Win, Lose Or Draw Bunched Scores Longshots Grab by FRANCIS E
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L , SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1940. Finest Open Golf Field in , Years Bitter Stretch Battle for Crown m Stages —-<• *_______ V Win, Lose or Draw Bunched Scores Longshots Grab By FRANCIS E. STAN, Star Staff Correspondent. Give 20 Stars Sammy Snead ... At Spring Mill and Canterbury Roles in Drama CLEVELAND, June 8.—As these lines were written, the calendar for Samuel Jackson Snead was flipped back a year. Here today the ex-caddy from Hot Springs. Va., found himself in another dogfight for the National Title Chance Pressure Golf As Of Open championship. the final 36 holes started he found him- pelf in a three-way tie for the lead with two other fine shot makers and with more first-class Gibson of Baltimore contenders literally breathing on his neck. Linksmen Fall But 'Name' because Samuel Jackson Snead almost generally is accepted as In Three the smoothest-swinging and longest-hitting accurate golfer in the busi- Running; As Little and Smith ness, he was being regarded as the favorite among Canterbury's hills and D. C. Pros Out dales this morning and this takes us back a year to the Spring Mill Challenge Snead course on the other side of Philadelphia. By WALTER McCALLUM. Star Staff By EARL HILLIGAN. Brother Snead then, as now, was running at the head of the Correspondent. pack. Associated Press Sports Writer. He warded off the usual late and needed two on CLEVELAND, Ohio. June 8.—A charges only pars the — bitter, bruising battle down to the CLEVELAND, June 8. They last two holes to win. But he buried the seventy-first hole and, as you final putt stretched ahead of at “mobbed” the payoff window today may recall, he wound up with an incredible 8 on the seventy-second. least two score of competitors in the in failure It was the the drama of pressure, interesting way the experts speculated on Sambo's National Open golf championship and future. Some that Snead was finished as a victory that is golf's biggest guessed competitor. This today, with a pot of gold that might cham- seemed to be the most popular conviction. And, remembering the run as high as $30,000 assured the gamble—the National Open crushed, dazed look on Snead's face and his numbed shuffle to the club- winner, on top of the $1,000 check pionship. house, it sounded highly reasonable. that is his immediate payoff. Promising what may be the great- Not in many years of Open cham- est finish in the history of a tourna- pionship history have the scores ment well marked by heartbreak He to Came Back Win the Miami Open been so bunched as they were at and disappointment to favorites and Another angle was that Brother Sam didn't have the imagination Canterbury today as at least 20 men, the sudden rush of longshots to to permit that ghastly 8 to haunt him and after the first 36 holes in this all within five or six shots of the trio fame, 21 of the game's finest stars of leaders at the mark, were within a six-stroke Open it would seem this angle was closer to the truth. For Sammy, after halfway leadership sought to drive and putt their way bracket as the final 36-hole stretch hiding away for some months, gradually returned to the wars and looked clear of the pace and move out in drive started at Canterbury course. like the Snead of old last December when he won the Miami $10,000 Open. front over the final lap this after- Deadlocked for the 36-hole lead But, of course, Snead hasn't finished the last 36 holes in this Open. noon. Gone from the tournament at 141 strokes were two top power Not as this is written anyway. So far he has shot a remarkable 67 and a scene were such modern luminaries players, “Slamming Sam” Snead 74 and he was tied with Lawson Little and Horton Smith, both of whom as Jimmy Demaret, the 30-year-old and Lawson Little; and one of golf's he figured to beat, for the lead. In other words, Snead was right where Texan with a million-dollar grin, style artists, suave Horton Smith, one of the favorites, one-time Ghost” and he was a year ago in Philadelphia—out in front, rated over the rest of pre-tournament “Joplin boy and blond Clayton Heafner. Both wonder of the sport. Their battle the field and with the final two nerve-racking rounds to go. withdrew yesterday after discour- toward the game's biggest crown— As it looked today, while the 66 survivors of the original field of aging