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Show i IIIIIIV I Speaking i By ROBERT McSHANE I S tttiOMd br W.il.m N..ip0p Union -nlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllli QNE of the surest ways to star a bitter locker room argument Is to remark that the golfers of t past era did not play a game thai measures up to the modern product. The old-timers will squawk, loudly and earnestly. They will tell you about Improved golf courses, "tai-lored" "tai-lored" clubs and balls. They will quote statistics, and above all, they will reach back In memory's grab bag and tell you about Bobby Jones and his famous Grand Slam of 1930. "Who," they ask, "can match that performance today?" The correct answer is "no one." But that doesn't prove a thing. If anything, it indicates that golfers in general are better players that no one man is good enough to dominate the field as Jones did more than a decade ago. Just a few weeks ago the first four members of golf's hall of fame were chosen. They are to have their names Inscribed upon a bronze plaque to be presented for the first public view at the U. S. Open chain-pionship. chain-pionship. The first four members of the hall of fame are Francis j Ouimet of Boston, Bobby Jones of Atlanta, Walter Hagen of Rochester and Gene Sarazcn of New York and Connecticut. The Moderns Have It Sarazen, the 39-year-oW Connecticut Connecti-cut squire, Is all for the modern golf-er golf-er over the old timers. And he speaks with authority, having stuck with the parade for 20 years. Last year he tied for the U. S. Open in Cleveland, 18 years after he had won it in Chicago. It is Sarazen's contention that he is playing better golf today than he did 20 years ago that he has to play better golf to keep pace with the modern field. He believes, for instance, that Bobby Jones and Walter Wal-ter Hagen were the greatest golfers 1 GENE SARAZEN " of their time, but that the scores 1 which made them great from 10 to ' 20 years ago would never put them at the top in 1941. Sarazen says he is hitting the ball 20 or 25 yards farther today than he did when he was a mere lad of 21. How does he do it? First of all, he was forced to improve. It was ' essential that he lengthen his drives I and perfect his game. "I've im-i im-i proved my swing," he says, "and I've studied my timing. My foot ' and body action is better." Sara- zen always played winning golf, but i in order to keep going with players . like Sammy Snead, Jimmy Dema- ret, Ben Hogan, Lawson Little and i a score of others, it was necessary for him to improve an already good game. That he did. ! Historical Battles One of golfdom's all-time greats, Sarazen has taken part in golf battles bat-tles that will live forever in the annals an-nals of the game. There was the time when he needed three birdies on the last five holes to tie Craig Wood, perennial hard luck star who nrohri thrnuoh this vear to win the , A CliJl'l-l Mi Masters. Sarazen accounted for all his birdies in one hole by sinking a spoon shot on the 500-yard fifteenth fif-teenth of the August National for a double eagle 2. The eood players were after pars 20 years ago. Now pars are as com- mon as sunshine. The best players are after eagles on holes of 500 or 520 yards. After all, why shouldn't present-day present-day golfers be better than the old-timers? old-timers? Just about every other sport has seen improvements in existing ex-isting records. Not many track records of 10 years ago are still standing. . Fifteen years from now Snead, Hogan, and the rest will be arguing the same point around the locker room-with some whippersnapper who started high school in 1941. Sport Shorts 1 CSandlot baseball players of New York have presented Lou Gehrig with a scroll containing more than 500 signatures. , e Dick Kratzer of Kenmore. N. j has been elected 1941-42 captain of . Ih. Purdue university swimming team. , 1Q,, D. Professional golf prizes for IMi are expected to toal approximately 5200,000. .. . I Joseph Bradl. an Austrian skier, jumped 350 96 feet in 1918 |