Evening star., 1938-09-18
TITLE WIN BY 81
PRESSES RECORD
Coast Golfer Never Given
Chance by New Yorker
After Third Hole.
BY WALTER McCALLUM,
Star STAFF Correspondent.

star sta1 Correspondent
PITTSBURGH, Pa, Sept. 17.-Willie
Turnesa Of Elmsford, N. Y, blazing
sand wedge and red-hot putter, won
the United States amateur golf cham
pionship at Oakmont Country Club
this afternoon. The combination Of
Willie and an automatic bunker shot
licked craggy-faced Pat Abbott of
Altadena, Calf, 8 and Z, in the final
round, one Of the largest winning mar
gins Of modern simon-pure champion
ships.
Touched off by series of uncannily
accurate bunker shots that enabled
him to 1-putt 8 of the first 18 holes
in the scheduled 36-hole final, Tur-
mesa, first New Yorker to win the
title in five years, and the youngest
member of famed golfing family,
literally wedged and putted his way
to the title.
He had IA 1-putt greens on the 20
he played today. most Of them coming
from accurate wedge shots from the
bunkers up against the greens-for
Turnesa's game from tee to green was
no marvel of accuracy. His wedge and
his putter were the lethal weapons
which showed the Unconditional Abbott
under In the shadow of the Oakmont
Clubhouse before gallery of not more
than 5000 Pittsburghers.
Abbott, who hadn't had hot round
in this championship, might as we'll
have tried to stop the Mississippi with
q paddle as to try to stop the merciless
wedge work and uncannily accurate
chipping and putting Of Turnesa.
Turnesa Close to Par.
Frankly, Abbott never deserved to
reach the final round, as a glance at
his record will show. Turnesa, on the
other hand, played % holes Of the
rugged Oakmont course today in l
over par. He scored "A on the first
half of the trek, to go to lunch up
on Abbott's over par 79. He played
the third nine in 2-under-par 35
this afternoon and was s up.
He missed one of his few puts OF
the round on the 2Sth hole, 5-footer
which would have closed out the match
there. But merciless in his assault,
he flung high 7-iron shot feet
from the pin at the final hole OF the
match. half-heartedly slid the putt
past the edge of the tin and shook
hands with the loser.
The entire story of the final match
Is compressed into the bunker play
and the putting of the 23-year-old
Turnesa. far better golfer than the
man he beat here today.
And wonder what Johnny Fischer
thinks of it all. Johnny blew l5-inch
putt in the third round to enable
Turnesa to slide by him into the cham
pionship.
Abbott, a good 5-handicap player
whose best score in match play In this
championship was II, never had
chance. He was outclassed as COM
pletely as selling platter running
against a Man O. War.
Abbott Steadily Outdriven.
Abbott was able to win only three
holes In the entire match, while
Turnesa was piling up his winning
margin by taking IL. Turnesa out
drove Abbott consistently by as much
as 80 yards, even though the new
champion is not slugger from the
tee. All through the championship
Turnesa clung to scores in the neigh
borhood of IS, which is hot golf on
this par 70 course. Abbott, on the
other hand, was winning with scores
In the high 7Os and as high as 80.
Turnesa was trapped IA times during
the duration of the match. Nine times
he came out of the Oakmont bunkers
for a single putt. Against such ac-
curate bunker play and such putting
only an iron OK could have stood. And
Abbott, as cool and methodical COM
petitor as you'll see in many q year,
Is far from an iron OK. He is just an
other good golfer. There are hundreds
OF those around.
Turnesa graduated last June from
Holy Cross and at present is not en-
ployed. He probably will land with a
brokerage house, if he doesn't turn
pro. Six Of his older brothers are golf
professionals. Most famed of them Is
Joe, who tossed the open champion
ship Of 1925 out of the window with
duffer finish.
Willie Gets Lead Early.
From the third hole of the morning
round which Willie won with par 4
to square the match, he had his roman
nose in front. He was up at the
ninth, S up at the 18th and he won the
10th to 20 6 up. After that it was just
Q matter of hanging on until the holes
ran out.
But Abbott, in there trying, with a
chance If Turnesa blew few shots,
kept on plugging away. He won only
one hole Of the matinee engagement,
the third, when Turnesa's usually
deadly chipping went temporarily
awry. Turnesa had one stretch Of
three 1-putt greens this afternoon, two
of them after brilliant trap shots prac-
tically dead to the pin.
A cool, steady performer and the
supreme stylist of the current crop
Of amateurs, Turnesa first came to
the American title tourney in 1882
at Baltimore. There he tied for the
- last qualifying spot and lost in a
play-off with John F. Brawner Of
Washington.
For five years now he has been
touted as . coming champion, but
always some hot golfer barred the road
He was out in IS against George
Dunlap at Brookline in 1884 and ran
into . 81 to lose But this year, once
by the tough Fischer, there was no one
to stop him.
He had some baG moments in the
semi final against Ed Kingsley Of
Utah, where he was only up with
6 to go, but once past the copper
sampler from the Western mountains
he turned on the heat.
The final this afternoon was q
breeze for Turnesa. Few Anal rounds
in the amateur championship have
heop co 10 ~ 3y,o ", thrills evey, tho Q28