Public to Open Linksman Champion
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by PUBLIC LINKSMAN JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. USGA TO OPEN CHAMPION Executive Director • .HILE VISITING the Westwood Coun- clubhead, and it's still the spirit which can W try Club in St. Lauis last summer, avercome the flesh. we naticed a lessan in pragress an the prac- The medal which Ed wan at Baltusral tice tee. The prafessianal was a familiar was his third USGA medal. He wan the figure, but to see him in a teaching rale two. athers in the 1940 Amateur Public was new to. us. Links Champianship at Detrait when he We had first knawn Ed Furgal in the was representing Utica, N. Y. He tied late 193 Os as a cantestant in the Amateur far the qualifying medal with a then- Public Links Championship. Later, he had recard 138 far 36 hales and played thraugh became a tournament professianal tauring four matches to. the semi-finals, where he the circuit. N aw this next galfing incarna- last an the thirty-eighth hale to. the even- tian was asa club pro. tual Champian, Rabert Clark, af St. Paul. So it seemed rather natural to. say jak- Two. years befare that, Ed had finished ingly to him, "You're daing mighty well secand far the medal, behind Walter Bur- far a club pro" when he came out far the kema. Many graduates af the Public Links third raund af the Open Champianship Championship have gane on to greater glory last manth at the Baltusral Galf Club, in golf: Burkema was PGA Champian in Springfield, N. J. He was then tied with 1953; Furgal is naw Open Champian. Ben Hagan far second place with a thirty- Befare Baltusral, Ed Furgol (no. relatian six-hole scare af 141, two. strakes behind to Marty) had thrice qualified far the final the leader, Gene Littler. thirty-six holes in the Open, the last time «Club pro?" Ed said. <'I'm a club pro. being in 1948. His best previaus effart AND a playing pra! I have an average af was a tie for 12th in 1946, when he had 71.5 strakes far more than a thousand 77-69-74-69-289. rounds af galf on the circuit in the last The Final Hole Decides ten years." The thin line between winning and las- Naw that Ed Furgal is the Open Cham- ing was dramatically illustrated many times pian, it" is fascinating to. think back aver in the last raund aver Baltusrol's great his story, his rise to the peak af his pro- Lawer Course, especially on the last hole. fessian. There are perhaps as many ways This eighteenth hale is 545 yards long. af beearning a champian as there are cham- The drive is downhill, with a braok, rough pians, but in golf they all have ane great and trees at the left and gaodly rough and quality in camman-determinatian. mare trees an the right. It is a tight tee That had to be so. in Ed Furgal's case, shot. The secand shot swings uphill to the far when he was 12 years aId he shattered left, across the curling broak, but the green his left elbaw in a fall from playgraund is within range af the second shot far a crossbars, and it never set right, with the good many players. result that the arm is permanently crooked Dick Mayer came to..the final hale need- at the elbaw, and rather withered. ing a par 5 far a seventy-twa-hole scare In a game which stresses the straight af 284. Instead, his drive found an unplay- left arm, 37-year-ald Ed Furgal praved able lie under an evergreen, and Dick that it's still the hands which swing the taak 7. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT, JULY, 1954 Next, Ed Furgol ,drove in among the and especially in his victory in the Ama- trees on the left,played a safety shot onto teur Championship last September. the nearby eighteenth fairway of Baltus- Littler'srounds at Baltusrol were 70-69- rol'sother, or Upper, course, and pitched 76-70-285. his third to the front apron of the green. Another player who captivated the gal- He chipped six feet past the hole. lery was William ]. Patton, amateur from Had Ed not holed that putt for a par 5, Morganton, N. C. His 69 led the first the story might have been different. For round, and he was very much in it until later Gene Littler hit his second shot to- late in the day Saturday. Finally he finished ward the eighteenth green and had the five strokes off Ed Furgol's pace. His 289 misfortune to have his ball catch a bunker not only won the low amateur medal but at the left.His explosion was excellent but tied