Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-04

Il -Lne winner lies among
those three" The speaker
was Bobby Cruickshank, COM
patriot of Tommy Armour, one Of.
the finest golfers who ever came,
out Of Scotland and somewhat Of,
a contender in this championship
today as the final twin rounds,
started in the national open golf
championship. Tommy Armour Is
out of the championship, blasted
out by the very iron shots at
which he is said to be the worlds
master, but Bobby Cruickshank,
who tied for the championship
with Bob Jones back in 1928, still
is contender with real chancsi
to win. -
Nevertheless Bobby, who stands only .
shade over feet in height and is an
outside choice to win, says, watch Mad,
Smith, Hagen or Billy Burke" q.
Cruickshank barely gives George Won
Elm a tumble as the tournament enters
its final phase today, even though the
business man golfer, who won the anna
teur championship back in 1925, wagI
leading the pack as they squared away
for the final joust over the 36-hole route
that would decide the 1881 open cham@
pionship and the successor to the one
and only Bobby Jones. d
T ETS see how Cruickshank's predic.l
II ton looks. In there at IA, with
scintillating second round of co.
stands Won Elm, out in front by one
stroke, which Is not q particularly en-.
viable position just before the final 80
holes in the open championship. It
means that Won Elm must stay in the
lead and that is not an easy thing to z
do. One stroke back of him are Eddie
Williams and Billy Burke, at las. Two
strokes back Of him are Guy Paulsen Of
Fort Wayne, Charlie Guest, Herman
Barron and Mac Smith, at 146, and two
strokes back of them come Walter.
Hagen, the great "Haig," at 14s, tiedr
with Johnny Farrell, Joe Turnesa,=
Mortie Dutra and Leo Diegel. 10
Diegel is in there chiefly by virtue Of
an eagle ace scored on the thirteenth
hole yesterday afternoon, after the for-r
mer Washington pro had about given up
hope OF getting anywhere in the tourna-~
ment in which he finished in a tie for
second back in 1920. Inverness has
been kind to Leo. It gave him his
real start in big time tournament golf
and yesterday 1t yielded his second ace
within two months and his first In A.
national championship. Leo's truly hit
tee shot at the 145-yard thirteenth
found the bottom of the cup giving him :
new lease of life after he had vowed
ne was ready to start back home to-
lower Mexico. Only one of the WASH
ington entrants remains in the tourna-
ment and as we predicted several DAYS
ago that entry is Monro Hunter of In
dian Spring. Hunter barely qualified
for the f1nal day Of play with 36-hole
score OF 156, but he qualified, which
puts him in the first so golfers in the.
world. There were nearly 1900 en-
trants in the open championship and
with the title chase narrowed to So
entrants. including the British stars
Hunter must be ranked among the best
IN the world. He qualified where SUCH
stars as Allis, Duncan and others
failed.
A L HOUGHTON of Kenwood was out
IA OF qualifying for the final day by
only one shot, but that one shot
looked like million. Houghton missed
enough shots on the last nine holes yes-fl
terday to put him safely in the tourna-
ment, and his failure to qualify is noth.s
ing short OF tragic. Fred Mcleod Of
Columbia left last night for Washington
after two disappointing rounds of 162.
strokes. One hundred and fifty-eight
was the last score to qualify for the
final day and Hunter shot exactly that
with cards Of 70 and 80. Houghton's
scores were n and 90, for q total Of
159, and McLeod's were 82-32, for
1854 totals II Hunter plays well today
he may. not have to qualify next year
by scoring in the low 80 and ties in
the championship. But he at least has
the satisfaction of knowing that he Is,
among the best SO professionals In the
world.
Can you imagine Tommy Armour.
acknowledged the best of iron players,
going five over par on two par 3 holes?e
Yet that is what Tommy did yesterday
the British open champion out Of q
chance to add the American open
championship to his three major
crowns. Tommy holds the British open,
the Canadian open and the American
match play titles. But he failed dis
mally yesterday. No matter how well,
he plays today he cannot win, for he
was IA strokes back of the leader as !.
the final round started, and that is too
Of golf
The real battle. just as Bobby Cruick-~
shank said, lies among Mac Smith.
Hagen and Billy Burke. To be sure,1r
Won Elm and Farrell are in there within
q fine chance to win, but when experts,
like Cruickshank like the chances Of
three men like these they are usually
about right
PERSONALLY we like Mac Smith as
L o stretch runner. Any man who
can play the golf he has played
for so many years and been denied o
championship is sure to come through
some time, and this looks like the spot.
There is no Jones in there today to-
thwart the Carnoustie veteran. Billy
Burke is playing very well. So is
Hagen, but the "Haig" Is working hard
for his scores while the scores Of the
others come fairly easy. Farrell had
great round of 10 yesterday. which
included a on the par 4 flfteenth.M
but John cannot be expected to keep
up that blistering pace after his open
ing round of 10. think the cham-T
pionship belongs to Mac Smith and at
the risk of going far out on a limb
predict that when pay-o6 time comes
late this afternoon Smith will be the
boy who gets the big silver cup.
All the scores from $50 down to Won
Elm's leading IA have q chance, but
the business man golfer had lot Of
good breaks on his first two rounds
and Is due for some bad ones today.
1t looks as II Mac Smith may finally
win big time tournament.