Evening star., 1952-06-13
Never Hit Ball
Better, He Says;
|brosch in Front
Hogan Is One Behind
Long Island Golfer,
Often Early Leader
By MerreII WhittIesey
Sfor Stof Correspondent

|
backed me into a corner in tn,
locker room after his par 70 ir
the first round of the National
Open golf championship yester.
day, looked over his shoulder tc
make sure we were alone, and in
the manner of a man imparting a
secret of international importance
said, do you want to know some
thing?"
The answer, of course, was in
the affirmative. Snead, in high
good humor despite the fact he
trails AL Brosch by two strokes
and Ben Hogan by one going into
today's second round at the
Northwood Club, then told his
story.
He said that for the last three
weeks he knew there was a flaw
in his game. Something was
wrong with the way he was hitting
the ball, but he didn't know what
it was. The night before last, he
saw a picture of himself taken
some time ago and noticed the
position of his left hand on the
club was quite different from the
way he was holding the club at
present.
Drives Split Fairways.
IT just laid in bed thinking
about it," Sam said. II hardly
slept a wink because I just
couldn't wait to get a club in my
hands to test it. It felt great on
the practice tee this morning and
boy" he added with a big grin
II never hit 'em any better. If
I can get a couple of puts down,
something might happen"
Snead's drives yesterday split
the fairways right in two. On the
six par fours where he used a
No. l iron off the tee, the ball
came off the club like it was out
of cannon.
Sam had 16 fours and two
threes in his 10 round. He birdied
both of the par f1ves and went
over par on two of the par
threes. He appeared to be ex-
tremely confident. Sam thinks
he has finally conquered the
three fears in his life. They were,
as he so often has said. Hogan,
lightning and a downhill putt -
The 40-year-old Brosch, q
teaching pro from Garden City,
N. Y, is the leader going into
the second round, but the be-
spectacled Long Island pro with
the thinning red hair may be Just
following the script. He has led
the National Open before, the
last time at the halfway mark
at Medinah in 1949. He also has
been the early leader in other
big tournaments and once topped
the PGA qualfiers.
But Brosch never has shown
staying power. He slips to the
middle or high 70s before it's
over. and then goes home to win
the Long Island Open, Metropol-
itan Open and similar tourna-
ments. Tomorrow's 36-hole final
could be tremendous grind for
him.
Older Golfers in Front.
OF the 16 players who shot II
one over par or better, only one
is under 80 years of age. Hogan
is the only par shooter or par
breaker under 40, and he will be
40 in August.
One hole yesterday was Of
great Importance to Hogan, who
is after his fourth National Open
championship. He was two over
par after six holes and the crowd
groaned as he sliced miserably
off the seventh tee. It looked
like he might have to take a six
But Ben, who was taking SO
much time he was getting on
some folks nerves, played a mir
aculous hooked iron out of the
rough and trees to a blind green
and followed with a 23-footer
for a birdie three. It was an
other of those almost unbeliev-
able Hogan shots. That seemed
to get him out of a trance and
ne birdied the next hole and two
in a row on the back nine. He's
still the man to beat.
All of a sudden nobody is talk
ing about Lloyd Mangrum and
Bobby Locke, who were co-favored
with Snead and Hogan.
Mangrum Out in 40.
Mangrum seemed to lose his
game overnight. He played safe
off the first tee with an iron and
promptly hit the ball in the woods
He was out in 40, but pulled him
self together with a IS coming
back for rs.
Locke took IS puts, a bundle
for him, in shooting 78. Ray
Gafford. the home pro; Clayton
Heafner, twice runnerup in the
Open. and Frank Stranahan, the
millionaire amateur, were disap-
Ipointments at n.
;. The 70 shooters, except fol
Snead. were surprises. Horton
Smith. the PGA president, anG
Dick Metz, both A, matched pal
figures, Metz after going four ovel
par on the first six holes. He
hasn't qualified for the final day.
!, play in the Open since the war
: Continued on Page CO, Col. S.
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