Positively

The Red Guards may get their inspiration from Chairman Mao, but pro golfers swear by Norman Vincent Peale. South Africa's Gary Player carries a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking around in his golf bag -- and over the years has won the U.S. Open, the British Open, the Masters and the P.G.A. The newest advocate of Peale Power is Texan Gay Brewer Jr., 35, whose major claim to fame is that he has found more ways to lose tournaments than any other player in the game.

Brewer has finished second 14 times in his career. He did earn $75,000 last year, but the only tournament he won was the Pensacola Open -- when Doug Sanders, who was leading by four strokes, forgot to sign his score card, and was disqualified. Last year, Brewer set some sort of record for frustration in the space of one week. He three-putted the 72nd hole in the Masters to blow a one-stroke lead, then lost the play-off to Jack Nicklaus; he frittered away a five-stroke lead in the last 18 holes of Las Vegas' Tournament of Champions, then lost the play-off to Arnold Palmer.

Think Green. Last week Brewer was back at the scene of disaster--the Mas ters--with a new swing ("I'm not forcing the ball any longer, I keep within myself") and a new philosophy: "I used to think negatively about my game. I don't have that complex any more. I play offensive golf. I think positively." Tuning up for the Masters, Gay had won the Pensacola Open for the second year in a row--impressively this time, firing a record 61 in the third round. But at Augusta the oddsmakers gave Brewer no better than a 10-to-l chance of beating the "Big Three"--Nicklaus, Palmer and Player--who among them had won seven straight Masters.

It was the oddest Masters in years. Complaining that the grass on Augusta's fairways was too high. Player shot a first-round 75 and never got back into contention. Palmer had all kinds of trouble with his putter and the par-five 13th hole. And Nicklaus? Playing like any duffer, he staggered through a second-round 79, missed the 36-hole cut, and joined the spectators--staying around the last two days only to perform the formality of helping the new champion into his winner's blazer.

The blazer belonged to Brewer. On the last day, trailing Bobby Nichols, Julius Boros and Bert Yancey by two strokes, he wiped out that margin with three straight birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes. When he trudged onto the 18th green to line up an 18-ft. putt, he was leading Nichols by one stroke, Yancey by four and Boros by five. Taking no chances, Gay lagged the ball to within 2 ft. of the hole, tapped in for a 67 and a 72-hole total of 280--eight under par--and went off to collect his $20,000 winner's check from the original Master, Bobby Jones. "Actually," Brewer confided to Jones, "I choked a little out there." "No you didn't," replied Bobby sternly. "You don't choke and win this tournament."

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