Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-17
WASHINGTON PRO PROVES
HIS COURAGE in BIG TEST
Scotchman Sinks Twelve-FoOt Putt for Birdie on
Eighteenth Hole of Oakmont's Terrifying
Course to Get Draw With 3Ol Score.

| they never can take that away from
him. He sank the putt under the
! greatest pressure known to golf. wber
the bottom Of the cup and that alone
would give him another bid at the
title every one thought he had thrown
away at the twelfth.
Makes Strong Finish.
| Sagas could be sung about that putt
and the great iron shot that preceded
it. Poems of victory could be written
around the way Tommy played the
last six holes of the championship
chase, about the explosion shot he
| played from bunker at the six.
teenth. and the putt at the seven.
teenth. which was in until the final
inch, and, above all, about the heroism
of the putt that dropped in at the
eighteenth to tie.
No greater feat ever has been &C.
complished in the world of golf. eX.
cept possibly Bob Cruickshank' putt
to tie at 1nwood in 1923. But Cruick.
shank's putt was only s feet long
and was over a fiat stretch Of green.
Afmour'S yesterday was over tor.
turous stretch Of grass that yielded
up it's secret only to the firmly hit
bali. 1t was the climax to a notable
day--a day that saw Armour fading
at the turn in the afternoon, appar-
entity throwing away the champion.
ship at the twelfth and then snatch.
ing it back from the red rim Of de-
feat at the eighteenth to win another
chance.
1t was a day that saw Bob Jones
deliver up his title chance to his own
buddie--Tom ciousiy
and willingly-with the hope that
Armour wins today. It saw Mehlhorn
romp over the first nine holes in 80
10 under par, and then blow on the
last nine holes when he had q grand
chance. And it saw Cooper. charg-
ing Centaur from the Pacific Coast
and careIessly toss the championship
to the winds on the seventeenth,
where a would have won and where
he took puts for a from q dis.
tance of not. more than 8 feet.
Lead Frequently Changed.
These last rounds of the open
championship would set any one but
a hard boiled performer plumb crazy.
for the lead gravitated from man to
man as the leader missed a shot and
a new contender came to the front.
Both Tommy and Harry had the
won IOSL dH
through the afternoon. The tie was
an unexpected climax, for NO one
expected II to come when Tom had
a at the twelfth hole. and both
threw it away. time after time,
while the remainder of the field
struggled futilely to catch the fading
leaders.
At the end OF the fifty-fourth hole
there was little to IL but Cooper and
Armour, even though there was
Hagen. the dangerous, at 226, one
shot behind Tommy and two shots
back of Harry. Hagen faded into
oblivion long before the turn. to fin
ish with an ingiorious 81. Bob Jones
had virtually dropped out, with
70 over the morning round, needing
super golf to win.
That left Armour and Cooper to
struggle for the honor and the bundle
OF pelf that goes to the winner. And
what a struggle 1t was. Cooper fin-
ished far ahead of Tommy. at least
an hour earlier, and runners came to
Tommy telling him he needed a So
over the last nine to win and 81
to tie. Tommy was a shot back of
Cooper at the end of the. third round
with 225 to Cooper's 224. and had just
taken a disastrous at the ninth to
get out in 80. the same as Cooper.
leaving the Congressional pro stili
l shot back.
Maybe the couriers did well and
maybe they didn't. Anyway, Tommy
hooked his tee shot to the rough at
the tenth, played a midiron shot to a
bunker. q mashie to another bunker,
finally reached the green in 4 and was
down in 6. A birdie 3 at the eleventh
followed. where 25-foot putt drop
ped I'm.
Then came the terrible twelfth.
Tommy's tee shot lay in the rough at
the edge Of a bunker on this terrify-
ing hole. He hooked q spoon shot to