| Show MONEY MAN fa ION TION by go brockhaven gene amore po 0 LANE MERRIT there was more than the title of club goll golf champion at stake in today s match very much more indeed there was for instance the need to wipe out this donald young a attempt to humiliate lane the evening before after the semi finals when he called across the club dining room how about a little bet on the match to morrow Merrit 9 say 5 or soa it was a deliberate and lane thought cheap try to embarrass him for young and the others knew lane didn dian t have 5 old pop weller sitting with lane had glanced at him to see how he was taking it he hesitated and then called to young take that 5 bet betl and the so can be any thing you want to make it lane had looked appealingly at pop and pleaded don t do it mr weller but pop snorted its it s about time that show off was taken down a peg or two under the circumstances there was nothing tor for young to do but accept the bet but lane sensed he wasn gasn t too keen about it and then most important of all there was kay cawley now up to a few months before to the cawley and merrit families and naturally kay and lane the future was bitely settled for these two then young entered the picture with his flashy man of the world manners clothes and swank car and he proceeded to give kay the rush of that young lady a life lane was hurt but somehow it all seemed so right not that he blamed kay she was young pretty and bubbling with enthusiasm for life she deserved adulation and also the good times that lane just making his start was unable to provide in fact with out his father s help he would have had to relinquish his membership in the midvale country club at best it would be two or more years before he could rightly ask kay to set the wedding date at breakfast lane gave thought to bis his problems he wanted to win for his own sake he wanted to taste the sweetness of victory over that blow hard young he wanted to win for pop weller fine sport gentleman and friend that he was and nd most of all he wanted to win back kay of course winning a golf match t be enough for this last fast but it might help lane arrived at the club a good half hour before the time set tor for the tart start of the finals and as he drove his modest coupe into the grounds tie saw young on the practice tee in he thought the guy can t be too confident As he made his way through the locker room to his alley lane was nailed from all sides with good luck wishes strangely he felt none of the excitement which seemed to fill the room he knew that besides pop weller s large bet much money had been wagered on the outcome of the match he dressed leisurely and he was lacing his shoes when young en held out h s hand and in a voice loud enough to carry said good luck merrit lane promptly acknowledged and returned the wish in kind but thought still playing to the gal lery there was quite a crowd at the first tee and for the first time lane felt a bit squeamish in the stomach on the tee e itself he saw young willie hopper waiting with his clubs young wilhe willie freckled faced snub nosed and hardly a dandy in his well worn denim pants and khaki shirt willie loyal and capa ble at his job the thought made lane feel better he caught a glimpse ol 01 kay standing in the crowd well back of the tee lane waved she smiled and waved back in encouragement he hoped they drove off straight and tar far its members rather than a test for top flight pros it did boast how ever one hole the thirteenth which would try the skill ot of the world worlds s best many midvale members had protested this hole but the terrain was such that the committee could do little about changing it two hun dred and fifty yards from the tee just far enough to catch the duffer a second or third the fairway ended and dropped abruptly into a gully about fifty feet deep this gully with excellent turf stretched ap proximately a hundred yards along the bottom before the start of the he rise back to the second section of fairway arriving at the thirteenth lane still retained his one up lead of the morning round he had played steady golf and two or three times he had fought off brilliant play by young which threatened his slender ZIA 01 I 1 L 1 it 4 aa lie ile swung and hit hard and clean with young youngs s ball stopping a few yards out in front they halved the first hole in par figures and that a the way it went until the seventh when lane rolled in a long curling putt for a par to young s bogie five to go one up lane held that lead until the twelfth when young birdied the short hole after his iron shot from the tee had stopped a sc scant ant foot from the cup lane went one up again at the seventeenth when young youngs s second found a deep trap off the green and that s how the morning round ended gallery and players trooped into the club dining room for lunch the big room was noisy with the clatter of dishes and the chatter at the tables as shots of the round were talked over and replayed pop weller sat with lane you played fine golf my boy but I 1 think on one or two occasions a little too safe don t let my bet disturb you lane win lose or draw the dickens with it it doesn doean t mean a thing to me except the satisfaction get when I 1 collect it from that phony at two the second round started now midvale was no heartbreak heart break ing course tough enough and long enough but an intelligent golf corn coin cittee had pointed to make it inter ebing esig and suitable to the games of lead on the tee lane debated the advisability of blasting for the gully or playing it safe he decided on the latter much to willie hopper a vis ible disapproval willie reluctantly handed over the requested spoon and ambled off toward the brink of the gully lane hitting first stepped to the tee the murmuring of the gallery ceased he swung and hit hard and clean the ball car ned ried fairly straight as far as the two hundred yard marker and then hooked sharply downward and to the left two long bounces and it disappeared into the heavy rough willie on the other side of the fairway groaned as he hurried across to locate the ball A member of the gallery pointed deep in to a tiny white speck at the base of a small tree willie glanced hurriedly at the ball his heart sinking and took up his position nearby it was a bad break and he was puzzled that the ball had bounded so deeply into the rough meanwhile young youngs s drive a tre clout had carried the first fairway and gained momentum vf rv it hit the downhill roll of the guey rolling almost to the very center he ile walked with lane the gallery galler trailing xai ling down the faira fairway ay from the ae lane went into the rough and glanced down at the ball wilhe willie was guarding it was partly burled buried its markings completely hidden it was almost an unplayable lie ile and lane berating himself for or the error in playing safe had about decided the best thing to do was to try to cut it out to the fairway just then someone called here s a ball lane looks like yours jim meredith refereeing referee mg the match w walked to the second ball it was but a few feet in off the fairway sitting up pretty as you please on a small tuft of grass its markings clearly visible meredith ruled it was lane s ball and lane with a quick glance at the perfect be lie se lecter his brassie and sent the ball sailing over the gully and well onto the second section of the fairway it was a perfect shot and the gallery gasped As soon as lane had hit young walked up to meredith I 1 protest that ruling he said how do you know that was the ball merrit hit from the tee it could have been dropped there I 1 insist on elamin ing that other ball by the tree I 1 in sure it a merrit a ball because from the tee I 1 watched it bounce into the rough toward that tree treel his face was white and set his voice shaky as the import of his words suddenly struck him that a your privilege meredith answered he went over to the tree and lifted the half buried bau ball carrying it back to young see he said it s a falcon and you know the make ball merrit is play ing with that he walked off pop weller who had seen and heard muttered to the man next to him there goes your ball gamel and the ball game went young dubbed his second completely the ball missing the top of the gully and rolling roiling back to rest half way up the slope he stood watching the ball ban for a few seconds then bis his nerves breaking slammed the club headly into the turf yes you ve guessed it lane won the match best of all kay rushed on onto 0 the th e sixteenth green where the match had ended to congratulate lane and right smack in sight of that large audience threw her arms around his neck and kissed him and I 1 much to pop weller s delight young youngs s 5 check bounced bounce dl |
