Sick Man at Merion

Last week, large Olin Anthony Dutra was seized in his mighty middle by great gripes which he feared were amebic dysentery. He spent two days resting in Detroit, arrived in Philadelphia with a box of pills and the intention of watching the tournament instead of playing in it. His brother Mortie persuaded him not to withdraw his entry. With a caddy who had dreamed that he would win, Dutra started out, ambling slowly, using his niblick as a walking stick.

First day of the tournament Dutra did nothing remarkable. He and 21 other entrants had 76. Headlines went to Bobby Cruickshank, Whiffey Cox and Charley Lacey who led the field; to Lawson Little, just back from winning the British Amateur, who broke his favorite driver and made a feeble 83; to the fact that no one in the windblown field of 149 players managed to equal par (70).

Second day of the tournament, Dutra had a 74 which left him well behind the leaders. Jimmy Hines managed to equal par for the course, and Cruickshank shot a 71 which put him three strokes ahead of Sarazen, four ahead of Cox.

On the third day a huge gallery followed Cox and Cruickshank, playing together. They finished their last two rounds tied at 295. Sarazen followed them a few minutes later slopping home with 294. Not until Sarazen had posted his score did the crowd at the 18th green begin to wonder what had become of Dutra. He and Lawson Little were the last pair in the field. Playing with almost no gallery, taking a pill which his caddy offered him every hour, Dutra, 15 Ib. lighter than when the tournament began, was on the 15th tee, waiting for officials to silence a yapping fox terrier so that he could drive. He had had a 71 on his morning round. Now, to win the tournament, all he needed was to play the last four holes in not more than one stroke over par.

At the 15th green, Dutra sank a 20-ft. putt for a stunning birdie three. Excitable golfers have thrown away better chances than that gave Dutra. But he was feeling too sick and tired to blow up. He played the last three holes with courageous caution, sank his third putt on the 18th green for a 293 and the title. He wobbled into the club house, sent Brother Mortie to telegraph their father, gave his caddy $150 of his $1.000 prize money, sat down on a bench and exhibited to reporters his box of pills. Said he: "I didn't think I would be able to finish."

P: Best score in last week's Open was 66-- a course record made by young Tom Creavy.

P: Fat-jowled Walter Hagen, who used to be the best putter in the world, pleased his gallery by catching a rabbit hemmed in by the crowd on a tee.

P: To an interviewer who asked him what he thought of Merion, Craig Wood gave an airy definition: "A mashie-niblick course." On his second round, he was disqualified for playing the wrong ball, failing to take a two stroke penalty when he found the right one.

P: Dutra's win again emphasized the transition of U. S. golf from an Anglo-Saxon monopoly to a polyglot profession. Ex-Champion Sarazen's extraction is Italian, ex-Champion Burke's is Lithuanian (Bur-kowski). Champion Dutra's forbears were, with the Espinosas. among California's early Spanish settlers. At 6 ft. 3 in. and 230 Ib., Dutra is one of the game's hugest players. Abroad last year with the Ryder Cup team he was caricatured as King Kong.

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