Two Men & a Boy

The way one old Master saw it, this year's Masters' golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. would separate the men from the boys. And the boys, said 1935's Winner Gene Sarazen, "are going to make us old-timers look like dubs . . . They'll set up scoring marks we never thought of." For a couple of grey and rainy days last week, Oldtimer Sarazen had the look of a prophet. Billy Joe Patton, 31, a drawling lumberman from Morganton, N.C., fired a fine 144 on the first 36 holes and came up to the halfway mark one stroke ahead of the pack. He was the first amateur ever to lead the Masters.

Greens were soggy and slow. Defending Champion Ben Hogan, the Mechanical Man from Texas, said he needed a Seeing Eye dog to find the pins. But Hogan was only talking trouble. His game under control, he was well up in second place. Samuel Jackson Snead, 1952's winner, was a nervous three strokes back.

By the end of the third round, those who thought the amateurs were only along for the ride began to nod knowingly. Amateur Patton, spraying shots, had a 75 and dropped into a tie for third. Hogan and Snead, playing careful, methodical golf, moved into first and second, three strokes apart.

Then, to everyone's surprise, last-day jitters caught up with the veterans. Hogan and Snead got off to shaky starts. Patton, a formidable five strokes off the pace, caught fire. His crisp iron shots were carrying to the greens, his putts were running sure and true. On the 190-yd. sixth, he smacked an astonishing hole-in-one.

An impressive three under par at the 13th, he hit his tee shot short. "I didn't come here to play it safe," he announced to the gallery, and he gambled on a long, bold wood to the pin. He lost. His ball trickled into the brook that guards the green. He holed out two over par.

Snead, meanwhile, had found his touch again. He wound up with a par 72 and posted a total score of 289. Patton, with a commendable finishing 71, was home a stroke behind. Now Hogan was forced to gamble, and still his putts refused to drop. He needed a birdie three on the 18th to win. He had to settle for a par that tied him with Slammin' Sammy Snead.

Next day, in the playoff, Hogan, the Mechanical Man, blew a piddling, three-foot putt on the 16th. He never recovered. For the third time, by a margin of one stroke in 90 holes, Sam Snead was Master of the Masters.

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