Friendly Rivals

Medical science almost found a way to derail Byron Nelson, at least for a while. When he got to Chicago for the Victory National Open, Nelson agreed to appear in a long-driving contest before the start of the tournament. But during the exhibition he wrenched his back and, for a time, it looked like the injury might knock him out of action. But as his tee time approached he decided he would try to play. When it was over he had won by seven strokes over—guess who?—his buddy Harold (Jug) McSpaden, who was tied for second with Ky Laffoon.

It was Lord Byron's eighth straight victory, but unlike many of the others, this one was close until the last round. He was only one shot ahead of McSpaden going into Sunday's final round at Calumet Country Club, but when Jug opened with a birdie, Byron countered with an eagle. Two holes later McSpaden took a triple bogey to Nelson's par. Game, set and match.

Poor old Jug. It was the fifth time this year that the 36-year-old McSpaden had ended up as Nelson's bridesmaid. None of this, however, has interfered with their friendship. Byron is godfather to McSpaden's six-year-old son, Jay Byron. Byron's wife, Louise, and McSpaden's spouse, Eva, are close, and the four sometimes travel as a foursome. "I get a new Lincoln every year from Eddie Lowry," Jug was saying the other day. "Eddie, you may know, caddied for Francis Ouimet the year he won the Open in Brookline. He was only 13 at the time. Well, now he has a Ford agency in San Francisco, and he sets up almost all the boys with new cars. When Louise goes home to Texas, Byron usually rides with me."

But not always. McSpaden, you see, also likes to fly. The other pros call him the Lindbergh of the Links because he often hops from tournament to tournament in his own souped-up Piper. He likes to fly extremely low to the ground so he can read road signs to find out where he is.

"One time Freddie Corcoran wanted to fly with me," says McSpaden. "I had my plane parked by the caddie house. I told Freddie we'd do it the next day, but he wanted to go right then. It was a bad time, winter, about four or five in the afternoon, and the airlift was against us. Well, instead of taking off on the sixth hole, which was a par-5 with no sand traps, I decided like a damn fool to take off on the first, which was only 360 yards long. The fairway was slightly frozen and not as smooth as it should have been, and I was going slightly uphill. We'd gone about 300 yards and Freddie's yelling 'Pull up, pull up,' but that would have been fatal. So I pushed it hard and gave it all I had, and we finally took off right between the clubhouse and some trees. That's the last time Freddie ever flew with me."

McSpaden is four years older than Nelson and has been playing professionally since 1932. He says, only half kidding, that if " Byron hadn't been born, I might have been a great player." He won 11 tournaments in 1934 and '35, more than anyone else, and won six more last year, tying him for most wins in the '44 season with—guess who?

Unlike Nelson, McSpaden is an outgoing man and can usually be found in the middle of clubhouse gatherings. Of his nickname, Jug, he says, "I used to live in Rosedale, Kansas, and as a little boy, even before I went to school, I used to go to this bakery, which was about a block away. I'd help the baker. I'd turn over the doughnuts when he was putting them in the kettle. He's the one who started calling me Jug, and it just stuck."

McSpaden credits Walter Hagen with the advice that gave his career a boost. "I was wilder than a Kansas chicken hawk when I started in tournament golf," McSpaden says. "After Hagen saw me loop a couple into the next county, he said, 'Young feller, stow that driver away, take a brassie and shorten your swing.' I followed his advice and after a while I was able to use my driver again."

McSpaden has won 25 tournaments during his career but only one this year, the Miami 4-Ball, in March. His partner in that event was Nelson, proving that Jug McSpaden is a man of great intelligence. He knows that if you can beat 'em, join him. Unfortunately there are no more 4-Balls scheduled until next year, and the way Nelson is going, everyone else is going to play for second until then.