Evening star., 1940-04-24
The
SPORTLIGHT
Texuns Are Riding Herd
On Rivals in Golf
BY GRANTLAND RICE,

Vii NIVOIS III 0OH
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Special CORRESPONDENT of The Star.
What lis the remainder of the
golfing world going to do about these
Texas Rangers? The big Goodall
Round Robin, man against man,
battle at Fresh Meadow, Long Island,
now is only short span away and
just beyond that we have the United
States Open in Cleveland, which
promises to be the high mark of all
opens. And the remainder of the
field still is wondering just how it is
going to collar Jimmy Demaret, Ben
Hogan, Byron Nelson, Ralph Guldahl
and Dick Metz, all Texas-born and
bred in the ways of golf.
The remainder of the outside
platoon enters such fine golfers as
Sammy Snead, Henry Picard, Ed
Dudley, Harry Cooper (also Texas
bred in golf, Craig Wood, Olin
Dutra, Jimmy Thomson, Horton
Smith, Billy Burke, Gene Sarazen,
Denny Shute, Lawson Little, Ed
Oliver, Paul Runyan, Johnny
Revolta. Ky Laffoon and SO others
But Texas still is the mopup State
For example, Texas ent0es have
won the last three United States
Opens. Guldahl won in 1887 and
1888. Nelson came through in 1899
1t has been four years since any one
outside of Texas landed on top. This
seems to be packing quite chunk
of goling fame into one State.
Lone Stor Stote Greots
MonopoIize Meets
So far the big Texas sweep has
belonged to 1910. In the big tourna-
ments played since the first of the
year Jimmy Demaret has won six.
Ben Hogan has won three and Byron
Nelson and Lloyd Mangrum have
picked up one each-11 major sue
cesses from something like IA shows,
with big Ralph Guldahl just coming
back to his game as the spring pro-
gram ended.
Jimmy Demaret and Ben Hogan
we're the two outstanding stars with
nine wins and a flock of seconds.
They were far in front among the
money winners and in the pursuit
of the Vardon Trophy.
When Demaret, not only club
professional, but also greenkeeper,
at Houston, had to fly back from
Florida, Ben Hogan and Lloyd
Mangrum from Texas picked up
where Jimmy left off. They won
the next four big tournaments un-
til the Masters at Augusta, where
Demaret and Mangrum ran IL.
1t was at Augusta that Mangrum's
64-8 under par over difficult
championship course-went into the
records as one of the greatest
rounds ever played He hit IA
greens in par and four green's l
under par.
While Jimmy Demaret moves
along at whirlwind clip, little Ben
Hogan still is close on his trail. 1
say little Ben Hogan because he
weighs only 1873 pounds, fully
u, WlllIll llO UCGGCl llldll
1872 stripped.
II always was afraid to strip in
weighing" he told me, because I
was afraid some wind might come
up and blow me away"
Yet Hogan is one of the big hit
ters of all golf. I mean up with
Thomson and Snead, the Twin
Howitzers. Little Ben gets 280 yards
off the tee.
Not only that, but he led the
classy winter and spring field with
an average of 705 strokes per round
through IA medal play tourna-
ments. He broke 70 no less than 20
times in II tournaments. At Pine
hurst, Greensboro and Asheville,
he led the field by a killing margin
of Is strokes.
He played four major tourna-
ments against brilliant fields, a
matter of 2o8 holes, just 80 under
par. This is one of the great scoring
records of all time.
Playing from California through
Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Florida,
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia, under bad weather condi-
tons, over changing greens, his
average was better than so under
par.
None Practices Come
More Than Hogan
You'll hear more about Hogan at
the Round Robin and the Open. He
is strong and wiry, with a pair of
fine hands and strong wrists. His
hands, especially his left, are thickly
calloused and often blistered, be-
cause he can't operate with a glove,
as the majority do.
One of the main features of his
swing is the use he makes of his
left thumb. This thumb is moved
in an extended position well up the
shaft. 1t isn't squeezed in against
the left forefinger. 1t is spread at
least an inch upward.
This gives me more leverage than
most golfers get" Hogan told me.
''It doesn't lock or tie up my back
swing"
If you follow Hogan you will see
that his backswing is much fuller
than most golfers use. The clubhead
dips far below the horizontal. He
takes a tremendous turn with the
upper part of his body, so that the
left shoulder and back come far
around.
And if you are looking for another
answer I can slip it along to YOU
from two to four hours a day at
practice. The game has known no
harder worker.