“Of course it upset me,” Nagle said afterward. “When you see a ball go down a fairway, and then you see a woman with blood all over her, it hurts. And especially when your next shot does the same thing.”

Neither woman was seriously injured. The woman with the head injury was taken to the hospital and received eight stitches, and she returned to the course in time to speak to Nagle, telling him not to worry, that the injury was not so bad. He reached into his bag and gave her three golf balls.

“I’m sorry that is all I have to give you,” he said, “but I’m so glad you are all right.”

Player was asked afterward whether he thought the episode had been the turning point of the round, which he won by three strokes.

“I don’t know,” he said.

Kelvin Nagle (some sources say his full name was Kelvin David George Nagle) was born in the Sydney area on Dec. 21, 1920. He began golfing when he was 15 or 16 after working as a caddie and in the shop at a golf course near his home. He entered military service at 19 and served during World War II.

He took up golf again in earnest, and by 1949, he had won his first Australian P.G.A. title. Even so, early in his career he was a long hitter with little control over his shots, and after a trip to the United States in 1951 (during which, he recalled years later, “I was in the boonies all the time — the rough”), he modified his approach, working on a shorter swing and polishing his chipping and putting until he became known for his short game.

During the best stretch of his career, from 1960 to 1966, he finished in the top five at the British Open every year but one, and won the French and Swiss Opens in 1961 and the Canadian Open in 1964, edging Palmer again.

He played in professional competition as a senior into the 1980s. In 2007, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Information about survivors was not available.