The Part-Time Pro

Golf's touring pros are undoubtedly the world's best-paid nomads, but the tournament trail is a long, dusty road.

To win his $12,000 or so each year, the average pro travels 30,000 miles, sleeps in 40 different motels, plays 3,000 holes of golf, and spends most of his spare time complaining about the lousy life he leads. Not Paul Harney. He's got the system licked.

Hello, Buddy. The main things Har ney, 35, got out of his eight years on the pro tour were a streak of snow-white hair and a nervous stomach. A reed-thin 150-pounder, he created a brief splash in 1957 when he belted a ball 430 yds. off the 17th tee at Tijuana, Mexico, but in all that time he won only four minor tournaments, finally quit to take a club pro's job in 1963, saying, "My nerves can't take it any more." But every now and then, when things get a little lonely around the Sunset Oaks Country Club in Sacramento, Calif., Harney packs off to play a few rounds with his old traveling buddies.

He surprised himself by winning $21,877 in 1963, and when he walked off with the $7,500 top prize at last year's Los Angeles Open, the fellows who play the game for blood were not above suggesting that he spend his Sundays in front of the TV set.

Harney was obviously embarrassed about the whole thing when he showed up at Los Angeles' 6,840-yd. Rancho Park course to defend his title last week. "The odds against a repeat victory must be 1,000 to 1," he told reporters. Actually, they were nowhere near that bad: 15 to 1. Jack Nicklaus, 1964's top money winner (at $113,284) was sitting this one out. Of course, that still left Ken Venturi, Billy Casper, Tony Lema--and Arnold Palmer, who shot a 66 in practice and happily allowed as how he was playing "pretty good, I guess." The odds on Arnie: 6 to 1.

Goodbye, Arnie. On opening day, Palmer shot a one-over-par 72, six strokes off the pace--and was never heard from again. After two rounds, Casper was deadlocked at the top with Florida's Dan Sikes; Harney was a stroke back in third. A third-round 68 shot Paul into the lead, and the rest was easy--with a little bit of luck. Harney's wild No. 2-iron second shot on the par-five ninth hole barely missed a boundary fence, scooted through a crowd of fans in the rough, bounced into another crowd around the green and somehow trickled to a stop just off the apron. "You must have gone to Mass this morning," joked a fan. Answered Catholic Harney: "Twice." A chip, and a putt--and he had his birdie. Harney's last-round score: 69, for a 72-hole total of 276, eight under par and a three-stroke victory over Sikes.

This time the check was for $12,000, and sportswriters wondered if that might be enough to get Harney back on the tour to stay. "Nothing doing," said Paul. "I'd rather peddle clubs and balls from behind the counter."

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