Show Sp eakin of sports texas golfe golfers r s plan dinv inv invasion aaion of U so S open by ROBERT Alc mcshane SHANE released by western newspaper union F FOUR OUR long years have gone by since any golfer outside the state stale of texas walked off with championship honors in the national open tournament topflight top flight club wielders from every section of the nation are devis ing ing ways and means of ending the lone star states monopoly of golt golf doms shining crown its going to be a tough battle for them when the texas squad is drawn up in early june battle formation on the canterbury course in cleveland ohio it will include such formidable foes as jimmy demaret the man with the quick smile ben hogan the mighty atom of golf byron nelson the defending open titleholder ralph guldahl 37 and 38 titleholder and dick metz texas born and bred in golfing ways the competition there are plenty of fine golfers from the outside who have a good chance for the title including sammy snead henry picard craig wood gene harry cooper olin dutra gene lawson little paul runyan denny shute and half a hundred others but the texas rangers still get the ahe nod opposition cant forget that demaret won seven major tournaments during the winter and spring not including pro amateur k I 1 V A RALPH GULDAHL wins at palm beach and miami beach critics hail him ai as the most relaxed star golfer since the days of walter hagens prime ralph guldahl is just coming back into his own twice champion of the U S open guldahl saw a hard winter his game suddenly blew up he lost his putting touch and his left arm went bad but hes always a dangerous golfer particularly over a course he likes and this may be the year hell win his third title despite his blowup guldahl is a cool almost icy golfer the mighty 0 atoni atom little ben hogan a pound chunk of dynamite is one of the longest hitters golf has ever known regularly getting yards off the tee while demaret was moving at a breathtaking breath taking clip hogan was right on his trail he led the winter and spring field with an average of strokes per round through 11 14 medal play tournaments he broke 70 in 11 tournaments and at pinehurst greensboro and he led the field by the astonishing margin of 15 strokes ile he played four major tournaments against killing competition a total of holes 33 32 under par tor for one of the truly great records of golf byron nelson present open champion is a determined hard fighting finisher he is just the opposite of demaret in that he cant relax he takes his tournaments seriously and is always keyed up to the tournaments end despite his tenseness he discourage easily in the last open nelson started with a 73 that might well have been an 80 or worse he saw more trouble in a single round than he usual usually ly does in a tournament chos going to stop the texas invasion well it might be slam min sammy snead the west V virginia ir hillbilly and mystery man of golf snead is a great golfer but still must learn to keep his nerves under control it could be gene jimmy thomson or martin pose the argentine champion it could be any one of dozens 0 of f well known players or it could be someone comparatively unknown as a tournament threat but the native sons of texas will give no quarter and it wont be an upset if the lone star rangers keep the crown another year sport shorts I 1 of the 16 major league baseball clubs 14 of them refuse to transport their teams by air on ev every ery club will not travel there are a few who in that manner christy walsh is sports director of the aga again n worlds world a fair in new york carroll bierman who rode Gallah adion to victory in the kentucky derby is a nat native ive of centralia Cen III two caddies from golf clubs in in the cleveland district W will ill get scholarships at northwestern university next 1 I fall |