Evening star., 1951-06-24
33rd PGA Tournament
10 Start Wednesday
Al Rugged 0akmont
BY the Asseeiaied Press

PITTSBURGH, June 23.-The
|33rd annual Professional Golfers
Association tournament opens
Wednesday on a course that many
lbig-time golfers refer to sar-
ldonically as a 6.981-yard sandy
strip of the Sahara Desert.
One hundred and twenty pros
will compete in the week-long
$45,000 event at the Oakmont
Country Club course. is miles from
downtown Pittsburgh.
Qualifying rounds are slated for
Wednesday and Thursday with the
low GA Qualifiers starting match
play Friday.
The course is famed for its
Eroughness. Par of 72 is seldom
lequaled on its long, sandy stretch
Ies. In fact, par has never been
posted in four major tournaments
in Oakmont's 50-year history.
Willie MacFarlane. now pro at
the Miami (Fla.> Shores Country
Club. carded 294, six over par, to
win the 1943 Pennsylvania State
Open and post the best competitive
mark.
Worsham Calls 1t Nightmare.
bitches cross or line II Of the
18 holes on the hazard-cluttered
plateau layout. The largest sand
trap is the big Sahara" located
to the left of No. 8 green. Another
big stretch Of sand is to the right
of the long No. IS green. Most Of
the 142 sandtraps are located be-
hind bunkers and the ancient
chocolate drop" type mounds.
Lew Worshan, formerly Of
Washington. D. c., who now is pro
at the course, calls it a golfers
nightmare" He compares it with
Pebble Beach, Monterey, Calf;
Augusta National Golf Club, Au-
gusta, Ga. and Pine Valley, N. j.
WorSham. as host, will DO
among those competing for the 64
match-play places. His best round
in four years at Oakmont is a 81.
Many Of the pros who will COM
pete in the PGA already have
been shooting practice rounds.
Most of them feel par golf will
take down the tournaments top
prize.
; Big Names Missing.
With the exception of little Ben
Hogan. Jimmy Demaret and DR..
Cary Middlecoff, practically every
lbig-name golfer Is entered in the
Oakmont event.
Gene Sarazen heads the list as
the holder Of three PGA titles.
The grand old man of golf cap
tured the last PGA tournament at
Oakmont 70 years ago.
Sammy Snead, two-time former
champion. also will be back to try
his luck. Snead is one of six golf
ers who have won the PGA crown
twice. He captured the event In
1912 and 1949.
Another two-time winner back
is Denny Shute. He won at Pine
hurst in 1886 and then again at
the Pittsburgh Field Club in 1887.
He was runnerup in 1881 and a
semi-finalist in 1884.
Two golfers who finished second
best in 1949 and 1850 also are
entered. They are Johnny Palmer
and Henry Williams, jr.
Palmer, a North Carolinian with
a close haircut. bowed to Snead,
3 and 2, in the 1949 PGA at
Hermitage Country Club, Rich
mond, Va.
Lost to Harper In Finals.
Williams was the 1850 runner.
up. He defeated Bill Heinlein.
Emory Thomas, Clyde Harmon,
Dave Douglas and Henry Picard.
former champion, before bow
ing to Chandler Harper Of Ports
mouth, Va. 4 and 3 in the finals.
Lovers of the long tee shot will
get thrill out of watching Law
son Little and Chick Harbert, two
OF the longest hitters in the game.
Little hit the peak before
turning pro when he won both
the United States and British
Amateur titles in 1894 and 1885.
He won the 1887 San Francisco
Open and the National Open in
1910.
AS co-chairman of the PGA
Tournament Committee, Little
will be kept busy at Oakmont aside
from playing.
I. Harbert first aStonished golf
fans with his great driving power
in the 1888 National Amateur at
! Oakmont. He was runnerup in the
1947 PGA at Plum Hollow, bow
ing to Jim Ferrier.