Play It as It Lies

As any golfer knows, a bad lie is not a terrible whopper told at the 19th hole. On a course, it means the bad positioning of a ball--jammed behind a tree in the rough, stuck in a divot on the fairway, or confronted with spike marks on the green. Generally, a golfer must play his ball where it lies or take a penalty of added strokes if he chooses to move it. Among weekend golfers, the temptation is often strong to improve a lie surreptitiously, especially on the greens, where a player is permitted to lift the ball and wipe it off. But in the competitive sphere of professional golf, where scrutiny is high and tolerance understandably low, such cheating is rare. Which is why the U.S. golfing world last week was closely following the case of pretty Jane Blalock.

Miss Blalock, who is the leading money winner this year on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour with earnings of $38,286, stood accused of several times placing her ball in a more advantageous position. Two weeks ago, the L.P.G.A.'s executive board, made up of five fellow players, decided to suspend her from the circuit for one year on grounds of "actions inconsistent with the code of ethics of the organization."

The severity of the sentence was one reason for the unusual interest in the case. Another was that Miss Blalock countered with a $5,000,000 antitrust suit against the L.P.G.A., claiming that the association had deprived her of a living, had damaged her reputation and good will, and had not permitted her to face her accusers at a hearing or have legal counsel.

A battling blonde in pigtails, Miss Blalock won a temporary court order that allowed her to compete in the $50,000 EVE-L.P.G.A. Championship at Sutton, Mass., near her home town of Portsmouth, N.H. She played in an atmosphere of overt snubs and behind-the-back whispers. Said one competitor: "If I had been caught doing what she was doing, I wouldn't have the nerve to show my face around here." Miss Blalock, 26, and only in her fourth year on the tour, finished by showing her heels to all but one player, earning second-place prize money of $5,400.

The performance was typical of Janie's aggressiveness and independence, two traits that have never endeared her to the L.P.G.A.'s largely conservative hierarchy. While the association has been working hard to impress tournament sponsors with a solid, businesslike image, free-spirited Miss Blalock has adorned her bank checks with the peace symbol and her golf bag with a sign that reads P.O.W.S NEVER HAVE A NICE DAY. In short, some of her peers clearly dislike her, and are probably enjoying her discomfort.

In court hearings last week, the L.P.G.A. said that spotters hidden in woods and stationed on television towers with binoculars had seen Miss Blalock improve her lies. Janie conceded that she may have done so "through carelessness or excitement," but contended that her suspension was an effort to "exterminate" her as the circuit's top money winner. Regardless of the lawsuit's outcome, it seemed clear that before the case was over, both sides would wish they had never teed off against each other.

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