Evening star., 1940-07-24
Low Scorer, Al Must Rep|oy
Holes Fought Out in Flood;
Committee in 1ough Spot
Decides Against Tossing Out Entire Second
Round; Cox and Miller Shore Lead; Burnett's
Club, Ball and SpectucIes Wash Awuy
By WALTER McCALLUM.

BY WALTER McCALLUM.
Years hence, when AL Houghton
grows long beard and sits in Slip
pered comfort beside q fire, he may
look over toward his grandchildren
Gf grandchildren there are) and tell
'em a fireside tale. It will be the
story of how Al was the only rug
ged man of flock of good competi-
tors who had the courage and the
will to battle veritable cloudburst
of rain and bare his breast to the
thunder and lightning in quest of
his fifth Maryland open golf cham
pionship.
You can hear AL then. II dunno
whether those fellers did right by
me-" His voice will quaver a little
from age and maybe senile rage.
II dunno whether they had the
right to toss out my score when !
finished in the rain and the others
quit he will say. They didn't give
me permission to quit and I had
been disqualified only a few weeks
before for doing something they said
wasn't right. I wasn't going to be
caught again and I played through.
I had the lowest score of any of the
finishers and they made me 60 back
the next day and finish it out. I
dunno whether they were right or
not"
I That mighty thunderstorm which
burst across the Columbia Country
Club golf course around 6 o'clock
last night did a lot of things. 1t
blew and it rained as it hasn't rained
In months. The 18th fairway was
lake. Down the middle of the 18th
fairway ran a 4O-foot wide stream
of water a foot deep. The green's
were minute patches of grass en-
tirely surrounded by aqua. And
through it all Houghton plodded to
finish with 70 and the leading
score for the day in the Maryland
open championship.
Houghton Caught on 18th Hole.
But AL had to go back today to
finish out where the rain hit him
That was at the 18th hole. So did
q lot of others. including Rut Coffey
who opened with SO; Cliff Spencer
and Ralph Beach, who had 72s in
the morning round of the scheduled
36-hole tourney: Otto Greiner and a
lot of others. The rain put squarely
I'D to the officers of the Maryland
State Golf Association one of the
toughest questions any golf body
has had to settle. It was this: In
view of the unplayable course, shall
we order an entire replay of the
second round, or order the boys to
go back to where they were when
the storm hit them and start again?
They decided on the latter course,
IN a formal statement issued over
the signatures of Vice Presidents
DR.. r. A. Keilty and Harry G. Pitt
Tournament Chairman Edgar Lucas
and Secretary Emmett Gary. But
around the clubhouse you could find
Is many conflicting opinions as tc
the correctness of their decision as
there were players. Some felt the
entire second round should be
thrown out, and the whole field
ordered to start again. Others felt
the committee ruled correctly.
But today at 9 am, all the boys
who were caught on the course by
yesterdays rain had to 60 back to
the spot where the rain hit them
and finish the round. Houghton,
the only leader who played any
distance in the rain, went back today
to the 18th tee. Stocky Rut Coffey,
the only man to break 70 in the
opening round, went back to the 9th
tee. So did Ralph Beach, who had
72 as his first score. Cliff Spencer,
another u man, went even further
back. All in all it was confused
situation, and a tough one for the
committee to handle.
Earlier Start Would Have Helped.
And how it did rain. Five minutes
after the deluge hit (and they
wouldn't have had so much trouble
had they started the field early in
the morning instead of delaying the
start until 9:30) the Columbia course
was vast lake. The lowlands were
inundated, the hinsides pouring
cascades of water, the putting greens
were sheets of aqua, and, all in all
1t was unfit for golf.
Volney Burnett, the Beaver Dam
fireman, hit shot at the 10Th. His
club flew out Of his hands and landed
In the lake. So did the ball. He
1ne% ho&I, o1,,h o~d hon To a,
during the downpour Volney ha6
laid down his rain-covered glasses
to play a shot. After he made the
stroke he couldn't find them. The
rain had washed them away.
Andy Gibson Of Baltimore hit 9
shot within yard of the pin al
the 11th hole and took shelter az
the deluge struck. When he came
back his ball had washed 100 yard.
away. Out there in the welter o1
storm and lightning was Harry Pitt
trying to do something about calling
of the tournament, or whatever thu
committee decided to do. Harry
took it upon himself to notify some
of the contestants it was all off
and the committee upheld him
which was all they could do.
Committee Forgot Houghton.
But they forgot Houghton, foul
times a former holder of the title
They didn't notify him. Al was or
the 18th green when the cloud!
opened. He finished the last fiv.
holes 2 over par, all in all a heroic
performance under the conditions
'They disqualified me in May a
Manor, and they didn't notify m,
the tourney had been called of
So I played on through" said AL