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Show ; SPOR TLIGH T ; Texas Breeds World's Best Golfers '. By GRANTLAND RICE WHAT element is there in the air of Texas that produces golf champions? What quality is there In Taxas soil that makes a golf swing? " 1 The record of this somewhat extended ex-tended commonwealth is certainly an uncommon one in golf. The Open Golf Champion of the V. S. is Ben Hogan, a Fort Worth Texan. The Women's Open Golf Champion is Betsy Rawls, another Texan. The V. S. Amateur Champion is Billy Maxwell, also born and bred a Texan. Who was it that came before Hogan to rule U. S. golf? Ralph Guldahl, a big Texan who won the U. S. Open and the Western Open two years in suc- playing golf, such as Perry Adair, R. Watts Gunn, Alexa Stirling, Crawford Rainwater and many others. oth-ers. The present Woman's Champion Champ-ion is an Atlanta girl, one of the country's best. It got to be that way In Texas. I recall when Ralph Guldahl came -along, they began to talk about young Jimmy Demaret and then Byron Nelson. The rivalry soon became be-came so keen that golfers such as Ben Hogan really went to work. No golfers ever worked hard-- hard-- er than Hogan and Nelson to perfect their swings. Hour after hour, month after month, year after year, they hit an incredible incredi-ble number of practice shots. They got their swings almost perfectly grooved for every type of shot. I've seen Hogan work two hours on one type of shot from 90 yards off the green. The Texans often worked together, more than willing to help each other out when any kink attacked at-tacked a swing. I recall one occasion where Hogan won a 72-hole Open tournament with 263 for the 72 holes, a new record something like 26 under par. Yet next day Ben was out taking a lesson les-son and working over a slight change In his grip. Looking Back cession. Who followed fol-lowed the brilliant Guldahl? Byron Nelson, one of the great golfers of all time. Byron Nelson, another Texas product, pro-duct, belongs to the nonpareils. Who were in there swinging swing-ing all along the Gotland Rice route? Lloyd Man-grum Man-grum and Jimmy Demaret, also from Texas. What state or section ever gave the game so many star golfers as Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Lloyd Manprum. Ralnh Guldahl and Jim- jny Demaret? When Billy Maxwell, a 22-year-old stylist, captured the recent Amateur Championship, Texas owned practically all the upland country. When Miss Rawls finally moved past Babe Didrikson to win the Women's Open, it was all Texas. The recent victory of young Miss Rawls at Atlanta recalls again the number of brilliant -women golfers Texas has given ihe game. I played with Babe Didrikson In Los Angeles back in 1932, 19 years ago when she was just starting out. She has proved tc be the finest woman golfer the game has ever known, able at times to turn in a SS or a 67. In recent years, Texas has turned out a remarkable group of girl stars, includig, among others, oth-ers, Peggy Chandler, a low-70 shooter. shoot-er. California set something of a record rec-ord in the number of tennis stars it developed, year after year. But California's tennis colony doesn't match the class of men and women Texas has given to golf. Why should one state, a state even as big as Texas is, keep such a grip on one sport? One reason is that one star can work up increased local Interest among the kids. For example, you may recall when Bobby Jones came along in Georgia. Before you could turn around, all types of kids were The National League got away like a flash. It won four of the first five modern world series' contests. The A. L. was almost a joke, meeting the Cubs and Giants. But the tide turned as tides always will. Since 1910 the American League has taken over. It must first be admitted the American League has had most of the great ballplayers: Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Sisler, Speaker, Collins, La-joie, La-joie, DiMaggio and Feller. The National League can't quite match this collection even with Wagner, Hornsby, Frisch, Hartnett, M u s 1 a 1, Alexander, Mathewson, Traynor, Kling, Hubbell, Dean and Terry. Not quite. Who Is going to match Ruth and Cobb for a starter? Name four or five? Gehrig or Sisler? Wagner was the greatest National Leaguer. Hornsby was next. It might be Musial is third. The Dodgers, with a better-than-average catcher, infield and outfield, out-field, had to struggle along with one good pitcher. His name was Preacher Preach-er Roe. Newcombe, Branca and others were merely throwers. Just a fair pitcher should have won 20 or 25 games with the Dodgers with such first-class talent In other positions as Campanella, Hodges, Robinson, Reese, Furillo and Snider. No reasonably sane party can doubt that from August first on to the fading stretch the Giants were a much better team than the Dodgers were all year. |