Show Snead Faces Biggest Test By HARRY FERGUSON FERGUSpN United Press Sports Edit Edif Editor r NEW YORK Aug 24 UP UP-A UP A golf course is a laboratory made out of long velvet stretches of grass and little holes in the ground and in that laboratory the fiber and souls of men are tested The real test the test the acid test of his bewildering career career is is less than 48 hours away for Samuel Jackson Snead Anything Can Hoppen Within the next eight days on and off the golf course things are going to happen to this man that may determine whether he will become the greatest golfer of all time or merely a professional whose name will be hidden away In the record books as the winner of some obscure tournaments On Monday morning the annual annual annual an an- nual Professional Golfers' Golfers association association association tion tournament starts at Hershey Pa It is a grueling grind In which tle the winner will have to play holes of golf walk 45 miles and concentrate on every shot he snakes makes Every ball that goes screaming off the tee arching through the wind for the green greenwill greenwill greenwill will be carrying a dollar sign for this is the tournament the pros like to win And the favorite In the early betting is Samuel Jackson Snead He is the favorite despite a record record record rec rec- ord that includes more ups blow-ups than any other top flight golfer ever committed Remember the national open at Philadelphia in 1939 Sam had the title tucked away in his pocket and all he had to do was shoot an easy five on the last role He took a disastrous incredible eight and walked into the clubhouse a white and stricken man Or remember the 1940 open championship at Cleveland when Snead roared out in front with some of the greatest golf olf ever played in major competition tion On the last round of the tournament when short putts mean thousands of dollars and the are running along the nervous system Snead blew sky high and shot himself out of the tournament with an 81 Other Failures Or go back to 1938 In this same P. P G. G A. A tournament when Snead kept to the finals and seemed to j Sam Can a Erase Failures Meet be ready to live up to his tion But once again he went down to defeat this time before little Paul Runyan who has to strain to hit a golf ball half as far faras faras faras as Snead belts emIts emIts emIts em Its It's a fair lair question to Inquire why In view of all these collapses Snead remains the favorite against of the worlds world's best golfers Inthe in inthe inthe the worlds world's toughest tournament The answer is that mechanically Sam Is the greatest of them all alland alland alland and maybe the greatest who ever lived From tee to green his swing is faultless He drives like a siege gun chips with the touch of an artist putts with amazing accuracy accuracy accuracy acy when hes he's hot and outwardly seems to be a cool icy player But something inside of him seems to seethe up and destroy his concentration when the test by fire comes In the laboratory of green grass and little holes In the ground He may not know what It is himself but for the last year he has been fighting valiantly against It Sets Swift Pace re Monday morning Sam Snead will go into the fight light of his life He marches on Hershey fresh from I winning the Canadian open championship cham cham- chamI I by by one narrow shot on the last green of a play-off play with Jug it It was the same old story there Snead played bla blazing ing golf the first two days setting a course coure record and then breaking his own record |