Sweet Swinging

Sixteen years ago, a young (26), up & coming golf pro named Sam Snead defeated Old Pro Gene Sarazen in the first Goodall Round Robin golf tournament. Snead, a prodigious hitter, beat the old pro in a tight play-off for the title. Last week, on Long Island's Meadowbrook course, Snead, now an old pro himself, made certain that no young upstarts got within hailing distance of him.

In the first round, playing against such topflighters as Byron Nelson, Lloyd Mangrum and Bob Toski, Snead fired a three-under-par 67 over the tightly trapped course and picked up 14 points.* Next day, playing two rounds against six more of the most formidable golfers in the U.S., Snead picked up 19 more points and led Runner-Up Jimmy Demaret by 33-24.

In the fourth round Sam applied the crusher: a blazing 66 against 1953's Amateur Champion Gene Littler, Ted Kroll and Ed Oliver. The crusher gave Snead an insurmountable lead: 52 points to 18 for Runners-Up Gary Middlecoff, defending champion, and Jack Burke. On the final round, instead of relaxing, Snead shot a 65, lowest round of the tournament, and won by the biggest margin in the 16-year history of the Round Robin, beating Runner-Up Toski by 36 points.

This week Sam went to have a long, hard look at New Jersey's Baltusrol course, scene of next month's Open Championship. The Open is the one major golf tournament the "Sweet Swinger" has never won.

* Under the complicated Round Robin scoring system, Snead's 67 picked up four points from Nelson's 71, four from Mangrum's 71, six from Toski's 73. Nelson and Mangrum netted minus two for the day, Toski minus ten.

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