Evening star., 1935-06-06
REMOVE MENACE
AS PLAY STARTS
Smooth FurroWed BunkerS,
Making Sand Wedge an
important Club.
BY W. r. McCALLUM.
Etaf Correspondent Of The Star.

Stripped of the Frankenstein
me-ace of the furrowed
bunkers that have shot the scores
tkyward In other championships, Oak
mont today promised to be far easier
test than it ever has been in the ma
tlonal open golf championship which
started early this morning for Olin
Dutra's crown.
Twenty-SiX of the enormous holes
In the Pennsylvania landscape. which
pass for bunkers here. have been
brought back TO normalcy today. No
more is Bob Jones statement true
that nothing but a weak brain and
strong back is needed to plav
bunker shots at Oakmont. and forti-
ned with the knowledge that the sand
wedge can be used again with some
finesse the boys prepared to slay the
dragon of the furrowed trap that al
ways has thwarted them over this
course.
Gives Sand Wedge Chance.
IF THERE is one implement of the
modern game which has brought
down the general scoring level in golf
championships and particularly among
The pros. it is the sand wedge. 1t is
useless in furroWed traps. where the
ball sits down in three-inch crevice
but the traps. on orders from the
U. 5. G. A. are smooth today-26 OF
ttem-all around the green's. There
may be something doing in the scoring
line over this course. which always
has been the one course able to turn
back the leading professional par
busters OF the world. and it NAV well
be that all The predictions of high
scores made before the tourney started
will take a severe bump. The change
was made, it was explained. because
Of driving rain which fell through
most of yesterday afternoon. films
some Of the traps with water which
remained in the burrows
How Capitalites Figure II.
HERE are the predictions of the
Washington entrants as 10 I'll,
Winning score after their practice
'AA@- AZ AlNAN' 4bbloAlNl NOIl-
gresslonal pro, says score Of 294 vii
oe made; Leo Walper of Bethesda
says some one will do 293. Al Hough
ton. more experienced at tournament
play. sticks to 296 as his figure.
Cllff Spencer sides with Houghton
adding that any fellow who has foul
74s can pack up his bags and wal
for the winning check Saturday aft.
ernoon. Meanwhile. Fred Mcleod in.
slsts that 300, or an average of IS. will
not be broken; Gene Sarazen sticks
ny his 298 winning prediction, ano
Craig Wood sWears by the same
figure You can take your choice.
Personally, we think 296 will be
and their burrows or lack of them
the pros are playing better golf
nowadays than they played eight years
ago when Harry Cooper and Tommy
Armour tied at 30l for the title.
Mackenzie Going Strong.
THE four Washington lads wound up
their practice rounds in a dismal
rain which cut short their shot
making. Roland Mackenzie stood on
the practice tee for five solid hours.
hitting balls alongside of KY Laffoon
and Joe Turnesa.
How are you going. Roland?" we
asked him. Ask KY" Roland an
swered. and Ky said if there is one
guy who has been underrated in this
championship, it is Roland Ten
years ago the young man scored 145
hnlnc A1
win the amateur championship medal.
and he is as good today as he was
then. He may go somewhere Al
Houghton is perfectly we'll satisfied
with the way he is playing, but he
insists that the championship is going
to be won four feet from the cup.
These greens are so darned tricky
and so fast that you have to play
them differently from anything we
know around Washington"
Starting times of the local lads to-
day are as follows: Mackenzie. 10: :35,
with James Edge of California
Houghton, at 1l:35 with Macdonald
Smith of California: Cliff Spencer. at
11:45, with Bob Campbell of Philadel-
phia. and Leo Walper. at 1910. with
Carmen Bill of Cleveland All times
are daylight saving, one hour earlier
than Washington time.
Foreign Menace Is Real.
MORE and more the foreign menace
looms. and it doesn't come from
the visiting japanese either. One in
Vader is carrying quite bulk of the
betting money, an Englishman from
South Africa named Sid Brews The
Brews man is a medium sized stocky
fellow. with a typical English style,
who is better chipper and putter
than are most of the British. He is
good enough to win. but it isn't likely
that he can crash the American bar
rier
Harry Cooper wound up his prac-
tice rounds with a 81. five under the
par of y. One round like that in the
championship. with three other ordi-
nary rounds, would sew up the tourna-
ment, but today the boys are playing
against the pencil and the score card.
They have TO knock them all in the
hole today. No more conceded puts
will count. and every stroke taken will
be recorded.
Oakmont is such course that one
man may have five-stroke lead with
nine holes to 90 and toss it away with
one bad shot. 1t looks like great golf
ehannionShin