Evening star., 1940-06-08
bunched Scores
Give 70 Stars
Tit|eChance
Gibson of Baltimore
In Running; Three
D. 6. Pros Out
BY WALTER McCALLUM.
Star STAFF Correspondent.

CLEVELAND. Ohio, June ga
bitter. bruising battle down to the
final putt stretched ahead of at
least two score of competitors in the
National Open golf championship
today, with pot of gold that might
run as high as $4,000 assured the
winner, on top of the $1,000 check
that is his immediate payoff.
Not in many years of Open cham
pionship history have the scores
been so punched as they were at
Canterbury today as at least 20 men,
all within five or six shots of the trio
of leaders at the halfway mark,
sought to drive and putt their way
clear of the pace and move out in
front over the final lap this after
noon. Gone from the tournament
scene were such modern luminaries
as Jimmy Demaret, the 30-year- -old
Texan with a million dollar grin,
one of the pre-tournament favorites,
and blond Clayton Heafner Both
withdrew yesterday after discour-
aging performances.
Up at the forefront of the process
sion. with 36 holes to CO. were three
of COLTS finest shotmakers. Sam
Snead, long ago installed as the
peoples betting choice in this cham
pionship: 32-year-old Horton Smith,
veteran of these title jousts. and
broad-shouldered Lawson Little
were tied for the lead with al for
two rounds over the par 70 Canter-
bury course. The championship
might lie among these three. Or it
might fall to phlegmatic Frank
Walsh, son of the Ould Sod. at
142. or to Sam Parks or Benny
Hogan, at 143, or to any one of the
flock of other men whose halfway
scores stretched back to l49 Cham
pionship precedent and tradition
virtually tosses out any competitor
more than eight strokes back at the
halfway point.
Gibson in at l46.
Still in there pitching. in a spot
where a couple of great rounds
might win him the title, was Andy
Gibson of Baltimore, the Scotchman
from a public course, who won the
Maryland Open championship of
1888. Andy put together rounds of
II and IS for 146, and definitely has
chance, if not to win, to get we'll
up in the money. The three Wash
ington entrants all are out. Gen
Larkin of Woodmont, with 78-78-
156, missed qualifying for the last
day by three strokes. Lew Worsham
of Burning Tree, with 78-S1-159,
missed by six strokes, and George
Diffenbaugh of Kenwood, disgusted
with his game, picked up early in
the second round.
Sam Snead, the betting hillbilly
from Hot Springs, Va, playing in
his fifth Open championship. was
the favorite, but Little, making his
first big bid for the title, and Horton
Smith, one of the few remaining
leaders of the Jones era, were no
easy men to shake off. Smith, his
f1awless putting touch keeping him
in front, harked back to exactly 10
years ago today at Minneapolis,
where he led the pack at the. half
way mark with 140, one stroke less
than his total today. At 80, tall
Horton is veteran and one who
can win. Only once in two days has
that silky putting touch deserted
him. That happened on the seven
teenth hole yesterday, where he
missed tricky 3-footer. They all
miss those. however Little would
have clear title to the lead enter
ing the last round had he held a
2-footer on the eighteenth yesterday.
And Snead blew a 3-footer at the
seventeenth for buzzard S, his only
double bogey of the tournament
so far.
Hogan Two Shots Back.
Form is running true in this open
as 1t seldom has done before.
Grouped in there all within six
shots of the lead are Byron Nelson,
the defending champion; four for
mer champions and flock of the
men who have proved their links
mettle in man-to-man combat from
coast to coast. Little Benny Hogan,
still jittery from an attack of flu, is
only two shots back, with 143.
The whole thing is as wide open
as an Oklahoma barn door. One
thing is sure, as it always is at these
championships: BY the middle of
the afternoon at least a dozen
gents will have the championship
all tucked away and will toss it
blithely away The fellow who can
keep his head cool and his putter
hot while the others are blowing
it away will be the new champion.
1t always happens that way. Or it
might be that another Tony Manero
can come steaming down the stretch.
holing puts from any and all
(See McCALLUM, Page A-17)