Evening star., 1932-06-27
AMAZING COURAGE
HIS WINNING EDGE
Shoots Seven Under FoWs In
British and U. S. Opens.
Finish a Thriller.
BY FRANCIS J. POWERS.

n NAASAASSg OGAAC Gts-1C4lC
4 Sarazen's achievement in
~ winning the 1892; United
States national open golf
championship will magnify with
time. There never has been any,
thing in the 500-year-old history
Of golf quite equal to the par
breaking charge that Sarazen
started over Princes, in winning
the British open championship,
and carried across the snarling
bunkers of Fresh Meadow.
Sarazen's victory at the Mead
ow niched him with Bob Jones as
a double winner of the worlds
major open titles in the same
year and his score of 286 duph-
Gated the lowest figures in the
history of the United States open,
made by Chick Evans 16 years ago.
5arazen won in one of the greatest
finishes the open ever has known.
There have been others In which two
or three men were IN the battle when
the final nine holes started, but here
there were i've great shotmakerS-Pni
Perkins, Jose Jurado, Leo DiegeI and
DIN Dutra-in addition to Gene. There
Is little to choose between the five In
the mechanics of shotmaking. But
Sarazen topped his four nearest rivals
in one important aSset-composur and
nerve control.
THE last Of the challengers to start
i the final march, Sarazen was in
what is known as the nerve-break-
ing position. AS his most dangerous
opponents finished the first nine and
then the inside half of the final 18
holes, news of their performance drift
ed back to the stocky little italian.
First he heard that Perkins was out
in 35 and then that Cruickshank had
turned in 33. That never feazed Sara
zen. His answer was to go out in 80.
Gene was standing on the tenth tee,
waxing the heavy grip of his driver,
when friend rushed up and said,
Perkins finished with 10 for a 28o.S
With grin, Sarazen wrapped his short
fingers about the shaft and replied,
Follow me, kid" And back he roared,
nghtlng as unruly gallery as ever
rushed in the wake Of a champion, in
"a for Sc.
7 ALWAYS viii like to remember
i Sarazen on the final green. With the
gallery Of 10000 pushing at his heels
ne fired his second shot into a pit to
the left Of the green. Police fought
path for him to the bunker and the
crowd trampled Willie Kline's ball
that was only II feet from the pin
into the sod. Without waiting for the
marshals and police to calm and quiet
the crowd, Sarazen waded into the
sand, whipped back his niblick and
dropped the ball feet from the pin.
And then while Kline, desperately
sought TO putt his ball, Sarazen flung
himself full length on the soft green
turf. When quiet was restored he
walked boldly to the ball and drove it
into the cup. Dempsey against Firpo,
Ruth in world series or Sande in
the pack of the Kentucky Derby never
showed more nerve control.
Sarazen's cards in the British and
United States opens are worthy Of
study. He finished five under IS at
Princes and two under at Fresh
Meadows, a more difficult course, last
week. No one else, not even Jones, ever
has duplicated that performance. His
last ~ holes at Fresh Meadows were
played in 32-32-34 or 10 strokes
under IS. And over the same course
that for two days had buffaloed Gene
and one hundred or more other fine
players.
UHAT. then, Is responsible for this
w great play by Sarazen, who is the
same young fellow who had
striven unsuccessfully for 10 years to
win the National Open. For one thing,
he has developed an improved putting
touch-a touch softer than a silken
glove and an eye deadly as that Of
a Marine rifleman. He has added dis
tance to his wooden shots and control
to his long irons But more than all
that, he has conquered himself. The
SaraZen of other years would have been
dismayed by the 74-76 start made at
Fresh Meadows and fought his inner
self more violently than the hazard Of
the course. The 1882 Sarazen took his
bad start complacently. He continued
to play steadily and without ever los
ing confidence in the same fortune that
guided his shots at Princes. When
the doors opened his irons were at a
white heat and his skill never faltered.
Without any undue aggrandizement, It
is safe to call Gene Sarazen the great
est golfer Of the day. Gene soon will
go after the P. @. A. championship
and II he wins that he will have, in
asmuch as is within the power Of q
professional duplicated the grand slam
made by Bobby Jones in 1880. Bobby
saw Genes finish at Fresh Meadows