Show I 1 r foI i 1 I I 1 MONEY THE J- J t MAN iGene I t TION By CORNER Gene Brockhaven r I I TO 0 LANE MERRIT there was more than the title of club golf champion at stake in today's match very much more indeed There Thereas was as for instance the need to wipe out this Donald Youngs Young's attempt to humiliate Lane the evening before after the semi-finals semi when he called across the club dining room How about a little bet on the match tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow to to- toI I morrow Merrit Sa Say or orso so It was a deliberate and Lane thought cheap try to embarrass him for Young and the others knew Lane didn't have Old Pop Weller sitting with Lane Lone had glanced at him to see how he was taking it He hesitated and then called to Young Ill take that bet betl And the so 50 can be anything anything anything any any- thing you want to make it Lane had looked appealingly at Pop and pleaded Dont do it Mr Weller But Pop snorted Its uIt's about time that show-off show was taken down a peg or Dr two Under the circumstances there was nothing for Young Youn to do b but T accept c pt e-pt th the bet b but t L Lane 7 s sensed sd he wasn't too keen about it And then most important of all there was Kay Cawley Now up to toa a few months before to the Cawley and Merrit families and naturally Kay and Lane the future was definitely definitely definitely settled for these two Then Young entered the picture with his flashy world the manners clothes and swank car And he proceeded proceeded proceeded pro pro- to give Kay the rush of that young ladys lady's 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 llie She deserved adulation and also the good times that Lane just making his start was unable to provide In fact without without without with with- out his fathers father's help he would have had to relinquish his membership in inthe inthe the Midvale Country Club At best It woud be two or more years before be be- tore fore he could rightly ask Kay to set the wedding date At breakfast Lane gave thought to his problems He wanted to win for his own sake he wanted to taste the sweetness of victory over that hard blow-hard Young he wanted to win for Pop Weller fine sport gentleman and friend that he was and most of all aU he wanted to win back Kay Of course winning a golf match wouldn't be enough for this last but it might help Lane arrived at the club a good half hour before the time set for the start of the finals and as he drove his modest coupe into the grounds he saw Young on the practice tee 4 m he thought the guy cant can't be too confident As he made his way through the room locker to his alley Lane was hailed nailed from all sides with good goodluck goodluck luck wishes Strangely he felt none of the excitement which seemed to fill the room He knew that besides Pop Wellers Weller's large bet r I much mone money had been wagered on 1 the outcome of the match He dressed leisurely and he was lacing his shoes when Young entered entered en en- held out his 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 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 itself he saw young Willie Villie Hopper waiting with his clubs young V Willie llie freckled-faced freckled snub-nosed snub and hardly a dandy in his worn well-worn denim pants and khaki shirt Willie loyal and capable capable capable capa capa- ble at his Ills the job job the thought made madeLane madeLane madeLane Lane feel better He caught a glimpse of Kay standing in the crowd well back of the tee Lane R i. i t t. t r iI r t L 1 A 2 y h f g JY y S 4 a r e. e lie He swung and hit hard and clean waved she smiled and waved back in encouragement he hoped They drove off straight and far with Youngs Young's ball stopping a few yards out in front They halved the first hole in par figures and that's the way it went until the seventh when Lane rolled in a long curling putt for a par to Youngs 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 scant foot from the cup Lane went one up again at the seventeenth when Youngs Young'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 think hink on one I or two occasions a little too safe Dont Don't let my bet disturb you Lane Win lose or draw the dickens with it It doesn't mean a thing to me except the satisfaction Ill I'll get when I collect it from that phony At two the second round started Now Midvale was no heartbreaking heart break heart break ing course Tough enough and long enough but an intelligent golf committee committee com had pointed to make it inter inter- esting and suitable to the games ol of olits olits its members rather than a test for top-flight top pros It did boast however how ever one hole the thirteenth which would try the skill of the worlds world's best Many Midvale members members' had protested this hole but the terrain was such that t the le committee could do little about ch changing nging it Two hundred hundred hun dred and fifty yards from the tee just far enough to catch the duffers duffer's second or third the fairway ended and dropped abruptly into a gully about fifty feet deep This gully with excellent turf stretched approximately approximately approximately ap ap- proximately a hundred yards along the bottom before the start of the therise therise therise rise back to the second section of fairway Arriving at the thirteenth Lane I still retained his one up lead of the I morning round He had played steady golf and two or three times he had fought off brilliant play by Young which threatened his slender lead On the tee Lane debated the advisability of blasting for the gully or playing it safe He decided on the I latter much to Willie Villie Hoppers Hopper's visible visible visible vis vis- vis- 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 carried carried carried car car- ried fairly straight as far as the yard two-hundred-yard marker and then hooked sharply downward and to the left Two long bounces and it disappeared into the heavy rough Willie Villie on the other side of the fairway groaned as he hurried across to locate the ball A member of the gallery pointed d deep in to a tiny white speck at the base of a small tree Willie Villie glanced hurriedly at the ball his heart sinking and I took up his position nearby It was wasa a bad break and he was puzzled that the ball had bounded so deeply into the rough Meanwhile Youngs Young's drive a tremendous tremendous tremendous tre tre- tre- tre clout had h n carried tn the first Ard f fairway irn y d a-d and adga ga gained d momentum n as asit asit it hit the downhill roll of the gully rolling almost to the very center Lane went into the rough and glanced down at the ball Willie was guarding It was partly buried its markings completely hidden It was almost an unplayable lie and Lane berating himself for 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 Heres Heresa a ball Lane Looks like yours I Jim Meredith refereeing the match walked to the second ball It was but a few feet in off the fairway sitting up pretty as you please on a I Ismall small tuft of grass its markings clearly visible Meredith ruled it was Lanes Lane's ball and Lane with a quick glance at the perfect lie selected selected selected se se- se- se his brassie and sent the ball ban sailing over the gully and well onto the second section of the fairway It was a perfect shot As soon as Lane had hit Young walked up to Meredith I 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 insist on examining examining examining ing that other b ball lI by the tree Im I'm sure its it's Merrit's ball because from the tee I watched it bounce into the rough towa toward d that tree I His face was white and set his voice shaky I as the import of his words suddenly your privilege Meredith answered He went over to the tree and lifted the h half U buried ball carrying it back to Young See he said its a Falcon and you know the make ball Merrit is play 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 game And the ball game went Young dubbed his second completely the ball missing the top of the gully and rolling back to rest half way up the slope He stood watching the ball for a few seconds then his hiS' nerves breaking slamming the club heavily into the turf Yes youve you've guessed it Lane won the match Best of all Kay rushed onto the sixteenth green where the match had ended to congratulate Lane and right and right smack in sight of that large audience audience- threw her arms around his neck and kissed hi him m. m And much to Pop Wellers Weller's delight Youngs Young's check bounced |