Pros Against Par

Patricia Jane Berg was bushed. The Titleholders Championship last week was the climax of the lady golf pros' long winter's tournament trek, and the rain-soaked, sidehill fairways of Georgia's Augusta Country Club course sapped the spring from Patty's 39-year-old legs. Between rounds she had to rub them with liniment; she even took an extra nap. "There's no doubt about it," she sighed. "It isn't as easy as it once was. Why, I won the Titleholders here in 1939 with four rounds averaging 80. Today I couldn't win a hamburger with that kind of score. The younger players are pressing us, and we're getting stiff in the joints. But we're not through yet."

Plumber & Prophet. The six-time Titleholders champ (1937, '38. '39, '48, '53, '55) worked hard to prove herself a prophet. She had started out "putting like a plumber," but on the second round she bore down, scored a fine 71 (one under men's par, four under women's par), hit the halfway mark tied for second with Wiffi Smith, 20, a broad-based, freckle-nosed newcomer to the pro ranks from St. Clair, Mich. Just one stroke in front, San Diego's Mickey Wright, 22, had a 36-hole total of 148.

No one is surprised these days to see some youngster win an individual tournament. Such oldtimers as Patty, Fay Crocker, 37, Louise Suggs. 34, and Betty Jameson, 38, are understandably subject to fatigue. Veterans of nearly two decades on the road, they date back to the days when the late Babe Didrikson Zaharias boosted ladies' golf into the big time. The wonder is that they still win as much money as they do.

"The secret," says last year's Titleholders Winner Louise Suggs, "is consistency. We've learned over the years that you'll do all right by playing against par rather than against the leader of the moment. Just go for par all the way, and you'll make money. Some of the younger girls are still used to the amateurs, where you play an opponent. Professionals must play against par."

Tee & Green. Youngsters or veterans, most women get about the same distance off the tee. Working around the greens with their sharp irons and ordinarily consistent putting, the oldtimers make the most of their chosen game: playing against par.

In the tense third round last week, Patty Berg dropped temporarily to third, two strokes behind 19-year-old Amateur Anne Quast, one stroke back of Mickey Wright. But on the final round the old pro stuck a shamrock in her hat and hit men's par on every hole except three. On those she shot birdies. She finished with a flashy 69. Her 72-hole total of 296 made her Titleholders champ, three strokes in front of faltering Anne Quast. It pushed her 1957 winnings to $3,863, highest of the lady pros.

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