The Washington times., 1930-07-25
70 IN SECOND
DRAWS
SPOTLIGHT

)
It is rare national open that
doesn't thrust some golfing I'm
known" into the limelight. Dark
horses, 50 called, belong in a diff
ferent category. We refer to
players who are virtually unheard
OF before they make their big
splash. and who promptly recede
into obscurity again.
At Interlachen, 23-year-old
Charley Lacey was initiated into
this fraternal order Of "odd gojf-
ing fellows"-playerS who spring
up from nowhere, threaten for .
brief spell to upset all calcula-
tions, and then vanish as mystert-
ously as they appear.
A 10 In the second round
turned the spotlight full upon
Lacey. The stolid English boy,
who looks as though he had been
brought up on Yorkshire pudding
roast beef and boiled mutton,
started near the tail end Of the
procession.
These unknown soldiers Of golf
are always late starters, their OBJ
scurity insuring them the least
favorable playing times. They bob
up on the scoreboard with an in
credibly low round just when re-
porters have completed their
night leads and are all set to
call II q day. Naturally those
leads" have to be torn up and q
new introduction written. All
this endears the unknowns to golf
writer's. who are gluttons for work
and revel in revamping leads.
with . 36.hoIe aggregate
Of l44, Lacey deadlOcked
Jones and Cooper for second
place at Interlachen's half
way house. Charley slipped
on the final day, bat didn't
fade out Of the picture, as
most Of these surprise con-
tenders do. A brace Of IT'S
earned him seventh position.
Occasionally these unknowns re.
tain their grip on flames ladder,
and thereafter are factors TO be
reckoned with, but generally they
are swallowed In the dust Of
oblivion from whence they Sprang
At Winged Foot. Leona d
Schmutte was up with the van
after So holes. He wilted over
night.
What has become Of Roland
Hancock, the husky Carolinian,
who stood the experts on their
ears at Olympia Fields? You
haven't seen his name in the
papers since, though, but for an
eleventh.hour attack of buck
fever, Hancock would have won
the championship.
Ratified by the huge crowd
which surged about MIN on the
sixteenth tee. when specta tors
suddenly learned that he had a
chance to win, Hancock lost his
touch and kicked away two preci-
GUS strokes. He finished one
stroke behind the deadlccked
leaders.
Hancock should be elected
grand sachem Of the postwar
Blue Mooners"-a golfing lodge
restricted to obscure players who
enjoy their brief hour in the sun
and never Again appear in the
role Of contenderS. The raw
boned mountaineer from Carolina
came the closest to inScribing his
name on the cup, since he ilad
Jones and Farrell pocketed when
he exploded on the last few holes.
Two SIS would have tied for
Hancock!
John Black, the pipe,smoking
ex-carpenter, who migrated from
Scotland to California, might dis
pute Hancocks right, to leader
ship Of the Blue Moon Lodge.
Black was a seven-day sensation
ct Skolzie in 1924, but who ever
heard Of him before or since.
"A pair Of us put Blacks
name in sport page headlines
eight years ago. That 36-hOle
total of 142 gave Black the
lead over Jones, SaFaxen,
MehIhOrn and Hagen at SkO-
kie's halfway post.
The phlegmatic Scotchman
didn't crack under pressure on
the last day either. He finished
75-72. but Sarazen's breath-tak-
Ing SO ON the last lap noSed out
Black by a stroke. Those critics
who wrote that a new star had
risen in the. golfing armament
soon discovered that dour old
john didn't really belong in such
fast company. He had played 10
strokes above his head.
BOwden's Bid
Jack Burke, though something
Of an unknown when he led Ray,
Vardon, sDiegel, Hutchinson and
Jones with nine holes to 60 at
Inverness, later demonstrated
that he wasn't q false alarm.
Burke just misses being q top
notcher.
George Bowden was the first Of
the postwar morning glories.
When Bowden, an unsung pro-
teSsional attached to the Com