Don't do it again,' said Bond. He handed his own club to Hawker, and walked to the next hole without speaking.

'What company do you work for?' asked Goldfinger suddenly.

Bond tried to control his anger. He had to remember why he was playing golf with Goldfinger. Bond's mission was to find out more about Goldfinger.

'Universal Export,' he replied.

'And where are their headquarters?' asked Goldfinger. 'London. Regent's Park.' 'What do they export?'

'Oh, all kinds of machines, as well as military weapons,' said Bond. 'But the work isn't very interesting. I'm thinking about leaving the job.'

'Oh, really?' said Goldfinger.

Bond waited for more questions. But Goldfinger didn't say anything more. At the sixth hole, Goldfinger cheated again. He made a bad shot and his ball went into a bunker. It landed in a deep, soft part of the sand. But then, Goldfinger didn't walk down into the bunker, he jumped down and the sand beside the ball became flat. He'd made the ground level. So when he hit the ball again, it came out of the bunker easily.

Bond was too far away to see what Goldfinger had done, out Bond's caddie, Hawker, had seen how Goldfinger had cheated and he was angry. Bond was losing the game because Goldfinger wasn't playing fairly. So Hawker made a decision. He would help Bond to win the game.

Goldfinger and Bond were walking towards the tenth hole.'What happened to that nice girl, Miss Masterton?' asked Bond.

Goldfinger stared straight in front of him. For a few minutes he didn't speak. Then he said carelessly, 'She left my employment.'

'Oh, really? Where did she go?'

'I don't know,' said Goldfinger, walking away.

They continued playing. Goldfinger was still winning but Bond played some excellent shots. At last, there were only two more holes to play - the seventeenth and the eighteenth - before the end of the game.

At the seventeenth hole, Goldfinger hit his ball into deep rough grass and lost it. Goldfinger and Foulks started searching for the ball. Bond and Hawker searched too.

Suddenly Bond trod on something. He bent down and looked in the long grass. Under his foot was a golf ball - a Dunlop 65.

'Here you are!' he called to Goldfinger. Then he looked at the ball again. 'Oh. You play with a Number 1, don't you?'

'Yes,' called Goldfinger.

'Well, this is a Number 7.' Bond picked up the ball and showed it to Goldfinger.

'That isn't my ball,' said Goldfinger.

The ball was almost new - the words and numbers on it were clear. Bond put it in his pocket and went on searching for Goldfinger's ball.

Suddenly, Foulks called out, 'Here you are, sir! I've found your ball. A Number 1 Dunlop.'

Bond and Goldfinger walked over to where Foulks was standing and pointing down at a ball. Bond looked at it closely. Yes, it was an almost new, Dunlop Number 1. But it was lying in a very good position. Goldfinger could easily hit the ball into the hole from this position.

How had the ball got there?

Bond walked away, thinking carefully. He watched as Coldfinger hit the ball out of the rough. It was one of his best shots in the game. Bond smiled at Hawker and said, 'Goldfinger was very lucky to find his ball in that rough.'

'It wasn't his own ball, sir,' replied Hawker calmly. 'What do you mean?' asked Bond.

'I saw him give money to Foulks, sir,' said Hawker. 'Foulks had a new ball in his pocket. He dropped the ball down the leg of his trousers. Then he pretended that he'd found Goldfinger's lost ball'

'How can you be sure about that, Hawker?' said Bond.

Hawker smiled.

'Because I put your bag of golf clubs on top of his lost ball,' he said. Bond looked surprised and shocked. 'I'm sorry, sir,' Hawker went on. 'But I saw how he was cheating you. I had to do something to stop him.'

Bond laughed.

'Thank you, Hawker,' he said. 'I know that Goldfinger has been cheating. But there's only one way that I can win now. I shall have to cheat too. And I'll have to cheat better than him! But how?'

Suddenly Bond had an idea. The Dunlop Number 7 golf ball which he'd picked up was in his pocket.

'Here,' said Bond quietly to Hawker. 'Take this.' He put the Dunlop Number 7 into Hawker's hand. 'After Goldfinger and I have hit our balls into the seventeenth hole, pick them up. Then give Goldfinger this Number 7 Dunlop, instead of his Number 1 Dunlop. He mustn't see that you have changed the balls. The two balls look almost exactly the same. And the shape of the numbers 1 and 7 are similar. Goldfinger will start playing with a ball that isn't his own. That means he'll be breaking the rules of the game.'

'That's a very clever trick, sir!' said Hawker.

At the seventeenth hole, Hawker did as Bond asked. Hechanged Goldfinger's Dunlop Number 1 ball for the Dunlop Humber 7 ball. Then he gave the Dunlop Number 7 to Goldfinger.

Goldfinger was very pleased. He thought that he was winning. There was only the last hole to play - the eighteenth. Goldfinger placed his ball on the tee and Bond watched him nervously. Surely Goldfinger would see that he was playing with a different ball! But Goldfinger didn't notice that anything was wrong. He swung his club and hit the ball well. It landed in a good position on the fairway.

'Good shot!' said Bond in a pleased voice. Now he would win the game because Goldfinger had hit the wrong ball. Goldfinger had cheated Bond, but Bond had tricked him. And Goldfinger didn't know!

Goldfinger hit his ball easily into the eighteenth hole. Bond didn't try to win. He hit his ball badly so that it went past the hole. He had to make more shots than Goldfinger, so that he was the loser. He picked up his own ball and Goldfinger's ball out of the hole. Goldfinger's face was shining with triumph. He thought that he'd beaten Bond.

'It's clear that I'm a better player than you,' he said.

'Yes, you are very good,' said Bond, glancing at the two golf balls in his hand. 'Wait a moment!' he said in a surprised voice. 'You play with a Dunlop Number 1, don't you?'

'Yes, of course. Why?'

'I'm sorry, but you've been playing with the wrong ball,' said Bond. 'This is a Dunlop Number 7, not a Number 1.' He handed the ball to Goldfinger and Goldfinger stared at it. His face went pale as he looked from the ball to Bond, and then back to the ball.

'I'm sorry. That means you've lost the game,' said Bond softly.

'But - but —' began Goldfinger angrily.

Bond stood and waited, saying nothing. 'It was your caddie who gave me this ball at the seventeenth hole,' said Goldfinger. 'He gave me the wrong ball'

'I'm sure that's not true,' said Bond. 'Hawker, you didn't give Mr. Goldfinger the wrong ball by mistake, did you?'

'No, sir,' said Hawker. 'But perhaps the mistake happened when Mr. Goldfinger lost his ball in the long grass. Perhaps he picked up a Dunlop Number 7 instead of a Number 1.'

'That's impossible!' said Goldfinger angrily. 'You saw that my caddie found a Number 1, not a Number 7.'

'I'm afraid that I didn't look closely,' replied Bond. 'Thanks for the game. We must play again one day.' And he started to walk away.

Goldfinger followed Bond slowly, his eyes staring coldly at Bond's back.