Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-06-08

The only SlgnlncanI cnange
in the pre-tournament thinking
about the National Open com
pared to the Masters of 10
weeks ago is that it is difficult
to justify Ken Venturi's role
of favorite.
Otherwise the pattern is
about the same. They're ask
ing if the tired old legs of Sam
Snead and Ben Hogan can
carry them through Saturdays
grueling SO holes at the South
ern Hills Club in Tulsa.
There's proper respect for
Cary Middlecoff, who has won
twice and tied last year. and
the same for Arnold Palmer,
the Masters champion. And
hardly anybody would be sur
prised if Doug Ford won. be-
cause he's won the Masters and
the PGA, has been the leading
money winner and almost al
ways gets a chunk Of the
money. However. he hasn't
won anything lately.
+
The PGA tour has not pro-
duced any serious challengers
since the Masters. In order,
the big-money tournaments
have been won by Bob Goalby
(honest), Gary Player, Jay He
bert, Tommy Bolt, Julius Boros,
Billy Maxwell, Ernie Vossler and
Doug Sanders. The side events
which drew select fields went to
Stan Leonard, who isn't play
ing the Open, and Snead.
There have been no double
winners, and nobody has had
a hot streak. The closest to a
streak was Middlecoff's consec-
utive rounds of 72-66-69-67-
67-68-66-66 at Hot Springs and
Memphis, but it earned him
only second-place finishes to
Boros and Maxwell.
4 4 X
But past performances at Hot
Springs and Memphis and Mo-
bile can be forgotten this week,
because this is the big one. Pitch
and putt courses are not award
ed the National Open cham
pionship.
Southern Hills has five par
four holes of more than $50
yards, and the total yardage
is 6,907. The pros say 1t was
"a great course two years ago,
but since then there has been
grooming and toughening. The
rough is rougher, the fairways
are narrowed, and the greens
manicured and slickened.
Herb Wind in Sports Illus
trated has a piece in which he
says that Oakland Hills in De-
troit presented such a frighten-
ing spectacle for the 1851 Open
that it was enough to make an
average golfer give up the game
rather than play the course. I'll
buy that.
Host courses to the National
Open usually are SO severe that
the unsuspecting home pro,
pleased over qualifying section
ally, and backed by contribu-
ton from his members, is
ashamed to come home after
shooting a couple of rounds in
the 80s.
But he need not be ashamed,
because the average home pro
and the working amateur who
qualities for the Open never
sees a course as tough. And
there's the awe, the pressure.
the glamour, etc. There's
nothing to make a strong man
culver like the last day of the
Open, where you have to be
physically and mentally fit to
play two rounds for the biggest
prize in golf.
One Of the most interesting
sidelights to the Open is Snead's
change of heart in preparation.
Sam went into the Masters ice
cold in a tournament sense, led
for three rounds and then fin
ished with an unbelievable 10
and Skidded to 18th.
No man, not even Snead, can
spot the tournament regulars
the value of weekly COMPETE
ton. Last week Sam tied for
seventh in the Western Open,
and today he's playing at
Dallas. Two weeks before the
Western he won his own tour
nament at White Sulphur
Springs. At As, he may have
learned a lesson at the Masters.