Evening star., 1932-06-27
HAVE NEVER SEEN
EX-CADD|E' EQUAL
Jones' BriIIiance PaIed as
Gene Plays Daring Game
to Win U. S. Open.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

there any end TO the orgy
of scoring in national
golf championship when
some gent really gets himself or
ganized to win? What do world
records mean in golf, and can
there be said to be a deadline of
excellence beyond even which the
modern masters cannot step?
That is what the dizzy and complete
" befuddled golf writers of New York
and the East are wondering today as
they think back on that final days
stand by Gene Sarazen which won him
the national open championship on Sat-
urday with the most devastating burst
of golf ever seen on championship
golf course. These blase onlookers at
every national have seen the great
Jones rise to heights which they thought
could not be surpassed. They have seen
Hagen at his best, Won Elm and Farrell
topping the crest of excellence and they
have seen the methodical Billy Burke
pounding his way along the middle OF
the fairway to a national title.
THEY have watched Tommy Armour
l. and Leo Diegel burn up dozens OF
golf courses, but today they are
asking themselves and each other:
"Where is the end to be? Can any one
beat the stuff that Sarazen put on? We
thought Jones was great, but Is not Sar-
azen greater?" Veterans of scores OF
national championships have put those
questions to me- and have shot them
right back. For golf writer's have no
fayorites They watch 'em all and are
friendly with them all. Their job is to
tell their readers why Whoozis won or
why Whatsit failed to win. But they
are completely befuddled today, these
veterans of scores of championships, as
they think back on what Sarazen did
last Saturday. These are the men who
mold the golfing minds of the world
with what they say about golf and golf
ers. But even their blase eyes never
have looked at such spectacle as that
which the sturdy little Italian-Ame
can put on to win at Fresh Meadow.
GONE will say: well, Gene had
- every advantage. He knew the
Fresh Meadow course. He was the
pro there for four years" That means
nothing. At least dozen professionals
around New York know Fresh Meadow
as well as Gene, have played 1t nearly
as much as he has and certainly had
all the advantages of course knowledge
which he was supposed to possess. so
there can be only one conclusion.
Sarazen alone had the golf necessary
to shoot the layout in 286 strokes.
Gene has always been famous for
hair-raising finishes. He put on his
first purst at Skokie 10 years ago TO
win his first major title, and he never
has stopped doing that very thing. But
in all the years he has been up IN
the top flight Gene never has shown
anything like that last 81 holes he put
on to win the dash down the stretch
to the wire last Saturday. Ten years
ago Gene was the dashing kid pro-
fessional, going for every shot, taxing
all sorts of chances to get a shot al 2
birdie, gambling with fate TO WIN. de
has not changed a bit in his attitude
toward the gamble with destiny.
LIE still is the same dashing, gam
il i bling golfer, but a greater shot
maker than ever he was before:
Not once after he caught and passed
Phil Perkins, at the sixty-third hole
last Saturday, did any one think that
Gene could do otherwise than win the
championship. He was stroktng the
ball SO well and playing with such ao-
solute accuracy and precision that no
one even thought he could lose. The
only question was the winning score.
Gene went into the sixteenth hole with
a lead Of two strokes over Perkins and
Cruickshank. Perkins had taken
at this par-5 hole, blowing 3-footer
for his par.
Across the fairwsy, about 43o yards
from the tee, stretches big-deep pun
ker. Most of the boys preferred to
play short of this bunker with their
second shots and then pitch to the
green, which made the hole safe II
the third shot was straight.
But SaraZen doesn't play golf that
way. He blasted a tee shot straight
through the middle of the fairway and
then burned q blistering brassie shot
straight up the alley, carrying the bun
ker by Is yards. His putt for barely
missed and Gene was in. The danger
spot was past. He could then get two
IS and win by shot.
T SIMPLY tell this to show the kind
i Of golf Sarazen was playing He
took every chance and they all came
of. And, furthermore, they all came
off from great shots. Not scrambling
golf at all. The wonder of it is that his
score wasn't lower than it was. The
sixteenth is the same hole where Hagen
took a Z a little while before Sarazen
passed. Had Gene taken a there
might be a different story today. But
he took the winning chance and 1t came
of and no one even thought II wouldn't
come of.
He's a great champion, and he doesn't
have to prove IL any more. Away back
in the dim history Of the game Harry
Vardon won the American and British
titles In the same year. Bobby Jones
did it in 1926 and 1880 But no profes-
sional ever has been able to do It since
Vardon. and the game has speeded up
considerably since the days Of the Jer-
sev marvel Yet Ssrazen has done i
this year. shattering one world record
in winning the British and tying the
American record in winning that title.
Can more be said of the gameness of