Evening star., 1941-05-04
Pipeline Game Gives
Denny Big Chance,
Gene Believes
1t Will Be Just Another
Tourney to Him, Says
HuII of Fume Ace
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

Densmore Shute, 1888 British Open
champion, and 1886 and 1897 P. G. A
champion, is the dark horse to win
the 194l National Open title. Or
1t may be Ben Hogan of Byron
Nelson.
Lawson Little, the reigning Open
champion, is behind the 8-ball and
will be stymied by so many woods
he has only an outside chance to
win again.
These are the pre-championship
musings of Gene Sarazen, the
chunky little gent who twice has
won the United States champion
ship, and who knows his way around
in golf as few people do. Gene, of
course, tied for the title over Can
terbury's hay-fringed meadows last
year, and lost on the playoff to
Little. So he's no green pea when
he talks about golf.
Sarazen himself has changed his
attitude about the Open champion
ship, and urgently recommends that
the other boys do the same. I'm
taking it nowadays as just another
tournament. I don't train for it
any more than for any other tourney,
and I think if the other boys had
that same mental feeling they'd do
better in the big one They try, you
see, to bring themselves up to peak
for the Open, and bog down from
mental stress before it starts.
Frees Self of Tension.
I'm going to fly to Fort Worth
on May 81, and spend a couple of
days knocking the ball around. And
I don't care if don't find out where
all the traps are, or if 1 don't know
the color of every blade of grass. I
figure I'll do better that way. It's
mental tension that cuts you down
in the open. From now on I'm
going to be free of that"
Gene in Washington for a few
days in connection with a porject
to inject golf into Army camps
by providing driving ranges and free
instruction, cut loose with a lot of
thoughts on golf. Incidentally he
has a piece coming out soon in one
of the big weekly magazines. 1t
will be called "72 Hells," and will
recount some of his troubles in
winning championships over the
globe.
II think Lawson Little, even
though he is a great player, is going
to have lot of trouble at Fort
Worth defending his championship,
said Gene. The Open title tourney
will start June 5. That course,
they tell me, is pretty tight, and
pipeline boys like Nelson and Shute
will have the best chance" BY
pipeline boys" Gene means those
boys, who hit the ball very straight.
Rates Nelson With Great.
"Shute, in particular, is straight
as string when he has to be. And
don't have to tell you the guy can
putt with the chips down. Hogan is
over due to win the Open, and Nell
son I rate as one of the great COM
petitors Of all time. Those three, in
my book, shape up as the men to
watch in that Open this year."
How about yourself, Gene?" we
asked.
'Oh, I'm all right" said Sarazen.
''I haven't played much, but 1 figure
] don't need to. If 1 get the puts
rolling, and get to hitting that ball
I'll be o. K. One thing, this year I
don't have to qualify sectionally
That lifts heavy burden from any
one. But I'm not taking the Open
championship as the grim business
1t used to be. To me, from now on,
It's just another tournament. If
do all right I'm satisfied, and if
don't I'm also satisfied"
Gene happens to be one of the
few men in topnotch golf, who won t
let tension ruin him. Jimmy Pema-
ret is another. That attitude has
done Gene lot of good. Look at
that golf hall of fame. He is, you
know, one of the original four
chosen for that spot.