New Britain herald., 1927-06-17
JONES TO WATCH HIS TITLE PASS
Tommy Armour and Harry
 Cooper in Playof Today

Oa,-mont, June IT R1Bobby Jones today will watch two other golfers play off a tie for his crown of open champion o, the United States. Tommy Armour of Wash ington and Harry Cooper of Los An geles, tied at the end of 72 holes with scores of 301, have removed the champion from the picture. There have been two other play offs since Jones began to take an active part in open championships seven years ago. but he was a player in- stead of a spectator in both.
 Although the champion will not be named until Cooper and Armour have fought out an extra IS holes this afternoon, one victory has al- ready been awarded. The Oakmont course, a nightmare to many of the participants, won hands down from all concefhed. No player was able to string four rounds of approximate ly par together. Only two players were able in any one round to beat the 72 par at all and if any one had been able to club the traps into sub mission sufficiently to compile four 75's he would have won.
 Tommy Armour. golfing Scot. won the right to contest further with Harry Cooper, British born but American trained golfer. by an ex- hibition of the daring that has made him famous as a player always will ing to take a chance. The Congress sional club pro came to tho 18th green after a round in which less stout heart would have broken, need ing a birdie three to finish with the leading 301 Cooper had contributed some time before. A drive. almost down the middle and far enough to be useful, left him something less than 200 yards from the green and only two shots left if the Armours were to be considered in subsequent cham pionship developments. Ar mour, noted as a truly great handler of irons. needed no debate with him. self as to his program. He tore into the ball and sent it right on the pin, determined to get close enough to get down, The shot carried straight and true and came to stop 12 feet from the cup. There was one stroke left and it was enough. The putt went into the cup and a recount was necessary to decide the champion.
 Cooper had led all day for his good 74 in the morning round left him with a 54 hole total of PA, stroke ahead of Armour, at lunch con, The afternoon brought no path of roses for the Californian, for his card was cluttered up with trio or sizes and just before the finish he gave away a stroke to par at the i7th. He finally limped home with 77 and Armour knew what he had to do. Out in 39, he started home with high hopes, although he had started with a six on the par five first nole where birdies were not uncommon. Needing 36, one over par. to win, and g to tie, he took six on num- Der 10, and after three at eleven. a gloomy seven at number IF, where the score at any time may be what have you." this left him in a sit nation where to tie he had to do six holes in three under fourA He did just that thanks to the birdie at the close.
 Bobby Jones had plenty of com- pany. The champion was tied for 11th place. the lowest position he has ever occupied in an open com- petition, but Bobby Cruickshank, heavily favored to win before the play began, had the same score of 309 and Johnny Farrell. another favorite. was only one stroke better. Bill Mehlhorn. smashing records for the event. with a sensational 32 out, finally got 3O5 when he took Al hard blows to get home. Gene Sarazen was third with BOP after a bad 80 in the morning and Emmet French, playing as a tar heel although nei- ther born nor bred in North Carolina, came with a rush to finish with 304. Walter Hagen. with a great chance to win cracked wide open with an s1 to wind up his challenge. Two visiting Britishers were well up. Archie Compston with 30S and Arthur Havers scoring BIO.
 The IS hole play off, starting at two o'clock this afternoon was ex- pected to be full fireworks. It will offer a study in contrasts. Amour. the silent Scot, will proceed in ortho- dox fashion while it would not be surprising to see Cooper the To- quacious youth. adopt a catch as catch can policy. Cooper. a carefree young man who is willing to chat with his friends as he plays along. believes in hitting the shots and let ting the ball fall where it will. Coop CT may cause Armour to shudder with some terrific wooden club shots and long butts and Armour is just as apt to break his opponents heart with his deadly irons. It was sug- gested before the play that the scores may be in the high 70's or in the low sos. They won't be very low. Oakmont has dealt out much more punishment than 1t has suf- fered in the last few days and it has by no means lost its punch.