Evening star., 1933-06-04
STRENGTH, LENGTH,
ACCURACY NEEDED
Sarazen, Hagen, Dutra, Ar
mour, Shute Rate Favor
ties at North Shore.
BY FRANCIS J. POWERS.

Il N1A4SAoS, u uIlc d Il6 VIII
| ner of the 1888 United
~ States national open gol1
championship that starts
over the North Shore Country Club
here Thursday will be a man with
strength, length and accuracy. Nc
accidental champion will be
crowned on the Glencoe fairways
for only a real star can survive
the test.
North Shore is in excellent condition
for the big championship. The greens
are fast and true and the rough has
been clipped so 1t offers no undue haz-
fairways. But those safe fairways are
narrow and demand needle threading
tee shots, while the long seconds also
Will demand unerring accuracy.
The winds will provide an additional
hazard to many holes and over the
three days several Of the holes will
demand different playing on each
round. I agree with Tommy Armour
that North Shore will be the best test
the Open championship has provided
IN many years.
A S the big field gathers at North
"A Shore for its practice rounds, five
players have been nominated as
favorites. Gene SaraZen, who will
stand in defense Of the title he won at
Fresh Meadow last Summer, of course,
Will be No. l man with the galleries.
Gene has been on tour for the past
six weeks and has been playing himself
into top form. He has not been I'M
usually keen in any of his exhibition
matches. but was hitting the ball well
in his frs. tries at North Shore.
Sarazen has every shot needed to win
this Open and he will need them all.
At Fresh Meadow, Sarazen was getting
home on many Of the holes with a
drive and No. iron. He will need
heavier weapons for his shots to the
green next week and his chances hinge
largely on how he plays those seconds.
Among the others rated highly In
pre-championship predictions are Wal
ter Hagen, Olin Dutra, Tommy Armour
and Densmore Shute.
Dutra slumped badly in the defence
Of the Metropolitan Open at Winged
Foot last week, but did turn in two
rounds-7I and 70-that should serve
as warning of what he may do at North
Shore If he Is hitting his shots con-
sistently well. Dutra normally is very
accurate from tee to green and that
will count for much in the National
Open. I have not seen him putt this
Summer, but memory Of his deadly
stroke on the greens In the P. g. A.
Open last Summer is enough to give
him high rating.
CHUTE is a splendid long iron player
- and also gets fine distance with his
woods. Although he is inclined to
have erratic rounds, many of the leading
stars concede him a fine chance this
shot among the favorites. The old
Duke is hitting the ball a bit farther
than during the last several years and
can make recoveries with all the skill
Of his palmy days. Putting Is the ques-
tion-mark in his chances. If Walter
can get OF to flying start and knock
down some long puts he may be hard
to check.
Armour would be my personal nomi-
nation for the leading favorite. The
Scot has trained long and hard for
this championship and Is especially keen
at the mo cent. He has played North
Shore so often this Spring 1t has be-
come as familiar as his putter and
there are no visible weak spots in his
game. Putting often has ruined Toms
chances in national championships, but
this Spring he has been very accurate
on the green's and his fine play to the
green's reduces the pressure on many of
his puts.
OF course, there are a dozen others
who may be at top form, and any one
Of them may break through to the
championship. believe the winning
score will be above 290 and that there
will be tie when the final scores are
posted.