Evening star., 1952-04-05

New Masters Record
Likely for Snead if
He Holds Off Hogan
By MerreII WhittIesey
Stor StoH Correspondent

Stor Stoff Correspondent
AUGUSTA. Ca, April 5.-All
Sam Snead needs is a 70 and II
today and tomorrow to break the
record for the Masters tourna-
ment and, paradoxically, that
might not be good enough to win
this 18th edition of the gathering
of COLTS elite.
Everything points to Snead's
smashing the 279 totals of Ralph
Guldahl in 1899 and Claude Har-
mon in 1948, but Ben Hogan is
only three shots behind Slammin'
Sam going into the third round
today and Hogan hasn't had that
one real good round you can al
ways expect of him.
With 70-67-137 for the first
36 holes, Snead is IL shots ahead
of his halfway mark standing in
i1949. the year he won his only
Masters crown. Sam started with
a 73 and IS that year. then fin
ished with a pair of blazing CTS.
However, Hogan did not play in
the 1949 Masters, staged only two
months after his near-fatal auto
mobile accident near Ell Paso, Tex.
Since Hogan returned to action
following that accident, he has
finished higher than Snead in
every major tournament except
two. Sam won a playoff between
the two in the 1850 Los Angeles
Open and finished third to
Hogan's fourth in the 1850
Masters
Day Ideal for Scoring.
The weather has helped make
the Augusta National course more
susceptible for Snead's purposes.
IA tremendous downpour last
might further softened the course
to the point where the greens
cannot be made too slick. Today
was cool and bright and ideal for
scoring.
And in addition Snead is exud-
ing confidence. He is not tired
out due to the rigors of the win
ter tour, as he spent most of his
time the last few months fishing
and resting in Florida. He joined
the touring pros only three weeks
ago. and won one tournament and
tied for first in another before
slipping slightly last week.
After his 5-under-par round
yesterday, Sam said that If one
can drive and putt he can play
this golf course. Snead is driving
to perfection and putting well
enough to make IL brides in his
first SO holes.
Sam Lists Four Mistakes.
But Snead ALSO said this is a
course that does not permit too
many mistakes. Thus far he fig
ures he has made only four. three
during the first round and one
yesterday on the 220-yard par 3
fourth hole, where he overclubbed.
His only real bad hole was the
very first one in the tournament,
but that did not disturb his think
ing.
Hogan. who plays golf under
the assumption that even the per-
feet shot could be better, is
breezing along in second place
with 70-70-140. four under par:
In contrast to Snead's IL brides,
Hogan has only half that number.
He had to sink a 22-foot putt on
the 18th green yesterday to get
one of those.
But IN 36 holes Hogan has been
over par only twice. He missed
the fifth green on his first round
and took S on that testy par
a, and yesterday he drove into
the woods while trying to cut a
corner on the second hole, wind
ing up with 6 on a par 5 hole
that he figured to birdie.
The strange part of his 6 on
that hole yesterday was that Ben
had watched Byron Nelson drive
INTO the woods on the hole in
the first round and remarked
later that, in all the years he has
been playing this course, he didn't
think it possible to miss the wide
second fairway. So the next day
he missed it.
Three Tied at 142.
Snead is five strokes better than
anybody but Hogan. The 142
bracket is made up of Jim Ferrier,
Tommy Bolt and Johnny Revolta
Ferrier with 72-70 and the others,
with consistent IT'S. This is the
tournament Ferrier apparently
had locked up in 1850 before he
lost seven strokes to Jimmy De-
maret on the last six holes.
| Revolta. who was Al today, is
the 1885 PGA champion and is
making a stand reminiscent OF
Veteran Paul Runyan's unex-
pected bid for the National Open
last year. Both are great putters
Bolt. the faSt-swinging newcomer
to the upper brackets, has done
nothing to maintain his reputa-
ton as a bad-tempered player
|