Show I 1 speaking ol 01 I 1 by ROBERT mcshane i 5 Rele lod asod by Nen paper union G most popular champion with no exceptions in the present day field is blond craig wood winner of the games toughest trial the national open tournament the locker rooms are usually packed after the open full of might have beens who have a logical well thought out excuse for not winning it was different after this battle fought at fort worth texas woods victory unlikely as it seems was the occasion for general jubilation every player felt it was truly ly a case of long delayed justice wood finally had reached his place in the sun when wood canned his birdie 3 on the last hole of the tournament he be not only captured the title but he he ended the perennial frustration which saw him tie byron nelson for the 1939 crown losing in a double playoff play off and then in 1940 come in fourth in a strong finish this year he completed a string of 14 consecutive rounds in the open in which lie he has been 10 strokes under tinder even Vs craig never went over 13 3 in the 14 rounds the best competitive peti tive finishing mark in the 45 years of the tournament sweet siveret revenge four strong finishers in this years battle baitie were the cause of untold grief to wood during past golfing wars denny shute who had more than his share of backers at fort worth defeated craig eight years ago in a playoff for the british open shute finished second in the open three strokes behind woods 72 hole score of paul runyan who conquered wood in a 38 hole fight for the national P G A title in 1934 looked like he would repeat the conquest this year at the open the diminutive runyan took the 54 hole lead away from gene to be tied later by shute no golf fan who saw the 1935 masters tournament will forget the his tory making double eagle which gene chalked up to tie 74 1 1 I 1 CRAIG WOOD wood for the championship nor will they forget the resulting playoff which won then too there was byron nelson who whipped wood in the grueling 36 hole playoff for open honors in in 1939 that playoff caused the nations blood pressure to climb faster than a monkey after coconuts each of these men had a good chance to duplicate previous victories over wood when they went into the last day stretch on the colonial clubs soggy fairways shute had a 2 for the three rounds even with wood runyan was close behind with a had and nelson was only two strokes behind at to make a long story short wood let up ills his putter was just as hot as it was when he won the masters this spring at augusta ue ile dropped t two wo 25 foot putts and several 10 and 12 foot shots his woods were functioning as perfectly as ever 0 and his short game left little to be desired three year scores in 1939 at philadelphia wood shot 70 71 71 72 and then added a to lose to nelson in a heartbreak heart break ing playoff last year he shot 72 73 72 72 finishing a pair of strokes behind lawson little the winner and gene this year his rounds were 73 71 70 70 craig wood is a popular champion the crowd is always with a hard luck player particularly when he does the seemingly impossible and comes out on top sport shorts C net e t re receipts c eilts of the ninth annual to be played A AU 11 st star a baseball game detroit july 8 in briggs stadium and r recreational ec navy will go to the army reat ional programs university the stanford street on C A campus has been named after sam Mc mcdonald jonald negro superintendent athletic of the institutions plant 1 and the C L bo both t h the national open worth are A tournaments P G the vardon for points to the winners trophy award |