Making the Masters by David Barrett

Author:David Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620873045
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

1934 ROUNDS 3 AND 4/ SMITH AND JONES

THE THIRD ROUND WAS played on a raw, cloudy day with a high temperature of 52 degrees. Not exactly chamber of commerce weather for a town trying to sell itself as a winter golf destination.

The irreverent Fairway Bill evidently had free rein to write what he pleased in the Augusta Chronicle, because he didn’t toe the party line, which would have been to pretend the frigid conditions hadn’t happened—or at least that they were highly unusual. “It’s kind of funny about this Augusta weather,” the visitor from Miami wrote, “every time we mention the fact to one of the natives, he’ll say, ‘Oh, this is most unusual for our town at this time of year.’

“But I notice that all of these native Crackers that were hot footing it over the hills and dales all had their overcoats on, so that shows that their saying on the weather is not in accordance with their apparel.”

The column also mentioned that the newspaper men were freezing to death despite the electric heaters provided by the club for their press area on the veranda outside the clubhouse, pointed out that according to the weather report, “We ain’t going to get nothing beside North Pole atmosphere tomorrow,” and lamented that “it was a tough day on those gallery goddesses, who like to come out to a big event such as this with their new Easter suits, short sleeves, stockingless feet, painted toe nails, eyebrows, and fingernails.”

The size of the gallery was undoubtedly affected by the weather and by Jones’s position so far back in the field. Club officials said that approximately 700 daily tickets were sold in addition to those already holding series badges, a disappointing number. But there were still a lot of people who wanted to watch Jones, whatever the score, and there was the added bonus of his pairing with Hagen. It was the first time these two great rivals of the 1920s, who accounted for thirteen U.S. and British Opens between them, had played together in a tournament in nine years. So while the crowd was not as large as it might have been, there were still about a thousand spectators following the featured twosome.

Jones and Hagen went off at 10:42 am, with a vacant “starter’s time” before and after them on the tee sheet in recognition of the large gallery that might otherwise bother the pairings ahead and behind. The leaders were nearly all scheduled for the afternoon, pacesetter Horton Smith going off with Denny Shute at 2:15 and Ed Dudley and Billy Burke, tied for second, paired together at 1:26.

Hagen could not be counted out at this stage, just five strokes off the lead, though Jones would need a near miracle at eight behind. Hagen had sounded an optimistic note the afternoon before, saying, “We got to the top with our putters. Now they say we can’t putt. We’ll show them. The old guard is still in the front line trenches, taking all the fire.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.