With Strokes to Spare

Slammin' Sammy Snead cussed his corset and his hook. Without his corset, he wouldn't be playing golf at all; even with it, his lame back (slipped vertebra) needed two weeks of rest in every six. His hook off the tee continually landed him in tall grass, behind trees. Yet crowd-drawing, drawling Sammy had somehow managed to stand the winter circuit troupe on its par-cracking ear. Ever since his 26-month hitch in the Navy, the once temperamental Samuel Jackson Snead had played with a brand new and compelling confidence.

The man he had to beat on the long swing from Portland to Pensacola was the mechanical marvel, Byron Nelson (TIME, Oct. 23). At Gulf port, the two finished in a tie, but the man with the flawless form bowed to Slammin' Sammy in a 19-hole playoff. Afterwards it came out that Snead could have won the day before if he had not penalized himself a stroke--for nudging the ball on the all-important last hole (no one saw it but Snead).

At Pensacola last week, Snead had strokes to spare. On one sizzling round (the second), he posted eleven pars, six birdies, one eagle to equal the course record of 64. His tourney-winning 267--a fabulous 21 under par--put him seven strokes up on Nelson, who came from nowhere to finish second. It also gave him a five-four lead over Nelson in the winter winner's race. Any golfer who could do that required no sympathy for his bad back and worse hook.

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