Two for the Money

The august United States Golf Association had been rumbling for several weeks about the amateur status of its top feminine gate attractions, the photogenic Bauer sisters, Marlene, 16, and Alice, 22. Their barnstorming tour through Florida tournaments last winter had cost money. Where did the money come from? The U.S.G.A., which worries rather more about such matters than the corresponding guardians of college football or even lawn tennis, was about to put a discreet investigation of the Bauers' income into high gear. Last week the little Bauer girls put the investigation into reverse.

They came right out and announced they were stopping their collection of silver amateur cups and going in for the long green of professional golf.

"We just couldn't afford to remain amateurs," said their father, David Bauer, who seven years ago gave up his regular job as an Aberdeen, S. Dak. golf pro to give full time to his daughters. U.S.G.A. and financial pressure had forced him to make the decision before Marlene, his most promising pupil, had another chance at the women's amateur title (she was put out in the semifinals last fall). Marlene had been named Woman Athlete of the Year for 1949 in an Associated Press poll, and the girls had dominated the winter circuit, but the next meal was getting to be more of a problem than the next tournament.

Special low celebrity rates had been available at some of the resort hotels where the Bauer family stayed during tournaments, but the U.S.G.A. frowns on such arrangements. Alice and Marlene sold some of their amateur prizes (radios, blankets, jewelry). But that kind of money was not enough.

Last week's announcement by the Bauers was greeted with a breeze of offers for television, radio and movie appearances, a batch of bids by manufacturers of golf equipment and sportswear. Said canny, patient father Bauer, looking hopefully toward Easy Street: "I guess we timed it right . . . I figure the girls will make $50,000 this year."

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