Evening star., 1942-06-17
Old Stars Apt to Flash Spots Hale America but Title Beyond The
Links Vets Still Good
Shots, Lack Nerves
For Tourney Toll
Many Major Golf Crowns
Won by Past Masters
To PIoy in Chicago
BY GRANTLAND RICE,

BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Special Correspondent OF The Star.
CHICAGO, June 17.-Suppose We
could put on a baseball carnival
that included Cy Young, Ty Cobb,
Nap Lajoie, Iris Speaker. Joe Jack
son. Ed Walsh, Babe Ruth, George
Sisler, Rogers Hornsby and Hans
Wagner. 1t would be something to
look at-especially for those who
carry memories Of other baseball
days.
Or suppose you could put on a
series of fights that knew such
names as Jim Corbett. Bob Fitz-
simmons, John Lawrence Sullivan,
Jim Jeffries, Jack Dempsey, Gene
Tunney and Joe Louis. That, also,
would be something TO see.
In a way, after this fashion, the
Hale America open golf show in
Chicago this week, for war fund
purposes. is the closest approach
any one can make along the lines
Of past apd present stardom when it
comes to a matter of past color and
skill, hooked up with modern ability
to wreck par.
Wonders in Their Day.
When it comes to turning back
the clock in Chicago's golf ensemble
We can give you Chick Evans. an
ex-caddie from the Edgewater Golf
Club in Chicago, who was star
golfer IS years ago-and who still
is good.
We could give you Francis Ouimet,
another. ex-caddie who at the age
of 20 turned back Harry Vardon and
Ted Ray % years ago at Brookline
in Massachusetts,. And he still is
good. But his duties as chairman
OF this event will keep him on the
sideines.
Or we can give you Walter Hagen,
who threatened at Brookline in
1918 and came along to win the
United States Open in 1914 at Mid
lothian. Chicago.
Or Bobby Jones. who starred at
Merton in 1916, only Is years ago, at
the age OF IA.
Or Gene SaraZen, who at the age
of 20 won the United States Open
at Skokie. another Chicago course,
in 1924 mere lapse of 20 years.
And don't think that Jones and
Sarazen can't break 70 today.
Three Get 30 Major Crowns.
Hagen, Jones and Sarazen to-
gether have won something like 80
national and international cham
pionships. Jones and Hagen have
been the two great golfers of all
times, and when it comes to the
combined checkup Of skill and color,
Sarazen isn't far away. Harry Var
don had his full share of skill, but
not the color that goes with the
three we have named.
No one could expect Cobb, Ruth,
Speaker. Young, Lajoie, Sisler or
Hornsby to compete with the pres
ent-day crop-Ted Williams. Joe
Gordon, Bobby Doerr, ice Di Mag
gio. Pete Reiser, Terry Moore and
others.
So no one could expect Jones
Hagen, Sarazen and other old
timers to match scoring swings with
Byron Nelson. Ben Hogan, Sammy
Snead or Craig Wood.
But this is one outstanding fea-
ture of golf. The old-timers, here
and there. still will play holes and
shots as brilliantly as any Nelson,
Hogan or Snead can produce.
Nerves Not Up To Grind.
They no longer have the physical
or the concentrative stamina to
hook up shot after shot through 70
holes. This means a IL or IA
hour grind, where there is no letup
on nerve pressure-where only those
who have battled from coast to
coast, week after week, through
many months. are we'll enough sea-
soned to go the route. But these
old-timers still csn play all the
shots any of the modern crop can
produce.
The only trouble is that they
can't link them together, stroke
after stroke, and hole after hole.
It is the linking process that counts.
Even 20-handicap golfers have made
holes in one, or hammered brassie
shots dead against the pin.
So it would be foolish to expect
any member from the Old Guard
to keep on the heels Of Nelson,
Hogan or Snead, to mention only
three members from the modern
group.
Jones and Sarazen might-in an
18-hole test. But not over the 72-
hole route, where concentration and
nerves begin to disintegrate and
fall apart, and the old urge fades
out-not overlooking a little mat
ter known as youth-competitive
youth.
For all that, the golfers hang on
the longest. They still can stick
around when the others are merely
records covered with dust.
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