Salt Lake Telegram | 1938-01-06 | Page 13 | Powerful Snead Rated as Golfing Great

T- T Powerful Snead Rated as Golfing Great By HENRY McLEMORE United Pr Press s Sports Sport Writer LOS ANGELES Jan 6 A 6 A year ago go today one Sam Snead was Wa looked upon by the golfing fraternity fra- fra a as little more than a hill hill- illy billy freak It was generally believed believed be- be eved that Samuel and his tremendous tremendous dous ous drives wouldn't last and that he e soon would go rolling back into the he fastnesses of his West Virginia hills ills with more speed than he showed lowed in rolling out of them Today on the eve of the Los Angeles open tournament one of ofle the le most important fixtures of the annual swing Sam Snead 1 is looked upon pon with awe by the greatest players play- play ers r of the game and many of them concede him more than an even chance nance of becoming the greatest golfer who ever lived No player in history not even Jones ones or Hagen or ever I increased in in a a. twelve twelve- month more than Snead the onetime onetime onetime one one- time rural soda jerker In one year he came from the environs of nowhere to a place as golf's most arresting figure The answer is unbelievable power and unbelievable unbelievable unbelievable able control of the same From I tournament to tournament he marched getting home with a drive driva and five iron on holes that nearly all of his rivals had to play two woods Sam wasn't the first of the but he was the first who could place his Big Bertha shots where he wanted them The great progress he has made in a year is reflected in the betting betting betting bet bet- ting odds for the Los Angeles open that starts tomorrow over the Griffith Griffith Grif Grit park course The bookmaking gentry has installed Sam and Harry Cooper as favorites and when you get coupled with Cooper you are coupled with the most consistent and scorer of them alL aIL Snead is liked above Horton Smith Johnny Revolta Henry Picard Picard Pi- Pi card Byron Nelson and Jimmy Hines men Hines men he hardly knew a year ago But for Cooper Snead would stand out in the Los Angeles field like what the Hungarians so deftly deftly deft deft- ly iy term Ia la thumb sore But nobody nobody no no- II body stands out above Harry the Chicago wizard Today through the mails I received a sheet of figures from Freddie Corcoran tournament manager of the P. P G. G A. A The Tho figures were an analysis of the leading professional scorers in 1937 And what do you think Coopers Cooper's average was Just a sloppy for 78 rounds in 26 tournaments That's all all j just all just st a fraction better than even fours in tournaments in which he encountered slow greens fast greens rain blistering heat baked fairways s cold and snow A I study of those figures must have been a shock to Harry I mean mea it must make a man wonder what wha sort of business he is in when he h shoots better than perfect golf an and yet winds up without winning a national na na- title Cooper has yet to break brea breakthrough breakthrough through in the open or P. P G. G A A. tournaments Something alway always s happens to balk his bid such a as Tony Manero's magnificent fina final l round at Baltusrol two years ago agoa ago ago- a round achieved after Harry ha had accepted congratulations on wha what t seemed a winning score Harry has nothing on Snead though Snead fired a in th the e open last year which was a score good enough to win all but one othe o othe of f the opens in history Yet he ha hato had to be content with second mone money when Ralph Guldahl the automobile automobile automobile automo automo- bile salesman came in with Copyright 1938 for The Telegram