him for sixth place. left him eight feet short. Had he holed Billy Joe has qualified for the last 36 the putt he would have tied Furgol's 284. holes in the last three Opens and is the There were many other ifs, but these only amateur to win gold medals for so three are enough to serve the point. If doing. Mayer had taken a par 5 or if Furgol had The Saturday before the Championship, missed his six-foot putt or if Littler had Ben Hogan reeled off a 64 at Baltusrol on holed his eight-footer, there might be a National Golf Day. He seemed to be at different name on the trophy for 1954. the peak of his greatness as he made ready Such are the charming and vexing vagaries to try for his fifth Open Championship. of golf. Only Ben, Bob Jones and Willie Anderson It was that kind of an Open. Like so have won the Open four times. many of its predecessors,it was often-lost. The littleTexan was in the thick of it But it was also won very affirmatively by for two rounds, being two strokes away Ed Furgol's four rounds of 71-70-71-72- from Littlerafter 36 holes.But he struggled 284, four above par. through a bad third round of 76 and could Here were the leaders at the various not make up the ground. stages: The respect which his fellow-profession- 18 Holes 36 Holes als hold for littleBen was evidenced in a .William J. Patton 69 Gene Littler 139 Ted Kroll 70 Ed Furgol 141 remark by Ed Furgol at the prize presenta- Bob Toski 70 Ben Hogan 141 Gene Littler 70 Lloyd Mangrum 143 tion. "1 can hardly believe I've won the Al Mengert 71 Dick Mayer 143 National Open," said Ed, "and I know Ben Ben Hogan 71 Cary Middlecotf 143 Ed Furgol 71 Al Mengert 143 here could give me two strokes a side." 54 Holes 72 Holes Hogan could readily win the Open again Ed Furgol 212 Ed Furgol 284 if time and circumstance blend. Whether Dick Mayer 213 Gene Littler 285 Cary Middlecotf 215 Dick Mayer 286 he does or not, he has enriched golf not Lloyd Mangrum 215 Lloyd Mangrum 286 Gene Littler 215 Bobby Locke 288 only as a champion player but as a'person. Al Mengert 216 Tommy Bolt 289 .William J. Patton 216 Ben Hogan 289 New System of Gallery Control Shelley Mayfield 289 Freddie Haas 289 Anew system of gallery control was one .-amateur .William J. Patton 289 of the most significant features of the When it was over, three names at the Open. Nearly ten miles of rope and 2,100 very top were new to that rarefied atmos- iron stakes, permanently rigged, were used phere: Ed Furgol, aged 37; Gene Littler, to protect every hole from tee to green. 23; Dick Mayer, 29. Spectators were marshalled completely off playing areas into the rough on the sides Littler. Patton and Hogan of the course, except for a few temporary It was Littler'sfirst Open. He turned walkways across fairways to facilitate professional only last January. In finishing travel between certain holes. second, just one putt away, he confirmed This innovation was tested by the largest 'l, the promise he has shown in recent years galleriesof which we have record for the 6 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: JULY, 1954 Open. Late on the first day the crowd fol On Saturday, when play was by couples, lowing Ben Hogan got out of hand on the the last pair started the fourth round at eighteenth hole, but BaltusroPs marshals, 3:17 P.M. and finished at 6:50 P.M.—an headed by John C. Smaltz, had things com elapsed time of 3 hours 23 minutes, com pletely under control thereafter. pared with 3 hours 26 minutes at Oakmont. The result was that more spectators saw more golf than ever before without having Every Club in the Bag to run, the contestants had eminently fair and uniform playing conditions and were This was the ninth USGA Championship not bothered in getting through crowds at hospitable Baltusrol, and the Lower and after the first day the pace of play Course never presented a sterner or fairer was unusually good for the Open. test. It was in glorious condition, thanks Golf is the only popular sport in which largely to Edward J. Casey, golf course players and spectators practically com superintendent, and his grand staff. Cary mingle, and sometimes this can be a great Middlecoff and Lloyd Mangrum, former nuisance to players. Claude Harmon sums Open Champions, were among many who it up this way: volunteered that it was the finest course on "Under the old system of gallery con which they had played in the Open.