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Show jCM7ZAVOl IN WHAT competition doss the competitor or contestant take the roughest punishment? Is it football or boxing? Steeplechase riding or water polo? Long-distance running, such as tin 15,000 meters, the 10.C00 meters or tfie marathon? Rowing, baseball, U-nnis or basketball? We put this discussion up to p..- Tommy Armour, ; vrf V the able golfing e&$:$&' Scot wh0' in W f-. i day an(j time, won V , the U.S. Open, the J British Open, the ! TS-f!g P.G.A. and more V ' minor tournaments liJVVVJ than you can men-;r men-;r "on. f ,,iS5iijr' "Just what form -r "J of punishment do JOKES you mean?" Armour asked. "Physical punishment, mental men-tal pufiishment or nerve punish- ! ment? They are all entirely dif- ' ferent." j "What form of punishment is the hanfest to handle?" I asked. "Physical, punixhmcnt. auch a you get in football or boxing, In the softest punishment," Armour Ar-mour said. "The toughest to I handle Is mental or nerve. Ever ' have a live nerve in a tooth ex-I ex-I iracted?" "I think I can see Just what you iiTe leading up to," I said. "I think it is a game called golf." "For a change you are correct" was the silver-haired Scot's answer. 'It is golf. Ask Bobby Cruickshank, who before he came over here, was the best lightweight fighter in the British Isles, the best soccer player play-er and one of the best golfers. Not overlooking four years in the Black Watch from 1914 to 1918." Bobby Has a Reputation No one can pay a tribute to Cruivkshank, now pro at the Richmond Rich-mond Country club, that we don't doible and redouble, no matter what the game. "A knockout punch doesn't hurt," Armour said. "You can take a hammering ham-mering now and then that won't help you, but it is only physical. Soon over. Football is the same. Few football players even feel pain when tn play. They don't know they are hurt until later. I'U bet most of them suiTer more from nerves and I don't mean nerve than from getting hurt physically. "But football isn't as tough as golf and I think Joe Louis wiU teU you the same about the fight game. I'U bet Louis has suffered more in a number of golf matches than he ever suffered in the ring. Why? Nerves. "I don't think Louis ever suffered suf-fered anything from nerves in a fight in his life. But I can promise plenty that he's taken quite a beating beat-ing in nerves at golf. Louis doesn't mind a pretty fair bet. And he's quite a good golfer. But some of these boys in golf are hard to take." "The punishment you take In golf on an off day or through a tournament la the worst yon get in any game. Did yon ever get 'the yips?' The 'yips' are nerves that blow up in your wrists when yon are playing chip shots or putting. The nerves simply explode and you can do nothing about It. Ton can ask Walter llagen or Bobby Jones, two great putters. "I rccaU a $10,000 tournament 1 played in. I had a good lead through the first three rounds. Then I got the 'yips.' I three-putted eight greens. I missed seven putts from two to three feet out. I figured each one of these putts cost me $300. "I would rather have been knocked down six times by Demp-sey Demp-sey or Louis. I would rather have been run over by Bronko Nagurskl. I took more punishment in the last round that any fighter ever took in a ring. Nerves Prevent Sleep "Bobby Jones won 13 national titles. But I'd like to bet no one ever took more nerve punishment It took him seven years to win his first champlonchlp. He couldn't sleep at night or keep food on his stomach on numerous occasions. Jock Hutchison couldn't eat or sleep through an open. Neither could I. I don't think Hagen ever bothered too much about anything." I recaU one occasion in an amateur ama-teur golf championship, one of thr entries was an aU-star colleg tackle around 220 pounds. He was a good golfer and he lasted through Wednesday. But he collapsed on Thursday and Just missed the hos-ital. hos-ital. His nervous system blew up. He was in a bad way. He never played in another tournament The roughest part of golf Is that every mistake yon make ia your own. Ne opponent baa anything directly to do with It He can't hit one by you, block you, tackle yon or knock yon out. He can't do anything to you. You inflict your own pun-I pun-I Uhmrnt 1 Golf was first called "an 'umblin' game" by George Low over 30 yean ago. It Is also an Infuriating game at times. When Jerry Travera, a great competitor, won his U.S. Open at Bnltusrol in 1919, he waa a nervous nerv-ous wreck for over two weeks after wards. And Travcrs had Just about ns fine a set of nerves as I've evci seen. |