Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-04-10
ZEE TO GREEN

It Is one, OF the strange char
acteristics Of today's golf fan
that as soon as q player OF the
caliber Of Arnold Palmer doesn't
win one of the major cham
pionships they say he's through.
This is not to take any Of the
luster off Jack Nicklaus' nerve
less victory In the Masters
tournament Sunday, but the
fact is that Palmer came aw-
fully close to winning - closer
than the scoreboard says.
What the scoreboard doesn't
show is that Palmer is an aw-
fully emotional player, perhaps
as emotional as the Cary Mid
dlecoff Of the mid-1950S.
Middlecoff was a man who
could work himself into such q
state that II one putt fell, any
thing could happen. Palmer Is
much the same, provided he
gets that good jump. When he
does, he tugs at his glove.
bitches at his pants, and the
game is on.
The game was on for four
and o half holes Sunday, but
after that Palmer joined the
ranks Of mortal men. Six strokes
behind Nicklaus as the round
opened, Palmer rolled In a 20
foot birdie on the first, got an
other birdie at the second
which was expected-and then
the stampede began.
Between the second and third
fairways at the Augusta Ma
tional Coli Club there is a
thick stand Of pine trees. When
Palmer's gallery broke ranks on
the second and dashed for the
third through those trees, it
couldn't have been less fright
ening than Stonewall Jackson's
charge through the wilderness
at Charlottesville.
They yelled, they screamed
and they fought for position
around the third green. They
were rewarded by a fine wedge
shot that Palmer dropped less
than 10 feet from the cup. But
here his momentum was stalled.
He missed.
After q routine par 8 on the
fourth, Palmer laced O beau
tiful iron shot 8 feet from the
fifth cup, and again 1t looked
like q typical move by the man
many consider to be the finest
competitor IN golf.
But the putt never had a
chance. He started the ball d.
rectly at the hole and it broke
away. After that he was never
a real factor. He wasn't going
to catch anybody the way he
way playing.
However, If those two puts
had fallen land they didn't
miss by much) who can tell
what they might have in
spired? When Palmer makes q
move even the imperturbable
NicklauS, must at least feel a
tremor.
Sam Snead, that remarkable
fossil from golf'S Stone Age,
still has illusions, or hopes, of
winning the National Open
after 9 quarter century Of
Illustrations ~
He was thinking about It
even before he almost won the
Masters. Sam says he's been
on q training routine that has
taken off quite q bit Of weight
and trimmed inches from his
middle. BY the middle Of June,
Sam says. he'll be down to 178
pounds-fighting weight. But
is 1t putting weight
=
Ed Furgol is playing more
this year than at any time
since 1857. and he says he can
tell the difference. In 1857 he
was involved In an automobile
accident which injured his
right arm. His left arm Is al
ready crippled, withered from a
childhood playground accident.
In the spring Of 1858 Furgol,
now 46, had some bone spurs
removed from his right elbow.
That has had an amazing eff
feet on the arm.
cts grown two inches since
then" Furgol said last week.
It's also grown stronger, be-
cause now Furgol can almost
approximate the drives he hit
when he won the 1854 National
Open at Baltusrol. II have
spells when I can drive as far
as ! did then. After the acct
dent I couldn't drive 200
yards"
Furgol said that when he
won the Open he must have
outdriven the field by about 20
yards.
One theory was knocked in
the head when Jay Hebert said
he didn't mind playing with
Palmer. It has often been said
that Palmer's galleries are up
setting TO his playing partner,
considering the way they STAN
pede to the next tee after he
has putted out with utter dis
regard Of the other guy.
III sign q contract to play
with him every week for the