Evening star., 1941-11-17
Pinehurst Links Lure
Men Denied Game
By War Heads
Offer Of Free Equipment
- Spurned by OffieioIs
OF Service Here
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

BY WALTER McCALLUM.
High omcials of the War Depart
ment, so far deaf to the pleas OF
golf tycoons that golf be introduced
in Army camps, would do q chunk
OF eye popping could they drop in
at Pinehurst, N c., and see the
way the Army goes to town in its
interest in golf Officers and men
Of the 1st Army. now engaged in
maneuvers in this vast sandhill
country, formed huge portions Of
tho galleries which watched the
crack pros play in the Mid-South
Open championship which ended
here Friday.
More than $50 men in uniform
played over the three courses of the
Pinehurst Country Club over the
last week end. at special green fees.
And Pinehurst is only one, although
the biggest, of the many golf spots
hidden away in the pine country
encompassed In the vast Army
training area centered on Fort
Bragg.
Gene Sarazen long has been the
foremost advocate of golf in Army
camps. The outfit which pays Gene
Q comfortable hunk of money gladly
would furnish free to the Army
enough links equipment to keep
many thousands of soldiers in their
best topping and slicing form.
Sees Convincing Proof.
No one would want better proof
that the boys in uniform 60 for golf
In 4 big way than the interest
shown by men of the Army in the
game here at Pinehurst," said Gene
They can't tell me golf wouldn't
60 big around Army camps If the
boys had the facilities and equip
ment. They'd 60 for this game in
the biggest kind of way, and the
best part OF it is that when the
emergency is over most of them
would be golfers-or q reasonable
facsimile thereof"
OF course two of the better links
men In the Army played in the pro-
amateur tourney here. Sergt. John
Thoren and Corpl. Bobby Knowles
were pretty well known as better
than run-of-the-mine golfers before
they donned o. D. Then there was
a gent named Ken Rogers. with the
gold leaf of a major on his shoul-
ders Rogers few over from a near
by air field and played one round.
Right now. with so many good golf
ers in the Army an Army champion
ship would be hot stuff. They'd
have to toss out Porky Oliver. If
they limited it to amateurs. But
you could 60 long way among the
simon pures and do q lot worse than
Pvt. First Class Frankie Strafaci,
or Corpl Tommy Taller. or Pvt.
Charlie Yates All Of these lads
have gone quite distance in golf,
Yates won the British Amateur
championship In 1898.
Have Time to Spare.
"The point is," said Sarazen, that
. lot of Army boys have spare time
after their daily chores are over.
Golf is not strengthening game,
and it is the only individual game
In which you don't have to have a
human opponent to lick. You have
the game and the shots to whip, and
when you conquer the shots you
still have long way to 60. I'd like
TO see every big Army camp equipped
with enough driving tees to take
care of 10000 men. Wed furnish
the clubs and the golf balls. What
could be a sweeter setup for the
recreation authorities" Gene seems
to have something there. You don't
lick another Army with a driver,
but you could do lot of that morale
building business you hear 50 much
about.
Chip shots Ed Dudley's eleva-
ton to the presidency Of the Pro-
fessional Golfers Association drew
no wild cheers from the pros at
Pinehurst. They greeted the an
nouncement with huge chunks OF
silence, or . that's good" One OF
the boys in the know predicts q
deal is brewing in the p. G. A. to
make Tom Walsh, 1s41 president,
the business manager of the pro
organization, something along the
lines Of the old A. r. Gates setup OF
several years back. The P. 9. A.
has an insurance selling point, and
has an annual income from dues
IN the neighborhood Of $4,000 q
year. But the Tournament Bureau
Is the big part of the pro show.
Big Purses Lined Up.
Freddie Corcoran, alert Tourna-
ment Bureau chairman, has lined
up around 100000 in purses for
the winter tour, and altogether will
distribute around $500 900 before
November IS next year. The bu-
reau takes a 5 per cent cut OF the
purses for expenses, which isn't too
much. The pros themselves, who
used to play for paltry coin, are
the benefciaries, and II they start
squawking at the 5 per cent cut 1t
will deepen the conviction Of some
people on the way pro athletes
think.
Horton Smith went snake killing
niterally) during one Of his rounds
here. He hooked into the woods at
the Fourteenth hole, saw snake
w1ggling away and dispatched 1t
With a niblick. II couldn't take any
chance" said Smith. "It might
have been one Of those bad boys
with poison"
Yves Ferrell, the former Washing
ton pitcher, is far from a punk
golfer. Yves now manages a class
D league team in the Bi-State
League, deep in the Carolina bushes.
But he is happy about it all. He
is looking ahead to . win In the
ball players tourney in Miami in
January, and the big man from the
Tar Heel State can do it. Yves
chunks that ball & big distance
from the tee, and is no sissy with