Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-04
Nearly All Involved
In Event Swinging
To P. A. Champ
Come Is on Razor Edge;
GuldohI, Lighter and
Keen. Highly Rated
BY BILL BONI,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

FORT WORTH, Tex, June A.
Byron Nelson, the likeable p. G. A
champion, is riding rising tide OF
popular favor that appears ready to
make him No. l choice for the
United States Open Golf champion
ship about the time the first round
gets started tomorrow morning.
Everywhere you go, whether you
ask player. sideline expert or pure
spectator, the name that almost in
variably comes 10 their lips first is
that of the long, lean Toledo pro
who came up like a rocket from the
caddie pen at Fort Worth's Glen
Garden Club. The tide has grown
30 strong that in some quarters
they look on Nelson as the hottest
favorite since Bobby Jones was
bowling them over right and left.
on the way Melon was playing in
practice At the Colonial Club yes
terday, when he and Lawson Little
finished all-square with the "old
masters" Gene Sarazen and Tommy
Armour, he'll give anybody a good
run for his money.
Short Game Is Keen.
On a course where drives have to
be hooked, faded or strung out on
a trolley wire, Nelson was doing
just that. In addition he was
snacking his long and short irons
with authority, holed out a chip
shot and hit the flag out of a trap
and, for a man not noted as the
games greatest putter, was giving
q f1ne show of knocking them in or
rolling them up dead.
Not so with Ben Hogan, who
started OUT as co-favorite with
Byron In the betting books. Little
Ben has been in the money At
straight times since he missed out
IN the open at Philadelphia in 1899
and even if off his feed should make
1t "a straight here.
But he seems to lack mental as
etranCe. The confidence which,
when he's right. amounts almost to
a swagger isn't there this time.
Though he hasn't finished worse
than a tie for sixth since January
I, by his own calculations he's been
tn o slump since mid-March and
hasn't got back to where he hits
the ball with the conviction he
knows it's going where he wants it
10 60.
Guldahl Is Big Threat.
There Is, however, another Texan
hot to be overlooked. That's Ralph
Guldahl. who learned the game in
Dallas. Big Ralph had an even I'M
happier time than Hogan on the
winter tour ben, after all, was top
money winner. Guldahl couldn't
get his puts to drop. and that fail
ing crept on into the rest OF his
game.
Since then he's trimmed of
about IS pounds, and he's been at
Colonial as long as any of the top
notchers, working hard and often
Ia quiet. Monday, for instance, he
shot a 81, under par, but he
wasn't telling even his best friends.
The boys have labeled Colonial
course that will require infinite pa
tience-in other words, where each
shot will take thought and careful
planning and one careless shot will
mean trouble. Patience Is a quality
with which Guldahl Is endowed
heavily and the one that was vital
10 him in his six-stroke victory
over Dick Metz for the 1888 title,
Guldahl's second.
Accuracy Is Essential.
II It's going to be as important
rs every one agrees 1t Is to think out
IN advance just how far and to
what spot on the narrow fairways
drives should be hit, trust Guldahl
10 take the time to ponder those
points. He always is a deliberate
player, and with q chance to be-
come the first man since Jones to
win the open three times you can
bet your cowboy boots and Stetson
AAfw Ha Nn