performances. with almost a score of others ready 170 were for the stretch run, Snead faced no test in nearly poised easy Up at the forefront of the proces- to take advantage of any slip—car- his bid for redemption. The two golfers with whom he is tied and the sion, with 36 holes to go. were three ried the prospect of as colorful a fourth man. Frank Walsh, may not be the best in the business now, but of golf's finest shotmakers. Sam free-for-all as the event ever has they are sound shot makers and only two strokes back of Sambo. In the Snead, long ago installed as the known. choice in this cham- slot, where many prefer to be on the final day, was Ben Hogan, co- people’s betting nmu, cam comer sneaa. pionship; 32-year-old Horton Smith, favorite with Sneaa when the tourney began. Snead, who lost his on the a veteran of these title jousts, and grasp title a with a broad-shouldered Lawson Little year ago disastrous eighth, turned in a card of Fell were tied for the lead with 141 for 2-over-par Only Demaret, Big Favorites, by Wayside of 39-35—74 to add to his two rounds over the par 72 Canter- yesterday Again the National Open, like any other sustained fair test, has Thursday round of 67, five under bury course. The championship proved that form counts. Of the six golfers who were regarded as might lie among these three. Or it regulation figures. standouts before began—Snead, Hogan, Wood, winds, dor- play Craig Byron Nelson, might fall to phlegmatic Frank Canterbury's tricky and mant two roared over the fair- Ralph Guldahl Jimmy Demaret—only the latter is out of the run- Walsh, a son of the Ould Sod. at days, ways a rain which ning. Demaret withdrew yesterday—although he undoubtedly could 142. or to Sam Parks or Benny during squall BOTH HAVE TROUBLES—“Smiling Jimmy” Demaret (left), big air. At right Walter Hagen wandered into the dandelions on the sent Sam at the sixth hole. have qualified fot the final 3fi holes had he kept plugging. But the Hogan, at 143, or to any one of the reeling winter money golf winner, blew up with an atrocious 81 in the fifth hole, but got out (arrow shows ball) and contrived to He took 1 over par there and 3 Texan knew he couldn't spot fellows like Snead. Guldahl and any- flock of other men whose halfway qualify Hogan over for the out nine. scores stretched back to 149 Cham- second round of the Open golf championship yesterday, but was for the final grind today with a 152, just one shot under the line. Coming where from nine to a dozen strokes and win. so he quit. home, he and tradition picked up three strokes on all of the leaders who had chances pionship precedent still smiling as he tore up his card and tossed the into the —A. P. Nearly today to win belonged pieces Wirephoto. six holes, then ran into trouble at virtually tosses out any competitor near the top. It follows that none is a duffer. WTalsh never thp short 17th 2 over precisely more than eight strokes back at the going par. The has won anything important, but he is a fair sort of a golfer. Sam halfway point. broad-shouldered Little, work- tied with Hogan, won the in 1935 but. he was a dark ing on an opening 72, came in with Parks, Open withal, Gibson in at 146. Baseball Crown Win Is in a card of 36—33—69, horse. There are some others who were shots—fellows like Jock Jinx 3-under-par long in Walsh, 37, Bucking Age Big Slump Averages Still there pitching, in a the kind of won Jim etc.—but spot playing golf which Hutchinson, jr.: Lloyd Mangrum. Andy Gibson, Ferrier, by a where couple of great rounds him the British and American ama- find large the contenders were the big leaguers. might win him the title, was Andy Gels Cenlraliles In National Open Golf Aces teur titles in 1934 and 1935. Smith and Little so do Dick Quest; Henry Picard, Gibson of belong, Jug McSpaden, Baltimore, the Scotchman Drops Batting Smith, tall Chicago professional, Armour and the In short, Snead shook off few from a who won the Metz, Tommy rest.. very public course, had nines of 36—36 to match par of the he knew he had to lick when the battle of Maryland Open of Record Scorer as top-notch golfers championship Free Nat Game 'Unlucky' In against his first-round 69. On 1938, rounds of Both Canterbury started. Andy put together Leagues the eighteenth Smith missed by an 71 and 75 for 146, and definitely has By the Associated Press. Chick Harbert of Battle Creek, So that's the way it looked as the early firing on the final day began.