Texas' Golf Masters

Only topnotchers, past & present, are invited to compete in the annual Augusta Masters Golf Tournament, inaugurated to commemorate Bobby Jones's unparalleled Grand Slam of 1930--victory in the U. S.

Amateur, U. S. Open, British Amateur, British Open. Last week, when America's Big Shots began marching through Georgia's pine-lined, Jones-designed National Golf Club course, there were four co-favorites in the field of 59: stoic Byron Nelson, U. S. Open champion; stolid Ralph Guldahl, two-time (1937-38) U. S. Open champion; happy-go-lucky Jimmy Demaret, winner of five of the twelve tournaments in the recently concluded winter circuit; and breezy Ben Hogan, winner of the last three winter tournaments with an unprecedented total of 34 under par for 216 holes. The quartet was notable because its members were all Texans--Guldahl a Dallasman, Demaret a Houstonian, Nelson and Hogan onetime fellow caddies at Fort Worth's Glen Garden Club.

When play started, the Texans swept the field like a tornado. The first day, only four golfers broke 70. They were Jimmy Demaret, Byron Nelson and two other Texans, Oldtimer Harry Cooper and Newcomer Lloyd Mangrum, both of Dallas. The Augusta Masters has always produced at least one spectacular round. That day last week those Texans made all previous feats look humdrum. Playing with characteristic nonchalance, chatty Jimmy Demaret--in his first Masters--shot a 67 that included a prodigious six-under-par 30 for the second nine. It was the lowest nine-hole score ever recorded in a major golf tournament. Few minutes later, along came unheralded Lloyd Mangrum to sink a 30-ft. putt on the home green and chalk up a record-breaking, eight-under-par 64 (32-32), probably the most amazing 18 holes of competitive golf ever played.

Next day and next, while galleries still buzzed over those phenomenal rounds and fellow golfers were beginning to wonder what makes Texans so mighty,* Demaret and Mangrum led the parade, with Nelson close on their heels. On the fourth day, when final scores were posted, Texas won by a landslide: Demaret in first place with 280, Mangrum second with 284, Nelson third with 285 ; Harry Cooper tied for fourth with two non-Texans at 287.

* Still another Texan is Betty Jameson, U. S. women's golf champion.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.