1948
Harmon Fires Record-Matching 279 To Win Laurels in 12th Masters Tourney
Middlecoff Is Second With 284 Score
Third Place Is Annexed By Harbert
By Randy Russell
Chronicle Sports Editor
Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 12, 1948 -- Claude Harmon, wild with his woods and long irons but impeccable with his short irons and putter, fired a 70 at the Augusta National Golf Club yesterday for a 72-hole record-equaling total of 279 and first place in the 12th Masters tournament.
Harmon was five full strokes ahead of Cary Middlecoff, who also scored 70 today. Middlecoff ended at 284 to take second place.
The native Georgia's victory was worth $2,500 of the $10,000 tournament melon to him.
Middlecoff's second place check was for $1,500.
Chick Harbert Third
Chick Harbert, who was in a position to offer serious contention at the start of the day's business, scrambled home with a 76 and had to be satisfied with 287 for third money. Jim Ferrier and Lloyd Mangrum were just behind at 288, while Ed Furgol and Ben Hogan finished at 289.
Harmon's score equaled the all-time record for the event, established by Ralph Guldahl in 1939. He was three strokes under par on the front nine yesterday while his closest competitor, Harbert, was going three strokes over regulation figures.
That clinched the verdict for Harmon, and left the question of whether or not he would break Guldahl's record the only one to be settled. But Harmon, with a gallery numbered in four figures following him around the back nine negotiated the distance in a one-over-par 37, taking bogeys on both of the three-par holds and cutting his score only on the 15th.
Trouble Shooter
But, with Harmon getting out of trouble smoothly at all times, the last half of the round was reduced almost to the status of a formality.
He started out with a good safe par on No. 1, but ran into trouble on the second hole when his drive landed on the edge of the road running alongside the fairway. But his recovery shot was a thing of beauty, and that proved to be the key note of the day's action.
The Mamaroneck, N.Y., pro, a native of Savannah and the first native Georgian ever to win the state's most glamorous sports event, continued to thrill the crowd with brilliant recoveries.
The par-three fourth hole found both Harmon and Byron Nelson, his playing partner, in trouble and taking bogeys. Harmon took bogeys, in fact, on all of the par-three except No. 6.
Nearly an Ace
On that hole, the swarthy, stockily-built Harmon let fly with one that lacked inches of being a hole-in-one. The ball squatted down a few inches from the cup for a ``gimmie'' birdie.
That one started him off on a brilliant series of strokes. He had a birdie three on the seventh and an eagle on the par-five eighth. After that 2-3-3 series, his lead as never threatened.
He was into the ditch on the border of the green with his second shot on the 13th hole, but exploded one of his brilliant recovery shots to make the hole in par and had no serious trouble thereafter.
Most of the huge crowd, officially estimated as slightly over 11,000, gathered around the 18th green as Harmon came in, needing a birdie on the final hole to break Guldahl's record.
The ex-night club singer who misses most of the tournaments because he makes more money as pro at Mamaroneck's famed Winged Foot Club and at the Seminole golf Club of Palm Beach, was quick to give Craig Wood credit for developing his winning golf form.
Credits Wood
He said it was Wood, who was pro at Winged Foot when Harmon was assistant, who changed his swing and taught him to get power and accuracy into his drives.
The Masters victory for Harmon was thus, in considerable measure, a victory for Wood, who came home first in 1941 after years of frustration at Augusta National.
Harmon played steadily throughout the tournament, turning in rounds of 70-70-69-70. He and Middlecoff both had a 69 Saturday when Harmon moved into the lead, and that was the only time that he was a low-scorer for a single day.
Fred Haas Jr. of New Orleans had a 69 for the best score yesterday, but he finished far out of first place.
First Major Win
The tournament victory was the first major victory for Harmon, his most important previous triumph having been in the Metropolitan New York PGA Championship.
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