Where Life Begins At 50

The Legends of Golf is an event that stands alone as an old-fashioned sportswriter's dream, for it gives new life to all the clich�s that made the game what it is today. The people who covered it last week at Onion Creek Country Club south of Austin, Texas should have worn the crests of antique Underwoods on their blazers as they followed Tempestuous Tommy (Thunder) Bolt and silent Art Wall Jr. to victory over Slammin' Sam Snead and lean Don January after three rounds of play that was only legendary at the top.

Throughout the rest of the field the tournament had such dignitaries as colorful Jimmy Demaret, golf's goodwill ambassador, and burly Mike Souchak and squire Gene Sarazen and Dr. Cary Middlecoff, the golfing dentist, all hacking around like the worst partners you could draw in a pro-am. At the end, Demaret had the best line to sum it up, something to the effect that closest to the flag on a par-3 should have won the free use of a hearse for a year.

But it was a serious competition between the two strongest teams, Bolt-Wall and Snead-January, while the others had a more or less nonstop cocktail party and jovial reunion. After Friday's first 18 holes, Bolt and Wall were tied with Snead and January with 10-under-par 60s. After Saturday's second round, Bolt and Wall trailed Snead and January by three strokes because they—mostly January—had fired another 60 while Tommy and Art had fallen back with a paltry 63.

Then came Sunday's final round. Bolt, 62 years old, and Wall, 56, were off with a sprint, making birdies on four of the first eight holes, and they not only overtook 67-year-old Sam and 50-year-old Don, but they also never surrendered the lead again. The Bolt-Wall team's closing 64 gave them 23 under par, a two-stroke victory and $35,000 apiece.

Better still, it enabled Bolt to beat two people he enjoys beating as much as he enjoys wine, Slammin' Sam Snead and a new Legends entrant, a fellow named Arnold Palmer. (One becomes eligible for the Legends when he turns 50, and Arnold hit five-oh on Sept. 10, 1979.)

The incomparable Arnold Palmer, comma, and steady Dow Finsterwald were a team, and they finished third, a whopping 10 strokes behind the winners. However, statistics-keepers were quickly reminded that Arnold's $20,000 check was his largest tournament payday in quite a while. Of course, Palmer can get $20,000 for going to a luncheon next week if he chooses to.

The Legends is a best-ball competition, and the legends who get invited, some of whom are either legends or the legendary friends of colorful Jimmy Demaret, get to ride in golf carts and put the ball in their pockets when they wander too deeply into the woods. Slammin' Sam teamed up with Gardner Dickinson, Ben Hogan's prot�g�, to win the first Legends two years ago.

In 1979 Tempestuous Tommy (Thunder) Bolt and silent Art Wall Jr. hooked up in a sudden-death playoff with Argentina's Roberto de Vicenzo, the happy Latin, and phlegmatic Julius Boros; the teams matched pars on the 1st extra hole, then matched birdies for the next four before de Vicenzo made his fifth straight birdie on the sixth hole to win the tournament.

There was much teasing and discussion this time when Snead dumped his old partner, Gardner, in favor of a younger Don January, who still plays the PGA tour quite regularly. Snead wanted to get an edge because he knew how hard Bolt and Wall had been working—for three months—to get ready for the '80 Legends. Bolt, in fact, had long since announced to anyone who cared to listen that he and Art were going to win.

" Snead's already asked for Nicklaus in 1990," colorful Jimmy Demaret said.