Evening star., 1952-08-17
Bi|IyMaxweH Defends
Crown Against 200
Seattle Cha||engers
BY the Asseeiased Press

SEATTLE. Aug. 1.-two hun
dred top-flight golfers start play
Monday in the National Amateur
championship-52d in a series of
heart-breakers that, through the
years, have wrecked the hopes of
most of the favorites.
The survivor of six DAYS of
match play, mostly too-brief 49,
hole contests. has to be a first
class golfer. But it seldom is the
player picked in advance by the
public.
Last year, for instance, it was
Billy Maxwell. the shy. red-haired
college boy from Odessa, Tex, who
was a virtual unknown until he
outlasted the field at Saucon VAL
ley.
AS defending champion, Max
well has to be considered as a
possible repeater this year, but he's
just one of a dozen or so players
listed among the favorites. The
200 starters over the 6,632-yard,
par 35-36-71 Seattle Golf Club
course will include three othersl
who have won the National Anna.
teur, two winners of the British
Amateur championship and the
amateur champions of Canada
and Mexico.
128 To Survive First Round.
Mondays first round of 18-hole
matches will reduce the field to |
128 players. Another single round
is scheduled Tuesday and two 18-
hole rounds each day on We'd
nesday and Thursday. The four
survivors will play the 36-hole
6emif1nals Friday.
Because of the r-Western To-
cale-the first time the Amateur
has been played in the Northwest
since 1937-the entry list is heav-
lily loaded with local talent and
there are comparatively few East
erners.
In addition to Maxwell, the
field iScludes Sammy Urzetta of |
East Rochester, N. Y, the 1850
Amateur champion; Charley Coe,
of Oklahoma City who won in
1949. and 62-year-old Chick
Evans of Chicago, winner in 1916
and 1920.
Evans Lone Double Winner.
Evans is the only player around
who has won two National ANA
teur titles, since Willie Turnesa
decided not to play this year.
There hasn't been a repeater in
the Amateur since Lawson Little
won in 1884 and 1885.
One of the favorites is Harvie
Ward of Tarboro, N. c., winner
of the British Amateur title last
spring. Playing in the Americas S
Cup matches against Mexico and
Canada preliminary to the cham
pionship. Ward turned in a couple
of sensational rounds.
All members of the three Amer
icas Cup teams were eligible for
the tournament without playing
In the sectional qualifying rounds.
Besides Ward, Maxwell, Urzetta
and Coe, the United States squad
included Frank Stranahan of To- L
ledo, former British champion and L
recent winner of the Tam O'Shan- K
ter Amateur tournament; Joe
Gagliardi of Larchmont, N. Y, !
runnerup to Maxwell in last years L
championship; big Bill Campbell, 4
the West Virginia legislator, and
Ken Ventura. the 21-year-old Cali ,
fornia State champion from San :
Francisco. 1t
Former Walker Stars Listed. ,
Although Mexico and Canada
made surprisingly good showing, -,
their players aren't rated as title !,
contenders. But, scattered evenly
through the field by means Of a
sporting" draw, they may make
trouble for some of the homebredS.
After the titleholders on the list
of favorites come former Walker
Cup stars Jimmy McHale of Phila-
delphia and Hobart Manley Of
Savannah, Ga, and Ray Billows
of Poughkeepsie, N. Y, three times
runnerup for the championship.
The Seattle Golf Club course
itself may have a lot to do with
the outcome of the affair. Its a
deceptively easy looking layout
hewed out Of the woods near Puget
Sound. The fairways, kept well 4
watered during a long dry spell, L
are soft and smooth, but most ofIE
them are narrow, with tall, thick I
flr trees on both sides. II
Two of the three qualifiers from i
this section, all Baltimoreans, play $
In the National Amateur tomor-
row. Eddie Johnston of the Coun- s
try Club of Maryland plays A. E. !
Campbell of Seattle and Bill Cole 9
of the Mount Pleasant Club inl(
Baltimore plays j. BENJAMIN Mar
shall of Dallas, Pa. Harry Parr IVti
of the Green Spring Valley Club
draws first round bye. Ii