Evening star., 1947-07-16
0vefon's S State Open
Victory Encourages
Golfers 49 or Over
By MerrelI WhittIesey

By MereII WhittIesey
Ordinarily, If an amateur golfer
who will be SO years old next month
won q $1,000 State open champion
ship over a field Of Ill players, it
would be classed as an upset-but
that was not the word for Spencer
Overton's triumph in the 9th Mary
land Open yesterday at Rolling Road.
The 49-year-old Overton, who took
up golf in 1880, actually figured to
win the tournament or be mighty
close. 1t was not freak triumph as
lot of good golf was played over
the Catonsville course-23 rounds OF
par or better-but nobody could
match Overton's 72-e5-137, 3 under
par for the SO holes.
Rolling Road Is compact 18-hole
course, jammed into 90 acres, where
knowledge of the layout is of the
utmost Importance. There's . saying
that all puts at Rolling Road roll
toward Higgins avenue, a road that
fianks the course, and some OF the
pros swear that it's true.
Club Champion IL Times.
Overton knows all those tricks.
He has been club champion there
II times, according TO q placard In
the clubhouse. He Is little fellow
who doesn't get too much distance,
but Rolling Road Is only 6,201 yards
and Overton is right at home there
with his short game. When he shot
81 on Monday in a pre-Open Pro-
amateur tournament, the pros
figured he was the man to beat.
The bespectacled machine shop
owner is the co-inventor OF the now
outmoded fender parking light. He
constantly tinkers with his golf
clubs, cutting or adding weight, and
has an assortment of homemade
putters. He picked the right one
. yesterday as he knocked in seven
brides, four Of them deuces on the
tough par three holes. He had only
one bad hole, the dog-leg par five
seventh where he took after vast
ing three shots in tree roots.
Overton, who was medalist and
runnerup to Bobby Brownell In the
recent Maryland Amateur at Co.
lumbia. was handicapped by tightly
taped ribs but he said that except
for the sickness of the tape he
wasn't bothered too much.
Second Lowest Score.
As the second amateur to win the
State Open in the last % years,
Overton posted the second lowest
score In the history of the event,
only one stroke off Brownell's 1876 in
1941, the only other time an am
ateur has won since 1924. Overton,
who took up golf after playing sew
eral other sports, has won a dozen
or more city, State and sectional
tournaments, but yesterdays tri-
umph was his major achievement.
Although Brownell was edged for
runnerup honors by two pros who
pocketed $225 each for their 139
totals, Ralph Beach and Leo Walper,
Brownell was the only player with
a reasonable chance to catch Over
ton after the champion, the fourth
player to finish, posted his score.
Brownell was the flrst-round
leader with a 81 and had played only
five holes Id the afternoon when
Overton finished, which left Bobby
knowing exactly what he had to do.
But, although Brownell was hitting
the ball well, he couldn't get those
brides he needed so badly. Not
until Brownell bogied the 10th and
needed IL on the last two holes to
win did Overton admit that his
chances were pretty good"
Houghton Slips After 6s.
DIVOT DATA-A strange phase of
the tournament was the high 70s
and S0s In the afternoon by the
morning round par shooters. {.
When AL Houghton and Carroll Mac
Master posted 68s in the morning,
the two veteran pros became the
sentimental favorites of the gallery,
but both slipped in the afternoon.
Houghton was after his fifth title.
Five of the six Virginia pros
finished in the money, led by Johnny
ODonnell and Johnny Kelly, with
par totals of 140 each. Charley
Bassler, one of the pro favorites,
took 6 on the easy 18th hole to
ruin an otherwise subpar morning
round, after taking 8 there Monday.
-. The Maryland State Golf Asso-
citation put out handsome program
with pairings and starting times in
serted. :. Congressional Leo Wal
per and Billy Shea, both of to slow
starts this season, claim they are in
the money to stay after their best
rounds Of the season, a 68 by Walper
in the afternoon and SO by Shea in
the morning. Play was held up
In the afternoon when some of the
players helplessly watched police
chase a man who attacked an IL
year-old girl in q woods near the
second hole. The man escaped a
fusillade of shots. The golfers could
not assist in the chase because of a
high fence around the course.
Prize winners and Washington