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Show I SPOR TLIGH T j Lccke Considered Top Golfer I By GRANTLAND RICE 1 1 New York A portly fellow by the ! ' name of Bobby Locke is on his way ' . from South Africa to England, . and from England to the United States. This is one of the longest invasions that sport has known. 'i Bobby Locke is a South African j i. golfer that many rate as the great- ' est of them all. His supporters bar j nobody. He is headed for the Goodall Round Robin at Wykagyl in early June, and later to the U.S. Open : - in Detroit, two of the major tests that golf has to offer, i r : Locke is, beyond any argu ment, the greatest golfer the other side of the Atlantic has ; developed since the reign of Harry Vardon. Bobby is now British Open Champion. ; His showing in our Goodall Round j' Robin has been a trifle better than i sensational. This is a grinding test i; where every player from a picked ! I ; field must meet every other play- ; er. The total result teDs the story. ... ' In three Round Robins, the rec- '. ords we have show that Locke has won two and fin- The Locke Swing Bobby Locke's stroke is closest to a completely natural golf swing of any we have seen. You can see the iron-shod schooling, school-ing, the hours and years of practice, prac-tice, back of the Hogan groove. This goes for Nelson, Mangrum, and most of the others. They have hammered themselves them-selves into a set style that allows for rare errors. There is the straight left arm, the body turn, the fixed head, the hand and wrist action that controls the club head! With Ben Hogan, especially, there is rarely the slightest change from this killing routine. Sammy Snead has one of the best-looking swings golf has ever known. But Locke's swing still looks to be a trifle simpler and less complicated. It is more in line with the so-called so-called "St. Andrews Swing" of ancient an-cient years. Another factor of Locke's swing is its consistency or steadiness. You rarely see him wandering too far from the trapped or pitted highway. Be is also a sound competitor who rarely gets bothered or upset by any errors or mistakes. In addition to this, Locke has an extremely short game. There is no one better from just off the green to the bottom of the cup. He can chip and he can putt. He has his full share of concentration concen-tration and determination, and he has a swing he trusts implicitly, which is a major help. Locke's visit will be the shot in the arm which golf needs today because of the lack of younger stars who seem to be in no hurry to report. His presence on the greens will help the tournament appeal. American Ameri-can golfers, too, will remember the ability of the South African visitor. Big Money About one stable in ten makes any real money from a race track breeding, selling or racing. The horse player takes quite a healthy beating, year after year, but the horse owner takes an even bigger trimming. For example, I j - - 1 ished second in the other start. He has . won more money, I taking a general average of his play on this side of the bunkered pond, than any golfer we can recall re-call at the mo- ment. In any event, Grantlano Rice he h g w Q healthy chunk, his full share of doubloons. Unfortunately Ben Hogan won't be able to stand the long 36-hole march of the Round Robin test. But Hogan will be on hand at Oakland Oak-land Hills, for the Open, later on. ; For all that, Locke will have a j rather savage test to meet. : He will have such competi- 1 tors as Lloyd Mangrum, Sam- I my Snead, Jim Ferrier, Skee i Riegel, Jimmy Demaret, and others from the pick of the ' big field. Hogan is now Open champion and master of the .''' Masters, two of the highest '1 peaks golf knows today. I But the Round Robin is also a terrific test of both skill and stam- i S ina. ! j What this country and golf in 1 ; general needs is the arrival of a ' i few new faces. The old guard is 1 wearing out. Hogan, Nelson, Snead, ' Mangrum, Ferrier, etc., haven't too , , j far to go. They are moving to the '' borders of the Forty-Year-Old , country, where the laurel and the ' olive begin to fade. Bobby Locke is no part of a kid. for that matter. Bobby has been around a long time. Greentree, one of the best, makes money about one year in ten. The Whitneys, Vanderbilts, Wid-eners, Wid-eners, Wrights, Sloanes, Jeffords, Klebergs and a few others support racing. Mrs. Warren Wright's famous Calumet stable with Citation, Ponder, Pon-der, Coaltown, Bewitch, etc., had dominated the bank account of the game steadily until Mrs. Sloane's Brookmeade stable took charge in 1950. Calumet ran second. |