Evening star., 1950-01-10
Final Round Starts
with Veteran Only
Two Strokes Behind
BY the Associofed Press

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10.-Ben
Hogan, erstwhile cripple. may be
within couple of short puts Of
his greatest triumph. If he makes
1t, a lot of fans will call it the
No. comeback of all time.
But If little Jerry Barber is his
victim, that rainstorm Sunday
may prove the costliest Of his or
any other golf pros career.
AS the field takes off today in
the final round of the $4,000 Los
Angeles Open, the tendency is to
assume that Hogan will win 1T. He
has come back so far now from
that Texas highway crash that
nothing seems impossible.
But he, and his loudly loyal gall
lery, may be reckoning without a
craftsman almost as cool as Ban
tam Ben himself. Barber already
has seen cinch win in this rich
est of winter tournaments washed
into the nearby Pacific. yet bound
ed back to shoot even better golf.
The 140-pound golf glove sales
man from Pasadena put a Lover
par 72 with his previous 69-68 for
a 209 and a stroke lead.
Hogan, who was tied for 10Th after
the first round. carded his second
successive SO.
proS EvnoofoI Ron %o FU;,~
You could get all sorts of argu-
ments in the locker room and grill
at Riviera Country Club last night
over whether Hogan can do it.
Most of the players think he can.
With fair weather forecast, they
fel his storybook comeback is
just about to reach it's climax. He's
feeling good, his legs have carried
him this far and there seems no
reason why they can't go another
18' holes.
For Barber, the picture has
changed a lot since Saturday. Then
he was two strokes ahead, but his
nearest competitor was Henry
Ransom, another virtual unknown.
Then came the rainy Sunday!
Almost swimming, he shot a two
over-par 73 while the rest of the
field f1oundered so badly that only
one par was turned in-by Lawson
Little, famed mudder, who with
drew yesterday. A lot of the en-
trants quit, but were given an
other chance when the Rules Com
mittee, after long debate, ruled the
course unplayable and sponged
Barber's 2l0 right off the score
board.
At that stage, his nearest COM
petitor, Ellsworth Vines, was 10
strokes back. Hogan didn't fin
1sh, but he was trailing Barber
by nine strokes when the can
collation. came.
Put together Barber's first four
rounds, including the one that
doesn't count, and he'd have
a 69-68-73-72-282. The Opens
winning average, in the eight Of
it's "a years that it has been
played over the hilly Riviera
course, has been 28312. So you
see how costly that rafnstorm may
be if he can't hold the pace to-
day. rs
Hogan Feels Fine"
Ed Furgol of Royal Oak, Mich,
who led the tournament with
68 the first day, summarized the
Hogan school. He told re-
porters: "You fellows will have
the biggest golf story of all time.
Ben's going to make it"
Barber himself wouldn't rate his
chances, and all Hogan would say
was: 81 feel fine"
All this may sound like a two
man tournament. Mathematical
ly, 1t isn't, although no one else
is getting much consideration. But
there are a half-dozen Others
who could get into the winners
spot.
At 212, only, a stroke back Of
Hogan, is young Jack Burke of
White Plains, N. Y. son of one
of the pro masters of the 1920s. ,
Vines, never as great a golfer as
he was tennis player, but always
threatening, is alone at 213. At
214 are Sam Snead and. Ransom.
Snead is always to be reckoned
with If his putter is right.
Jim Ferrier of San Francisco
has 215, and if you like to bet
on rank outsiders, his game Is
(See COLE PAGE A-15l