Evening star., 1949-06-01
'Supernan' Role
Given Masters,
Champion
Makes Few Mistakes
In Downing Palmer
For Pros Crown
By MerreII Whittlesey
Stor SfoH Correspondent

By MerreIi WhittIesey
Star Sfoff Correspondent
RICHMOND, Va, June L.
Samuel jackson Sneed has an
other challenge. He must win the
National Open next week or he's
a bum"
The saga of the smooth swinger
from White Sulphur is one of
the strangest In sports. He has
come a long way from the days of
his inopportune blowups, from the
time he was thumped 8 and 7
by Paul Runyan in the PGA final
or the day he took eight on the
last hole to blow the National
Open.
Slammin' Sam is a four time
major tournament winner. He has
won the British Open and the
Masters once each and the PGA
twice, but instead of accepting
him for his golflng greatness his
fanatical admirers are demand
ing more.
A few minutes after Snead
closed out Johnny Palmer. 3 and
II. in the 31st National PGA final
here yesterday on the Hermitage
Club course he was escorted into
the press room. There most of
the questioning was about the
National Open. which starts a
week from tomorrow at the
Medinah Club in Chicago.
Set Him q Formidable Goal.
Didn't Ben Hogan win the Open
and PGA last year? Sure he did.
So now Snead has to win the
Masters, PGA and Open in the
same year to top that.
In the same manner that base
ball fans expect Ted Williams to
hit a home run every time he
comes to bat. the golf galleries ex-
pect every Snead drive to split the
middle at 800 yards. every iron
shot must be a screamer dead on
the pin and every putt must be in
the cup. The man isn't human;
he must not make any mistakes.
The way Snead is hitting the
ball now. it is difficult to see how
he can lose the Open. In "a holes
against Palmer in a fitting but not
particularly spectacular final,
Snead missed only two greens in
regulation figures. On the 10th
hole of the morning round, a dog
leg par four. Sans second shot hit
some tree leaves and fell short of
the green. On the ninth hole of
the afternoon, he hit a quick slice
from q bad lie into a trap, and his
approach from the sand to the
easy par five skidded over the
green.
Palmer Is Effective Scrambler.
He had three bogeys all day on
this hole and the eighth. where
he three-putted. While Snead
missed only two green's according
to the card, Palmer missed 10. but
Johnny made up for most Of his
tee or fairway mistakes with some
phenomenal scrambling. Snead
had % pars. Palmer "a; Snead.
20 brides. Palmer, s; Snead, 3
bogeys. Palmer. 4; Snead. 9 one
putt greens. Palmer, IL. and Snead
one three-putter to none for the
serious fellow from Badin. N. c.
Snead was six under par for "a
holes, Palmer about two or three
under as a pickup on the 10 hole
marred his score. For the So
hole qualifying round and six
matches. two at 18 holes and 4
at SO. Snead was more than 80
strokes under par.
This was Sans fourth PGA
final and he's batting 500. The
8 and 7 trimming he took from
Runyan in 1888 Is one Of the
sore spots of his career. He lost
to Bryon Nelson in 1910 after
leading l UP, with three to play.
Nelson finished with two brides,
including a near i1ole-in-one on
the 18th. Sam won the PGA in
1912 after trailing Jim Turnesa
3 down at the intermiSsion.
Snead has learned to come back.
Twice in this championship he was
three down. once to Dave Douglas
with only six holes to play. The
other occasion was against Jim
Ferrier. Twice yesterday he was
two down to Palmer but squared
the match. one on his own bril-
lance and the other time via
| Palmer's mistakes.
Snead F10cks Brides.
It wasn't a one sided final by
any means. Palmer, who led the
Masters going into the final
round only to fall back before
Snead's great final 81. kept plugg-
ing away. The big difference in
the title match was midway In
the third nine when Snead raped
home three birdie puts under 10
feet in the space of four holes