Evening star., 1938-07-12
Walper
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and caused him to muff a sand-trap
shot,
All the Mid-Atlantic entrants made
the match play grade. Andy Gibson
of Baltimore had $50 to ease in by a
shot and Erie Ball of Charlottesville
got in via the play-off route. winning
his spot with par on the first hole.
Cox has played in five P. G. A.
championships and four times has
been dropped in the first round. WAL
per went to the third round OF the
1886 championship in his first at
tempt. Gibson and Ball are new
comers to the big show of pro match
play golf
Both down in the lower and tougher
half of the draw, Walper and Cox
drew tough hombres right off the bat
in the opening round of the tourney.
And both Of 'em might be tossed out
on their ears in that opening round,
but somehow have hunch that one
and maybe both Of 'em can whip the
giants they meet today. Walper, hot
as an infantryman's dogs, meets Gene
Sarazen, the 1922 and 1882 open
champ, who won this crown in 1922
And if I was a betting man I'd take
slice of Leo, about 2 to l. Gene
should be at least that. He is known
as the match playing killer. Yet I
can't get over the hunch that Walper
may take him. They both qualified
with las and If there is one thing
Walper does not think much of, it's
regulations. The guys with reputa-
tions have to produce to lick him.
They started at 10:40.
Cox Battles Revo,ta.
Ten minutes later Witty Cox set
forth from the first tee against the
Chicago guy with the Lincoln profile,
1885 P. G. A. champ, and probably the
finest putter in the field. John Re-
volta is the guy Wilfred has to lick
to get to the second. That's no
cheese assignment in any company.
And to stretch the thing out further,
there is the remote chance that if
Walper and Cox both win they will
get together in a later round of the
tournament.
One Of the strange things about the
whole business is that a lot of men
who know about those things are pick
ing Guldahl to kick the gong around
until he wins the P. G. A. champion
ship and sticks it up on the shelf be-
side his national open and Western
open crowns. That never has been
done before, and probably won't be
this time, for Ralph has not shown
anything so far to justify the belief
he can win this one. But he can,
just the same. The knock -kneed guy
from Texas is the finest f1nisher in
the game today. Put him past those
two 18-hole matches today and he can
win. What final it would be to see
Sam Snead and Guldahl in there, the
great koncker Of a golf ball against
the great concentration, who is Gull
dahl. The guy concentrates so that
he does not even recognize his pals
when he is in tough spot.
But when it comes down to sheer
concentrated concentration you have
to hand it to 110-pound Clarence
Yockey from Kansas City. Clarence
needed bird 2 on the 234-yard last
hole to qualify. About as big as an
oversize mosquito, he knocked that
ball to the green and canned q 25-
foot putt for the deuce. That's what
call unadulterated nerve packed
into flyweight frame.
A holed pitch shot for an eagle 3
on the third hole started Moore of on
his birdie rampage, but the 29-year-
old from Mamaroneck was nervous
as he rolled down the last few holes.
Moore is Jimmy Farrell's assistant at
Quaker Ridge and st. Augustine and
is quite a gambler on golf. Denny
Shute, the defending champ, didn't
play the second medal round.
Seven Fails to Perturb Cox.
Witty Cox wasn't annoyed by that
luscious 7 he piled up on the 35th
hole. What of it," he said. Il
couldn't win the medal and was in,
so it didn't make any difference"
Walper spent six hours practicing
between rounds to straighten out his
iron shots. How well it worked is told
in the yarn that he missed only one
green in his 10 round. Marvin Stahl
finished with three birds In q row
for 1873. That 2-4-2 finish was some-
thing to watch. Walter Kozak was
coasting along nicely until he hit
the 35th, an easy paris hole, If you
keep the ball straight. He hooked
two shots into the woods and wound
up with for 152, one shot outside
the play-off.
Erie Ball blames q dynamite blast
for his on the short 18th. The big
boom across the Delaware rocked
the tee Just as Erie hit his ball. He
thumped it into q bunker. Henry
Nettlebladt is the same guy who gave
Bob Jones a headache back in 1922,
when Henry played amateur golf.
Bob just lasted to lick the shoemaker
from Brockton, Mass. The play-off
started just as a big thunderstorm
broke over the Poconos, and the best
mudders won. Leo Diegel. the birdie
kid himself, put on a great comeback,
clowning and kidding the gallery.
Leo bagged lve IS on the last to
come home in 81 and qualify. He
won the champiooShip 10 yoar1 an.