Evening star., 1939-08-10
Simon Pure Will GET
Prize, but No Title
Il He Is Winner
Chevy Chase Is Rumored
Tourney Site; Purse
Of 81, 500 Likely
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

history OF the tournament the Mid
die Atlantic Professional Golfers
Association championship affair,
which promises to be one of the
best of the year. will be opened this
year to amateurs. 1t will be the first
time in my recollection that a Sec
tional P. G.. A. championship will
be open to simon pures. The P. G.
A. Journeys heretofore have been
solely for professional golfers be-
longing to the national body.
Yes, we are planning to open the
tournament to amateurs this year."
said Ralph Beach, president of the
Middle Atlantic P. G.. A. And we
hope We'll get good bunch of the
best amateurs from Washington.
Baltimore and Richmond playing in
it."
No Title for Amateur.
What if an amateur wins?" l
asked Ralph.
We'll, of course he couldn't hold
the title, not being a pro-" said
Beach. But he would get quite a
piece Of merchandise as a prize,
or medal. The title, of course,
would 60 to the first scoring pro-
The tourney, to be played in Sep
tember at an unnamed Washington
club, will carry prize money around
$500, according to Al Houghton,
who has been acting as promotion
manager for the affair for more than
month. Enthusiastic AL, who ought
TO be salesman instead of a golf
pro, claims to have raised more than
81 900 already, and with pledges and
promises he already has, he predicts
the affair will carry total purse
OF somewhere between $2,500 and
$4,000. This would make it the big
gest money affair held in Washing
ton IN many years in fact since
Columbia staged the national open
championship of 1921. The National
Capital open championship held at
Kenwood for four years, never car
ried more than S2500 with first
money around $700.
1T will be a 72-hole medal play
tournament said Beach, Ito be
| held over the best course We can
find" Rumor has it that Chevy
Chase has been chosen by the pro-
fesslonals as the spot for the tour
ney. But Chevy Chase. has made no
announcement, and it is known that
Chevy Chase is hard to get as the
venue for a major tourney. 1t is
club with heavy membership play.
and a 72hole tourney would close
the course to the members for three
or four days.
September looms as fairly heavy
month for the links addicts. if the
P. G. A. tourney is held next month.
There's the District public links
tourney running September 5, 6, 7
and 3; the National Amateur cham
pionship at Chicago starting Sep
! tember II and running a full week,
and the District amateur title tour
ney at Burning Tree for three days
starting September 20. That would
leave the last week in September as
the logical week for the Mid Allan
tic P G. A. tourney, which is prob
| ably the week to be chosen. In any
event the courses begin to round
into fine shape at that time, after
the ravages caused by summer.
Walker Current Champ.
Leo Walper, the big boy who runs
/ driving range near Bethesda, has
won the title for the last two years.
But Leo hasn't been playing too we'll
lately. He hasn't won anything in
weeks, barring few bets from
Brick Wood over at Washington.
However, Larruping Leo has
way Of coming up with a winning
surge when he needs it most. I'll
never forget the nerve of the guy
last year as he sat on the porch of
the Chamberlain Hotel at Old Point
Comfort, in the middle of the de-
tense OF the title he had won the
year before. At the 36-hole halfway
mark he was four shots behind the
leader. So Leo took flock of bets
he would win the tournament. Not
that he'd finish second or third, but
that he'd win. That took nerve and
conf 1ence
And he did Win He came to the
last two holes with two easy pars
| to win by two shots. He got those
steady pars. That's the kind of
fellow Walper is You can't count
MIN out until they ring the bell for
the new champion.
Several inquiring folks have asked
about the Women's Western cham
plonship now in progress at Detroit.
Isn't that the same one that Helen
DettWeller won in June?" they ask.
1t isn't at all. The tourney now
on is the womens closed Western
championship. 1t isn't open to pro-
tesslonals. The one which Helen
won was the Western womens
open" which means it was open
to pros and amateurs alike. But
most of the girls playing in the cur
rent affair also played in the open"
Maybe some day they'll let the
feminine pros play in all of them.
At Congressional they are plan
ming another winter trip to Pine
hurst. like the trip some Is of the
club members took last December.