Evening star., 1938-12-18
Free, Open Applause
NOT Held Harmful
ToLinks Star
Vet Pro Greatly Fovors
UntrommeIed Gallery
Expression at Meets
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

BY WALTER McCALLUM.
Golf tournaments with organized
cheering sections and petite cheer
leaders doing cartwheels as the boy
friend rams home long putt never
may come. but take the word OF
Horton Smith, the "hush-hush" at
titude you observe around the ma
jor links events is so much hokum.
Lanky Horton, a golf pro who has
scrashed the Social Register, would
be the last person you'd think would
be in favor of untrammeled gallery
expression, but he's in favor of less
OF the quiet, please" attitude and
for free and open applauding and
open conversation while shots are
being made.
Smith is one of the more modest
and quiet pros. Coming from him
the idea of less 'huSh-hush" around
golf tournaments is like a proposal
from Jack Dempsey for serving tea
between rounds at a prize fight.
But Horton, as boss of the Spal-
ding caravan, tried out the more
conversation" idea for three years
and found it didn't interfere with
golf. The boys were playing for
keeps, too. During the tours of
Smith, Jimmy Thomson, Lawson
Little and Harry Cooper, galleryites
were advised they would not be re-
quired to keep mum while the shots
were being made.
Golf Innovations Due.
II have no objection to normal
behavior, conversationally or other
wise, as far as the gallery is con-
cerned during golf play" said Hor-
ton. LAS a matter of fact, I think
we will see tournaments played
under less hush-hush conditions
before very long. During our three
year tour we never asked any one
to refrain from talking. Sometimes
we announced the gallery could
talk and carry on freely. We found
the atmosphere was much more
congenial and enjoyable for all
concerned"
It's strictly in line with the
change going on in golf. Part of
tbs upsetting process came at the
Westchester open last September,
where Mr.. George Murphy picked
up the tab for several grand, in a
S13,500 tournament. One of Mr..
Murphys innovations was construc-
ton OF two grandstands for people
with aching dogs, at strategic points
on the course. These lazy gallery
ties didn't spare the horses in the
cheering league, and there isn't any
record of player being upset by a
burst OF applause.
Guldahl Concentrates.
or course not all golf pros have
the concentration of Ralph Gull
dahl, the Morse hero who holds the
open championship. You could
touch of 10-inch gun under
Ralph's stubby nose as he stoops
over a putt and it wouldn't disturb
him. They tell a lot of yarns
about Ralph's concentration, but
che best OF them came out of Denver
last June, from the facile pen of
Herb CRAFTS, the Chicago wit.
After Ralph had holed the win
ming putt on the 72nd green. Ralph.
according to Herb, walked over to
Laverne Guldahl, the wife, and
said: ut was good tournament.
wasn't 1t? Wonder who won it,"
That one, if true, tops all records
Tor concentration. Or would q
thick London fog be closer to the
truth?
Tournaments have been lost bv
no1se-maybe. You'll hear a lot of
talk about the gallery marshal at
Oakmont back in 1919 who un-
corked 10,000-watt Quiet, please. :"
while Bobby Jones was at the TOP
OF his swing in his f1nal-round
match for the amateur champion-
ship against Davie Heron. There
was lot of talk about that but Bob
was licked anyway, without the
6elp Of the marshal.
Sarazen Never Flurried.
I don't recall that Gene Sarazen
needed any Quiet, please" or any,
thing else but confidence when he
carved wedge shot out of a bunker
at Fresh Meadow in 1882 to win the
open championship. There hap
pened to be about 10000 creaming.
yelling fanatics within 100 feet of
him at the time.
a But I do recall the deep. deadly
Silence that hovered over those thou
sands at Oakmont in 1927 when
Tommy Armour lined up a 12-
footer to tie for the open crown,
and the same dense fog of silence
that hung over thousands more at
Winged Foot in 1929 when Bob
Jones slithered another 12-footer
Into the tin for the tie with hard
luck AL Espinosa.
What Horton means is that in
the less tense moments of a golf
. match, when the big shots are being
made, there isn't any need for rapt
quiet. But Horton wouldn't like
1T, don't believe, if some one
started an "Osky-wow-wow" as he
swung back on 4-foot putt for