Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-24
HANCOCK, A DARK HORSE,
BLOWS CHANCE FOR TITLE
North Carolina Youngster JUS, Misses Honor When
He Takes e on Each of Last Two Holes
Armour Lands in Fifteenth Place.

J after two previous days in which. a.
Bohby's partner, he was never able t
strike top stride.
Farrell's birdie on the final hole
due chiefly to smashing brsssie thai
/ carried 240 yards to the green, was
| the final gesture of brilliant day
/ Playing perfect golf i'll his morning
round Of II. Johnny had few lapSes IL,
! the afternoon. but one Of them, on
! that long fifteenth. nearly proved his
| Waterloo. He was i'll trouble all the
/ way down that stretch of SIS yards and
only the most courageous stroking en-
/ aoled him to get even a 6, one over par
! Armour Finishes Fifteenth.
| Seldom have national championship
hopes been strewn through the woods
and bunkers, Pathways and greens, as
they were today Tommy Armour, the
defending. champion, exactly equaled
the score that gave him tie at Oak
mont last year with Light Horse
Harry Cooper. but ii was seven strokes
behind the leaders today and left HIM
in fifteenth place. Cooper was elm
mated yesterday.
Walter Hagen, the dashing "Haig.
who doomed as Jones chief threat after
his spectacular 80 on the closing nine
yesterday. struggled to get 70. rs for
his final two rounds and finished with
296. tied for fourth place. Just back Of
Hancock, with George Won Elm of De-
troit, the former amateur champion.
who furnished one of the big surprises
Of the tournament by putting together
four seadily fine ROUNDS of "a, 70, rs,
1896.
Stocky Gene Sarazen. partner of
Jones on those last two narrowing cir
cults. kept getting better while Bobby
slumped, but the best he could do was
tie for sixth with rounds of rs, T6, 70,
72-2e9 tying with six others-Henry
Ciuci. Joe TurneSa, Macdonald Smith,
Densmore Shute of Cleveland, Bill
Leach Of Philadelphia and Ed Dudley of
Los Angeles
This group was full Of shattered
hopes. Dudley broke the champion
ship course record in his morning
round today with a sensational 65, three
under par and the best single round Of
the entire tournament by two strokes,
but he couldn't keep this pace up.
Ciuci, the young Stratford. Conn, pro-
fessional, blew up with an 80 on his
last round after sharing the firN days
lead and sticking within two strokes
of Jones on the next two rounds.
Leach likewise threw away his pros
poets with closing so and so did Willie
MacFariane, the scholarly Scot, who
tctaled 300 after three fine previous
rounds of 70, IA, 70.
Hancock Flashes Suddenly.
Hancock, the outstanding dark
horse of the tournament, was, like
Il rffn1-Ae tao pty of 1Anpc Ef
the start of today's 36 holes and APP
parently out of the running. He shot
a fine To for his third round. but this
moved him up only single stroke and
he wasn't given any attention until he
suddenly went wild on the final out
going nine with 50, 2 under par. In
one fell swoop the burly young South
erner. son of golfing father, had wiped
away Bobby's entire advantage with
stroke to spare.
When he not only kept up this pace
but actually clipped another stroke OF,
gained another stroke on Jones, with
only two holes 10 60, the gallery went
pell-mel after him. The thousands
they only helped to accomplish his
downfall.
At the seventeenth tee there was a
wait of six minutes while marshals
tried TO handle the crowd, and Han
cocks nerves started TO sag. He sent
his tee shot sailing $50 yards, but 1t
struck a little mound and bounced of
behind a tree. It Was bad lie and
he topped his shot. moving the ball
only S feet and into thick grass. AS
If this wasn't trouble enough his third
was sliced behind tree to the left
of the green and his fourth trickled
across the carpet He took two more
to get down, q on par-4 hole, and
his morale was shattered.
Slicing again from the eighteenth
Tee. Hancock's ball landed behind
tree. from where he played safely out
to the fairway. But he still was game.
Taking a spoon he brought off beau
tiful shot. but 1t bounced of the green
and into the grass to the left, His
pitch went 20 feet 10 the left Of the
pin as he lost control. but he made
one more heroic effort 70 tie the
leaders, failing when his putt stopped
8 inches short of the hole and forced
him to take a 6. Broken hearted and
unstfung he walked to the clubhouse,
nevertheless with one Of the biggest
oYations Of the day ringing in his ears.