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Picard Captures Master's Golf Crown
GULDAHL, COOPER TIE FOR SECOND PLACE IN EVENT
Winner Cards 70 on Final Round to Finish With Three-Under-Par 285
By Kenneth Gregory
Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, April 5, 1938 -- Henry Picard, son of Old Plymouth in Massachusetts, gave a thoroughbred exhibition of front-running today to win the $5,000 Augusta National golf show over a star-studded filed that included Robert Tyre Jones Jr., the retired world champion.
Taking the lead after 54 holes, and with a half dozen threats hounding close on his heels, the 30-year-old professional gave par a two-stroke lacing on his final round to take first place and $1,500 with a total of 285, three under par. He won by two blows.
The good looking Picard, one of the game's most consistent money winners, is now connected with four golf clubs in Hershey, Pa.
With five veterans standing within two strokes of him at the start of the final 18-hole stretch, Picard calmly shook off any ``jitters'' by doing a great 32 on the first nine by deadly chipping and putting and then settled down to a stretch of pars after going two over at the start of the ``stretch'' nine.
COOPER, GULDAHL TIE
Par-shattering golf was not good enough for Light Horse Harry Cooper of Chicago and Ralph Guldahl, National Open champion who also comes from the Illinois metropolis, to overhaul the iron-nerved Picard in the final innings.
Guldahl and Cooper finished in a tie for second place. Their final-round 71s, a stroke under standard figures, gave them totals of 287. Guldahl, after a fine outgoing 34 and a chance to win the classic event he so barely missed a year ago, took 37 on the return journey.
Little Paul Runyan of White Plains, N.Y., also cracked par figures to pass a trio of players and took fourth place with an even par aggregate of 288. He was two strokes in front of Byron Nelson, the young Reading, Pa., professional who won here a year ago in a sensational finish of 283.
Jones, making what has become his lone competitive appearance annually in the ``Masters'' tournament, finished in a tie for 16th place at 297. It was his best effort since he wound up in a deadlock for 13th position in the inaugural tournament of 1934.
The ex-emperor, trailing Picard by only seven strokes with 222 after 54 holes, took a fourth-round 75.
PUTTING TOUCH
``I had the touch of these tricky greens and felt as if I could win if the rest of my game held up,'' said Picard, whose cash winnings here sent his total to $4,115 for the winter trail. ``I played some practice rounds with Bob Jones and knew then I had picked up the winning ideas.''
No pre-tournament favorite has ever won here. Picard was a 12-to-1 shot and sold in the big Calcutta pool auction for $359. His winnings netted the holder of his ticket more than $3,000.
Ed Dudley, the Augusta National professional, and Squire Sarazen, who were bracketed with Cooper and Guldahl only a stroke behind Picard when the final round began, faltered badly, Dudley took a last round 75 and finished in a tie for sixth place with Felix Serafin of Scranton, Pa., at 291. Serafin had a sub-par 70 today.
Farmer Sarazen, using a new putter that got hot yesterday for rounds of 70 and 68, took a disastrous fourth-round 79 and at 295 was in a tie with Billy Burke of Cleveland for 13th, just two strokes ahead of Jones and Harold McSpaden of Winchester, Mass. Jimmy Thomson, the long-knocking professional from Shawnee, Pa., and Dick Metz of Chicago finished in a tie for eighth place with 292s. Thomson had a finishing par 72 and Metz a 71.
Next with 273 were Jimmy Hines of Lakeville, L.I., Lawson Little of San Francisco and Victor Ghezzi of Deal, N.J. Stanley Horne of Ottawa, the Canadian champion, had 296s.
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