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Show SPEAKING OF SPORTS By ROBERT McSHANE i Rlawd by Wtm Nwipopr Untoii WHAT promises to b one of the most interesting winter golf campaigns ever known is well under un-der way with most of last year's professional pro-fessional favorites still ensconscd in the golden seat, managing to hold their own against all comers. With approximately $80,000 In prize money to shout at, the pros have unlimbered their biggest guns. Tlie quest for gold and glory started Id Miami recently, and continues some 10,000 miles up and down the West coast, then to Arizona and Texas, then to New Orleans, and finally, back to Florida. First successful searcher was "Lord" Byron Nelson, he of the poetic golf swing, who headed westward west-ward with $2,500 Miami Open money in his pocket. Nelson, conceded by many fellow professionals to be the world's greatest golfer, won the affair af-fair with a 271, nine strokes under par for the 72 holes. He won by a single stroke from Clayton Heafner of Llnvllle, N. C. Money Winner Little Ben Hogan of White Plains, N. Y the year's leading money winner, finished with a 273 total and third place. Sam Snead of Hot Springs, and Willie Goggln of Miami, Mi-ami, tied for fourth with 277. No one was particularly surprised to aee Nelson walk off with top honors hon-ors In the Initial tournament of the winter circuit. Not even his closest competitor begrudged him the $2,500, for Lord Byron was on his game and that means golf near perfection. By the same token, however, how-ever, no one would have been surprised sur-prised if the victory bad gone to Hogan, Snead, Demaret, Smith or any one of a dozen other 1939-40 favorites. It Is only natural that a lot of questions remain unanswered as yet. The winter campaign is too young to be used as the basis for any prognostications. For Instance, can Slammln' Sammy Sam-my Snead finally hit his true stride and start winning tournaments with that beautiful swing? Remember that he finished the fall meets In good shape. And he opened the winter wars with a good showing. Dub golfers don't place fourth against competition like the Miami Open offered. For a while things were looking dark for the West Virginian. Vir-ginian. He had blown the National Opens of Philadelphia and Cleveland Cleve-land in 1939 and 1940. He lost his poise in the pinches and his mental men-tal attitude went haywire when the chips were down. Later on Sammy regained his courage. He won three of his last four big tournaments and gave Nelson a real battle for the professional golfers' crown. A Man to Watch Snead Is one of the country's best golfers. Almost any pro golfer will Insist that Sammy's Is the finest swing In the game that he can't be beat from drive to pitch. His big weakness has been his mental attitude, which has let bim down all too often. Once be gains full control of himself, he will win considerably con-siderably more than his share of tournaments. Ralph Guldahl is another player to watch. He hasn't been playing the kind of golf that he's capable of playing. Guldahl plays as cool a game as any man in the pro ranks. His failure to win more tournaments baffles even the experts. He is the kind f a player one would expect to be consistent. He plays as though his veins were filled with ice water. This may be his year. He used to wreck the field, and may start in all over again. Vou may remember that Jimmy Demaret was a regular ball of fire along the winter circuit last year, lie grabbed all the headlines in California, Cal-ifornia, Texas and Florida. De didn't open with a bang this year winning win-ning exactly $31.25 In Miami but he may come back to surprise the galleryites. Ben Hogan is likely to pick up where he left off last year. The $1,000 he won in Florida ran his total earnings for the year to $10,655. This gave him possession of the Vardon trophy, awarded annually by the Professional Golfers association to its most consistent member. Nelson, Nel-son, winner of last year's Vardon trophy, was second with a total of $9,653, and Snead was third with $9,206. Hogan, who weighs in the neighborhood neigh-borhood of 132 pounds, continues to astound his contemporaries with his tremendous drives. Despite his small frame, he lays them ofT the tee with the longest drivers In the game. It wouldn't be at all surprising sur-prising if he continued the pace he set in California a year ago. Sport Shorts The Missouri Athletic commission is fostering a series of elimination i matches to determine the world's j wrestling champion . . . Ray Murphy, Mur-phy, Army's football captain-elect from Anaconda, Mont., attended a Butte business college, Montana U.. and Montana State before being admitted ad-mitted to West Point Baseball fans in the Canal Zone ( hope to raise $20,000 with which ( they will try to induce the Giants , and Indians to -train there in 1942. , |