Evening star., 1940-06-06
As Participant She'd
Be Tee Sensation,
Ayers Harlow
Diffenboueh First Off
Among D. c. Players;
Heofner Ace Hitter
BY WALTER McCALLUM,
Star Staff Correspondenr

CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 6.-The
44th National Open Golf champion
ship of the United States opened
over the Canterbury Golf Club
course here today, but a woman is
the big story.
She's positively the finest woman
golfer who ever lived said Bob
Harlow. IF she were playing in
this championship she'd be SEN
sation. She wouldn't win by a cou-
pie of miles, but she'd make some of
the boys appear like pikers from the
tee. And she'd score all right, too
OF course. Harlow was talking
about Babe Didrickson. the time
muscle moll of golf The Babe used
to have an idea that the fellow
who could hit the ball the hardest
won all the marbles 1t didn't mat
ter where the ball ended, or
whether she scored. That was pea
nuts to the Babe. Hard hitting was
her specially, and she did that all
right.
But she's forgotten that now"
said Harlow. Il played with her
at the Country Club here yester-
day, and over a very slow course
she breezed around in IS without
any putting luck. She's a cinch to
win that Western Womens Open
championship later this month.
Helen DettWeiler of WASHINGTON
happens to be the defending cham
pion.
Hits Up With Jones.
why, she knocks that ball so
far she even hits EN- up with Bob
JONES'" Harlow said. Il watched
her playing with Jones and she vas
actually past Bob a couple of times
Put her in this championship and
she'd be real sensation.
The Babe has just returned from
Australia, laden with diamonds, and
with George Zaharias, her wrestler
husband. She isn't ever going to
win any medals for beauty. Every
one agrees on that.
But some of the sirens of history
have done worse" Harlow said. She
has couple of fur coats, flock of
! a Ill l1UllA w )OQ.
and a great golf game. She could
do worse"
Of course, it's all in the angle
you take
Bridegroom Lewis Worsham. the
bright star of the Washington trio
of entrants in this tournament,
thinks that any score around 288
will win the championship. Lew
hasn't been around many Opens.
This is his second, and Lew, as be-
httlng youngster, is properly i'm
pressed with the big parade of stars,
the championship surroundings. al
ways gaudy in themselves, and par
ticularly with the course.
Yeah. think 288 will win" said
Lew. But it may be lower"
That lower happens to be impor-
tant. 1t will be lower. You can
bet on that. The main trouble here
is not in getting to the greens.
They are wide open. 1t lies in
thick. overlying rough that bends
over ball and makes it quite a
problem to play an iron shot. And
behind the green's there's plenty
of grief. This tournament will be
won not by the bold fellow who is
rapping the ball at the pin, but
by the man who either hits the car
pet or keeps within chipping dis
tance. It's practically impossible
on lot of holes to get back from
behind the green close enough to
hole the putt. If you 60 over, you
have a hopeless shot left
Talk of Benny Hogan.
First of the Washington starters
today was George Diffenbaugh of
kenwood, listed to get away at 1912
daylight time with couple of guys
named Joe. Gene Larkin of Wood
mont was to start at 1855. which
really means that Gene will start
around 1:30. The inevitable waits
will slow the field Worsham was
to start at 1913 under the new 7
minute lapse between groups, play
ing in threesomes for the first time
in the history of the Open. We
wouldn't know the reason for the
threeSomeS, but it saves wear and
tear on those long suffering scorers
of other years.
Most of all among the big names
around Cleveland you hear conver-
sation about Betting Benny Hogan,
the mighty mite from New York,
who has played four rounds at
Canterbury in something like seven
under par. Benny is mighty man,
but he isn't that good. Or the u. S.
G. A. chose the wrong course. And
you'd never get any competitor to
admit that after a look at the
tangled rough and the slippery
greens. But Hogan is the feared
entry. He'll probably finish about
fourth, behind some fellow like
Snead or Guldahl or Nelson. Or
he might grab it all. This tourna-
ment is sports greatest gamble and
Benny happens to be a gambler.
Jimmy Thomson is tops as the
long-hitter, however. Jimmy belted
one 304 yards against the wind here
yesterday to top all entries in the
driving contest. Blond Clayton
Heafner, the barefoot kid from
Greensboro, won the other part with
total yardage of 8O5.