Evening star., 1941-01-05
Cox Thinks -Four biq
Journeys Enough;
Snead Eligible
Congressional Mentor
Would Revive Sunday
Exhibition Matches
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

Winter is no time to line up .
schedule of professional golf tour
naments, thinks Witty Cox. But the
new prexy Of the Middle Atlantic
Professional Golfers Association,
who hardly has had time to settle
down in his new post, has his 1941
schedule pretty we'll lined up. In
his own mind, at least.
Walloping Wilfred is not in favor
of holding a set and infleXible
schedule of tournaments twice a
month. These amateur-pro and
pro sweepstakes affairs aren't so
hot" he says. Don't get me wrong.
They are O. K. as far as they go,
but find that when they are held
in Baltimore the Washington boys
when held in Washington the Bal
timore boys don't show up in any
number. And the Virginia lads
don't show at any of them"
In place of these affairs Witty
would concentrate on four big sec
tional pro tournaments in 1941.
Most important, of course, will be
the Middle Atlantic P. G.. A. cham
pionship event, which Cox would
like to see at Hot Springs, Va,
where Sammy Snead is the home
pro. And if Sammy can win it
that is o. x. with me-" said Cox.
But he'll have competition.
snead Now M. A. Eligible.
That, naturally, brought up an
angle that hasn't been discussed be-
fore. Up to now Sammy hasn't been
eligible for Middle Atlantic P. G..
A. competition. Before 1896, when
he started his winning career,
Sammy was not a P. G. A. member.
After that he had various club con-
nectlons, at White Sulphur Springs.
w. Va, and Shawnee, Pa, both of
which are out of the Middle Allan
TIC area. But now Sammy enters
tournaments from Hot Springs, Va,
which is in the Mid-Atlantic sec
ton. And Sammy thereby is elig-
lble for all Journeys in this sector.
Cox hopes the Middle Atlantic P.
G. A. championship can be held at
Hot Springs in October, or "at a
time suitable to the people up there. :"
But in addition he would hold three
other major Journeys in three of
the larger cities of the section.
These are Washington, Baltimore
and Richmond. BY concentrating
on these affairs I think we will have
better competition and more entries"
he said.
Meanwhile Cox is looking around
for a tournament committee in
Washington. Gossip has linked the
name of Al Houghton as the local
tournament chairman for the P. G..
A. in the Capital, but Cox has not
announced the appointment.
Lineup Schedule April 1.
"Its too early yet to really get
going" said the P. G.. A. prexy.
Some of the boys are in the South,
and there's no tournament golf
being played around here. Well
hold a meeting soon after April l
to line up the entire schedule, but
in the meantime some of the details
can be worked out" OF course, Cox
couldn't do better than to appoint
Houghton tournament chairman. If
AL didn't happen to be a crack golfer
he'd do all right as top promoter.
He has proven that. Bob Barnett,
Houghton and AL Jamison, all local
pros, will be at Miami Beach until
late March.
Witty also has ideas about reviving
the Sunday exhibition matches
which were hot stuff around town
three summers ago. Those matches
drew a lot of people out to see the
pros play" he said. Maybe some
of the boys forget that that sort Of
thing promotes the game, and in
promoting the game every pro helps
himself. 1t may be intangible, at
the moment, but anything that gets
a lot of people out to see the boys
play promotes the sale of clubs and
balls, and every pro benefits"
Put this proposed schedule to-
gether with the District Open, the
Maryland Open, and other pro events
around town and you have a pro
slate that looms as one of the best.