The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-06-06
GROUP OF SEVEN TO DECIDE U. s.
 OPEN GOLF TITLE
(ihezzi and Mangrum Have Real Task Ahead to
 Hold I-StrOke Lead
BY HENRY McLEMORE Limited Press Stan CorrespOndent)

1 United Press Stam COEreSpOuuenV
 Springfield, N. J., June 6 --(UP)
 The maddest field ever to ccKrl- 1 pete in the National Open Golf 1 championship, makes the run down 1 the 56-hole stretch that leads to
 gold and glory today.
 At the finish, which will come
 just about the time the sun sinks I heyond the Orange mountains which shelter the Baltrusrol Coun-
 try club, new champion will be
 crowned, and the opens winning
 mark of 286 (which was establish l ed by Chick Evans in 1916 and tied ! by Gene Sarazen in 1932) will be
 broken.
 That a new champion will be crowned is certain, for the defend-
 ing champion, Sam Parks, Jr, of 1 pittsburg, wilted under the pres- sure of the first 36 holes and failed to qualify for the final A man had to have @ score of 151 or better for ] the first two rounds to stay in the running, and portly Sam, who came out of nowhere to take it all
 a year ago, could do no better than
 15S.
 The record, shared by Evans, who
 barely squeezed in for the final i drive, and Sarazen, seemed hope 1 1essly doomed. When the boys went l to the first tee today nine of them l had half-way scores that shaded par. The leaders were fortified by
 half-way scores that shaded par. The leaders were Vic Ghezzi, the biz and very handsome pro from
 Deal, N. J., and Ray Mangrunl, the Pittsburgh bridegroom with the size n Adams Apple. Ghezzi spun 8 pair of 70's to gain his place in the limelight, while Mangrum mated a three under par 69 with a 71 on yesterday.
 One stroke behind, with 141's, were Denny Shute, 1883 British Open champion; Henry Picard, the chocolate drop'em kid who scorch- ed the winter links; Harry Cooper, the Tight horse" boy from Chicago and Johnny Revolta, Abe Lincoln's counterpart in golf. One stroke further removed was Tony Manero, a ahy little veteran from North
 Carolina, who bet $l00 on himself before the tournament started, at 142 and dangerous as cobras were Ralph Guldahl, the St. Louis
 sharpshooter, and Charley Kocsis,
 the University of Michigan pride, and winner of the recent Big Ten" title.
 Just . notch below, in the IA bracket, were such red-hots as Paul Runyan, "little poison" himself, and Jack Munger, the Dallas anna ,teur who shoots as if he made a
 living from the game.
 Behind the men named, and within eight strokes of them were such illustrious golfers as Ky Laf- foon, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen,
 Macdonald Smith, and Jimmy 1 Thomson. But these fellows weren't conceded a chance by the experts,
 despite the old golf adage that any
 man within eight strokes of the leaders at the halfway mark con-
 stituted @ challenger.
 The experts felt this way for two
 reasons. In the first place, par never !, took such whipping as 1t did in
 the first two rounds here. The course is far and away the easiest on which the National has ever
 been played. In the past, @ 69 or ! 70 would life man out of the ruck { and place him in the running. But
 those days are over. Here at Bal
 tusrol a fellow who can't break par
 gets no attention whatsoever. 1 The second reason for the critics
 feeling that the winner will come out of the first seven players is that this group is composed of "tourna-
 ment tough" competitors. Every last
 one has been through the grind be-
 fore ,and knows how to fight of ] those "last round" jitters. One, or
 two, or even three of them, may 1 collapse but it's hard to conceive of
 all--seven of them-folding up.
 The course will be harder today. 1 The club officials were up at dawn to set back the tee markers and
 shift the cups of the most inacessi-
 ble parts of the greens. The course
 will play it's longest tomorrow, for
 to quote an official, "well have the
 baby right back on her heels" This isn't likely to add any
 strokes to the scores, however, for
 the fairways are so baked that even { from the deep tees there isn't likely
 to be many holes that can't be
 reached with a driver and an iron.