Titans' Tournament

It was the kind of golf that club champions play in the locker-room after the fifth highball. Olin Dutra, U. S. Open champion, could not qualify. Ky Laffoon (no kin to Governor Ruby Laffoon of Kentucky), young Oklahoman who has been a golf professional since he was 15, beat Horton Smith 12 up in 26 holes. Herman Barren, the only famed Jewish golf professional in the U. S., had Gene Sarazen, defending champion, 2 down at the 28th hole. Sarazen got birdies on the next two holes to square the match, then got a birdie 3 at the 33rd. sank a 15-ft. putt at the 34th to win 3 up. Walter Hagen scored a 68 in his first round against Densmore Shute, British Open champion in 1933. Shute won the match on the 15th green in the afternoon. He had played 98 holes in 28 under par by the time he was eliminated in the semi-finals by blond Craig Wood of New Jersey. Next day Wood played his onetime assistant, Paul Runyan, in the final of the Professional Golfers' Association tournament at Buffalo last week.

Wood uses a brassie off most tees because with a driver he often hits the ball into hazards meant for second shots. Wispy little Runyan, who learned his golf in Hot Springs, Ark., where his father's farm was opposite the country club, hits short drives but he carries five spoons in his bag and uses them more expertly than any other golf professional in the world. Wood's prodigious driving, Runyan's spoon shots and his brilliant putting, brought them to the 36th green all even. Both sank 12-ft. putts. They halved the 37th with birdie 4's. On the 38th green, Wood's ball lay 12 ft. from the pin, his adversary's 8. Wood missed the putt. Runyan tapped his smartly into the cup, for match & title.

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