Evening star., 1934-06-09
AIS THREE PUTS
PUT HIM IN OPEN
Enabled First-HaIf Leader
in Title Tourney to
Barely Qualify.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

ERION CRICKET CLUB,
M Ardmore, Pa, June O.
wv If Bobby Cruickshank,
4 ' L the dimunitive Scot who
holds down the pro berth at
the Country Club of Virginia,
is crowned national open golf
champion of the United States
this afternoon, he can thank AL
Houghton and his erring putter
for it.
For Cruicky, the fellow who was out
In front of the pack as the twin final
rounds of the championship started
at Merton today. only got into the
scramble for the open after tie with
Mel Shorey and Al Houghton. Cruicky
got in on the second hole of a play-off
down at Richmond, month ago, when
AL Houghton three-putted the second
extra hole after Bobby had canned
2o-footer for g.
1t appears as if the goltlng fates are
with Cruickshank First he gets in
play-off, then by all the gods of the
ancient game he should have been out,
and today he Is out in front of the
pack, sticking those pin-clinging iron
shots up against the hole and rolling
'em in. Cruickshank has been denied
for many years and this seems to be
his spot.
Has a Great Chance.
IF HE can keep on today banging
the ball around Merton as ne has
been doing for two days he can
wear the crown that eluded him back
in 1928, when Jones beat him in the
play-off to win his first title, the first
of l3 major crowns In between that
time and the present, Cruickshank has
had a rough road to hoe For time
he sold SHOES in department store in
New York. Hard luck Camped On his
trail until he landed the job in Rich
mond
Today he started out in front with
a great chance to win. But not far in
the rear a sinister figure loomed IN the
rotund and cocky Gene Sarazen. cham
pion in 1922 and 1882, three shots be-
hind Cruickshanks leading 142. Where
Cruicky put together twin rounds OF
IL, Sarazep gathered himself q 73
and n and the little Italian American
has been working hard for 'em. He
may come through, but he needs lot
OF golf and lot more luck.
As a sample of what he has been
doing he hit a tee shot into the ditch
on the eleventh yesterday, which
struck a rock and bounced into
playable lie in the rough. From that
spot he knocked the ball onto the
green and canned the putt for birdie
3, when it appeared like a probable
5 and maybe more. But for this hole
Cruicky might have broken par for
the first time in this championship,
for the little Scot was in the ditch
and wound up with 6-his only
bad hole of the round.
Four Are Close Up.
YAN ND back of Sarazen by two
~ strokes, punched at lat were
Horton Smith, Leo Diegel, Billy
Burke and Rodney Bliss, the latter
an amateur from Omaha. or this
group, Smith has the best chance. He
is the steadiest under fire and the
most likely to have hot third round.
Burke is steady but not brilliant,
Diegel will beat himself by his ner-
vous antics and Bliss just isn't good
enough to keep the pace.
Craig Wood, second money winner
of the Winter season, is out because
he hasn't kept pace with the chang
ing golf rules. After Craig had played
the wrong ball on the sixteenth hole
yesterday they dug up a change In
the rules which disqualified him for
turning in the wrong score after he
had played the wrong ball. The hard
part of it was that the bombarding
blond from Jersey grabbed 4 on
the hole after losing shot. He
should have added two strokes to his
card for playing the wrong ball.
Shorey Just Misses Out.
THE Capital delegation has van
ished from the tournament.
Roland Mckenzie of Congress
sional added a 79 yesterday to his
dismal SO of the first day for total
of l67. Mel Shorey, East Potomac
Park pro, barely missed qualifying for
the final day with total of l56, one
shot too high. But Mel put on
show of fireworks before he vanished.
He grabbed off three brides in a
row, starting at the fifth, yesterday,
to get out in 38, with in 1t, and
for a long time it appeared as II ne
would be sure to make the grade.
But the boys closed in on him late
in the afternoon and 155 barely got in.
So there were 63 of the lads play
ing today for the title which Johnny
Goodman has just about relinqu1shed.
They play 36 holes and at the end
there may be tie. Then again some
fellow may break away from the pack
and sprint out in front by stroke
or two.
Goodman, at 153, is II shots back
of Cruickshank If Johnny was hit
ting the apple well he might pick up
that many by a couple of hot rounds,
but he isn't, and he was due to be
uncrowned late this afternoon.
Temperament Hurts Diegel.
r EO DIEGEL, if he continues the
hot streak he showed to finish
the last nine in 80 yesterday,
may go somewhere, but the judgment
of those best informed in this golf
business is that Leo's temperament
bars him from winning. Mac Smith,
Freddie McLeod's perennial favorite,
Is in a good spot at 14S, but Macs
bad round is due today. He always
has one somewhere in the tournament
Joe Kirkwood also is in there at
148, but Joe seems to have a bad
round somewhere in his system in
this tournament also. Hagen, at 155,
is far back even for one of his char