Evening star., 1950-11-04

field. There will be no o. B.
Keeler, a brilliant chronicler, left
to bring us the deeds of new
golf star. O. B. has found greener
fairways that he so richly deserves.
But time must bring a successor
to the five greats we have just
mentioned.
Ben Hogan, with all his flaming
spirit, can't go on forever. Sammy
Snead is no longer Virginia kid.
Sammy is moving along into the
years. He still has the greatest
swing in golf, so far as smoothness
and power go. but the years will
take care of that.
Lloyd Mangrum is still a fine
golfer. So is Jim Ferrier. So are
Jimmy Demaret, Cary Middlecoff
and many others. But they, too,
are rapidly getting no younger. as
Mac Smith used to say. Middle
coff is still young, however, and
he has one open to his credit. Jack
Burke was picked by many last
spring as the most likely candi-
date to take over the sceptre, but
young Jack still has to prove his
place around the top.
No Real Successor i'm Sight.
The fact is there is no real sue
cessor in sight. For golf isn't an
old mans game. 1t belongs to
youth. Hagen won his first title
at 81, Sarazen at 20. Bobby Jones
at 81. Nelson and Hogan were in
their 20s or at least along the
borderline when they arrived on
top. Ouimet was 20 when he won
at Brookline in 1913.
Older golfers have won-but
you'll notice they don't keep on
winning. AS Hagen told me once
lit isn't too hard to win an
open once. But try to win one
twice! There's where you have
the answer"
Outside of Middlecof. we
haven't any one in sight today who
is likely to win one twice. Hogan,
of course, has already done il.
Demaret should have won at
least two Opens. Jimmy has won
three Masters. Not too much diff
ference. The Masters is played
over a tough test-before even
greater crowds.
New Star Always Comes Along.
No one can say now who the
new star will be. He will come
along, since such star has al
ways come along. He isn't in
sight today The woods are full
of fine golfers-but the great
golfers are not in the woods. They
are on the fairways. |
The qualities needed to give the !
game a Hagen, a Sarazen, Jones,
a Nelson or a Hogan belong to !
few people. There must /
be the natural rhythm and |
of the sWing-part of
which is born in a man, or in
must be the ability |
to keep concentrating hole after
hole-there must be the unbreak-
able determination that belongs !
with the elect-there must be the |
for the grind-the matter |
of growing the swing-where
Hogan was the leader.
Golf, different from football,
baseball or tennis, is the game
of the individual artist.
Play Own Game in Golf.
In golf you play your own game, |
uldisturbed physically by any one
else. You can only be upset
or psychologically. So
golf requires better brain control
and nerve mastership than any
other sport.
Golf is largely a battle against
tension, unrelieved by action. Ac-
ton is greatest enemy tension
knows. And once you are on the
green-there is always the putter.
Ask Sammy Snead or many other
greats about this club. 1t makes
you or breaks you. The two-foot
putt can be even more important
than the 250-yard drive.
For 1851 it looks as if Hogan,
Snead, Mangrum and Co. will con-
tinue to take over If there is
any new phenom in sight he is
certainly disguised. No one has
recognized him at this date.