1952

By Randy Russell
Chronicle Sports Editor

Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 7, 1952 -- Sam Snead carried off the Masters tournament's biggest pot of gold in history yesterday with a 286 that was the worst winning score the tournament has ever had. Snead, the colorful PGA champion from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., pulled himself through to victory with a shaky even-par 72 on a day that saw the rest of the front-runners blow up even as Snead himself had done the day before.

The tough Augusta National course sent Tommy Bolt, Ben Hogan, Cary Middlecoff and Al Besselink reeling in their bids for the championship, leaving Snead to pull down a whopping $4,000 for first place.

Double pay-off

The pay-off was exactly double the $10,000 guaranteed. Pros finishing out of the money were paid $200 each instead of the $100 they had been promised. A bonus is customary at the Masters, when attendance warrants it, but never before has it been so large.

Only three golfers bettered par on yesterday's nerve-racking final round. Jack Burke Jr. sizzled home with a 69 to slip into the runner-up position at 290. Burke, although he shot a 67 on the second day, was never in serious contention for the championship. Fred Hawkins and Julius Boros finished with 71s. Besselink and Bolt, who both came to grief on the back nine, finished in a tie for third place at 291 with Jim Ferrier, who finished in the top seven for the third straight year. Ferrier and the steady-shooting Lloyd Mangrum, in at 292, ended the tournament with even-par 72s.

Hogan, tied with Snead for the lead when the final round began, blew to a surprising 79 and wound up in a tie for seventh place with Hawkins, Boros and Lew Worsham Jr.

There was too much pressure for Cary Middlecoff, who started the day two strokes behind Snead and Hogan and needed only a hot round to cash in. Middlecoff blew himself out of contention on the front side with a gaudy 41, finished with a 78 good for a 294 total.

It was a stratospheric finish for the Masters, with Snead the only player in the glittering field able to break par for 72 holes. In previous tournaments there have always been at least three pub-par players for the course. Highest winning scores before yesterday were the 285s recorded by Horton Smith and Henry Picard in 1936 and 1938 respectively.

It had been expected that the course would play a stroke or two harder in this tournament because of the lengthening of the 11th hole.

Played long

Snead, however, was of the opinion that the high-scoring was due primarily to the fact that the grass on the fairways was thick all over the course and there was no such thing as a long bouncing drive over a hard-baked surface. ``I've never seen the course in such good condition,'' said Snead. ``There was more grass on the fairways than I've ever seen before.'' The wind, which sent scores shooting upward on Saturday, was also a factor.

Snead was, perhaps, playing under more pressure than anyone else yesterday. The scene was painfully reminiscent of the situation last year, when Sam blew to an 80 on the last day after starting out his round in front of the pack. Once again Sam was sent out ahead of Hogan with the knowledge that the methodical Texan would know, as he did last year, exactly what he would have to shoot to win.

Sam went a stroke over par on the front nine by three-putting the eighth green and using a chip and two putts to get down on No. 9. He was short of the green on each of the first three holes and had to struggle for his pars, but finally got some breathing room by canning a 12-footer for a birdie deuce on No. 4.

Kept control

Although confounded by the eighth and ninth greens, Snead kept control of his game and knocked in a 22-footer for a birdie on the difficult No. 10. His troubles were not over. He took a bogey five on No. 11 and knocked his shot into the water on No. 12.

``I dropped back,'' said Snead, ``on a spot with no more grass than there is hair on top of my head.'' From this bad lie he hit the ball onto the edge of the green but chipped in the hole to get out of the mess with a one-over-par four. ``I figured then,'' said Snead, ``that I still had a chance to win.''

He was two strokes over par at that point, but saved a stroke on No. 13 and after hitting a chip past the hole on No. 15 and taking a five, finished with a hot birdie on No. 18. He had hooked his drive all the way out into the practice fairway and had a bad lie for second shot. His seven-iron shot to the green from that point was, he said, his best shot of this tournament. The ball left him a seven-foot putt for a birdie.

Not quite right

Actually, the finishing birdie-putt was not hit the way Snead wanted to hit it. He had had trouble on No. 15 because the green was so fast, and was not anxious to knock the ball past the hole on No. 18.

All he wanted, the Slammer said, was to roll the ball up into striking distance, the closer the better. But he hit the ball too hard and would have been in trouble if he had not heard the satisfying plop into the can.

He had, of course, three strokes to spare but the degree of challenge he would get was still unknown. All that was certain was that he had come in ahead of Bolt, the Durham driving range proprietor who looked like a good bet to win early in the afternoon.

Two eagles

Bolt grabbed eagles at No. 2 and No. 13 and promptly got the jitters after his second one. Unwilling to go for the green on No. 15, he wound up with a six when he three-putted and followed by three-putting 16 and 17 as well. Hogan stayed in contention through the front nine, although he three-putted two greens and turned with a 39 on his card.

He had a chance to pick up a stroke with a six-foot birdie putt on No. 10 and came down to 13 needing to play the last six holes three strokes under par to tie Snead. Instead, he played them four strokes over par to wind up with th highest score he has ever posted at the Masters.

Besselink was the last man on the course with a chance to win. Bogies on No. 10 and No. 13 finished off his hopes. Burke, by creeping into second place and winning $2,500, increased his total money-winnings for the year to $11,220 and is well ahead of the pack. Snead, idle most of the winter, has won $5,525.