Boom on the Links

Despite the blighting effects of war, U.S. tournament golf is enjoying an unprecedented boom. Fortnight ago professionals who were still free to travel finished the spring circuit with some record scores. Last week they set out on the summer circuit after some record prizes.

For this phenomenon two veterans too ill for military service are chiefly responsible. So far this year the duel between Jug McSpaden (35, sinus) and Byron Nelson (32, hemophilia) is the longest stretch of consistently great golf in almost half a century.

McSpaden set the terrific pace in Los Angeles last January with six under par for four rounds. In San Francisco, Nelson did even better, with a blistering 13 under par for 72 holes. Moving eastward, the competition kept going at such high pressure that one or the other seemed bound to crack. But neither did. At the end of ten major tournaments, McSpaden had piled up a dazzling total of 69 strokes under par, with Nelson only nine behind.

With this nip-&-tuck race as a drawing card, this summer's tournaments, almost all for the benefit of war charities, seem sure to add up to one of golf's richest seasons. Prizes in war bonds total a whopping $121,332, include the biggest ever offered to a first-place winner: $10,001 at the Tam O'Shanter Open in Chicago in August.

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