Evening star., 1942-07-27
Detected Byron
Astonished by
Own Failure
Foe in Tam o'Shunter
PIoyoff Unnoticed
Til Near Finish
BY GAYLE TALBOT,
Associated Press Sports Writer

son, shaken by one OF the most
amazing collapses in the history OF
big time golf, went out bleakly to-
day to battle Clayton Heafner of
Linville, N c., in an 18-hole playoff
for $2,500 first money in the Tam
OSharter Open tournament. The
starting time was pm. &C. w. To.
Nelson. the tall ex-Texan, was
Woebegone figure. and lost of ex-
ceptionally smart money had been
bet overnight that he would lose to
Heafner. the blond giant who won
the Mahoning Valley tournament
at Gerard, Ohio a few weeks ago
with an astonishing 72-hole total
of 264.
1t was a cruSher-What happened
to Nelson yesterday. One of the
worlds great golfers, he shot q
miserable IT over a course whose
true par is about 10, to dissipate a
lead that seemed impregnable and
finish IN tie with Heafner, each
with $50 strokes for the four rounds.
Had 5-Stroke Advantage.
Heafner, having posted an ordi-
nary 72 on his final round and
harboring no real hope of anything
better than second or third money,
became one of possibly 10000 spec
tators who watched almost un-
belieVedly as Nelson blew sky high
In the course of a stretch duel with
Lawson Little. Colts oldest heads
could not remember such a spec
tacular blowup.
Nelson started the day five strokes
in front of Heafner, eight ahead of
Little. He was considered to be
'in," the closing round to be a mere
formaiity Yet when they began
trying to move the record golf
crowd out Of Tam O'Shanter last
night the scoreboard read: Nelson
200; Heafner. 28O; Little, 281. No
body else was even close. Harry
Netteibladt of Avon, Conn, held the
next place all by himself at 284.
Bunched at 287 were Johnny Bulla
Chicago; Willie Goggin. White
Plains. N. Y; Mike Turnesa, Elms-
ford. N. Y, and Dutch Harrison
Harrisburg, Pa.
Stranahan Tops Amateurs.
A SO was posted by Frank Strana-
han of Toledo to give him 288 ag-
gregate to face the amateurs COM
peting in the open. Five pros had
the same total, including Henry
Picard and Chick Harbert Grouped
at 289 were Harold McSpaden, KY
Laffoon, Dick Metz, Horton Smith
Sergt. Jim Turnesa, Ben Hogan and
Glib Sellers.
Howard Wheeler, the long hitting
cross-handed golfer from Los An
geles, scored a par 70 in the final
round to lead the Negro trio with a
total of 300 Zeke Hartsfield of At
lanta, Ga, had 78 and an aggregate
of 305, and young Calvin Searles of
New Orleans had a disastrous 88 to
finish with 311.
Sitting dejectedly in the locker
room after his personal nightmare
had ended, Nelson made some very
pungent remarks about his own golf
game. For instance, he wondered
vitrolically how man could shoot
a score of IS on one day and II
the next, tossing away S2,500 that
he practically had counted He said
things about himself that will not
stand repeating.
Heafner Suddenly Becomes Factor.
The weirdest part of the whole
strange proceedings was the fact
that Heafner sat apart for hours
during the hectic afternoon, moody
and lonesome. while Nelson and
Little supposedly were scrapping it
out for the money. 1t was not, &C
tually, until the pair on whom the
spotlight played reached the last
two or three holes that suddenly il
occurred to those around the score
board that Haefner was being in
jected into the picture.
All afternoon it was Little VS.. Mel.
son. Amazingly Little cut five stroke:
off Nelson's advantage going out-3;;
strokes to Nelson's 38. The crowc
was so tremendous, so excited that
the two players scarcely could win
room to swing their clubs. When
Little actually caught the leader at
the 18th hole the thing became next
to impossible. Drawn as by a giant
magnet, additional thousands de-
serted other players to swarm around
the two main antagonists.
Paired on Purpose.
incidentally, it was no accident
that Little was paired with Nelson
on the final round. The tourna-
ment appeared a dead duck with
Nelson so far ahead, but Fred Cor
coran. who made the pairings
thought that Little possibly might
make Nelson hump. Little is by
general admission the finest match
player in the game. When he car
see the man he has to beat he is
the Joe Louis of golf.
On the final green, as 1t turned
out, Little had comparatively short
putt that WOULD have made it a
three-Way playoff today. Nelson hac
a slightly longer one to clinch the
title all by himself. Both missed
and only then did many OF those
present learn that Nelson had fallen
into tie with Heafner Nelson, him
self, was told when he walked of
the I'D green.
Up to today, Nelson never had lost
playoc for major championship
Heafner never had been in one, SC
his record equally was unsullied.