"I Told You So"

Eighteen years ago, on the eve of the U. S. Open at Skokie, stocky Gene Sarazen, a 20-year-old ex-caddy, calmly announced to his locker-roommates that he was going to win America's No. i golf tournament.

He did--coming from behind with a breathtaking final-round 68. Ten years later, at Fresh Meadow, Sarazen won the National Open again--playing the last 18 holes in 66. Last week, on the eve of the 44th U. S. Open, held on Cleveland's dog-tiring, wind-tricky Canterbury links, 38-year Oldster Sarazen, preparing to tee off in his 21st Open, made another prediction; no golfer over 35 will ever win the Open.

Most golf fans agreed with him. Favorites among the 170 cream-of-the-crop golfers who qualified for last week's tournament were: happy-go-lucky Jimmy Demaret (winner of half the tournaments on the winter circuit), up-&-coming little Ben Hogan (who finished in the money in 16 tournaments this year), long-swatting Sam Snead, a mechanically perfect golfer, and onetime Open Champions Ralph Guldahl (1937-38) and Byron Nelson (1939)--none of them over 29 years old.

At the halfway mark, when the rain-harried field narrowed down to the 66 lowest scorers, Favorite Sam Snead led the parade along with lanky Horton Smith and bulky Lawson Little -- all three tied at 141 for 36 holes. Snead, whose first-round 67 was the lowest opening-round score ever chalked up in the Open, attracted the largest gallery. Maybe this was the year, they figured, that he would outwhammy his famed spotlight jitters.

On the 36-hole final, Snead's following thinned out. Word got round that Lawson Little, playing with the same mastery that won the U. S. and British Amateurs in 1934 and 1935, was in the groove.

Finishing with a last-round 73 for a 72-hole total of 287, the broad-shouldered San Franciscan who had won only two major tournaments since turning pro four years ago, seemed to have his first Open wrapped up. Perhaps it was his previous experience over British seaside links that helped him battle the tricky Lake Erie winds that baffled other top-notchers.

But, to his as well as the gallery's surprise, he soon learned that Gene Sarazen, another veteran of British tournaments, was in the groove too. Nonchalantly plodding along on his piano legs, still wearing outmoded plus fours and using a 40-year-old putter, Oldster Sarazen, who was four strokes behind Little at the halfway mark, needed a two-under-par 34 on the last nine to catch Little.

In a stretch finish just as breath-taking as the one to which he treated his gallery at Skokie 18 years ago, Sarazen chalked up the 34 he needed, tied Lawson Little for the championship with a 72-hole total of 287,-eight strokes better than Sam Snead, three strokes better than Hogan, Guldahl and Nelson.

Next day, in an 18-hole playoff, Sarazen was outplayed by Little, 73-10-70.

Shaking hands with the new champion, Sarazen might well have said: "I told you so" Lawson Little is 29.

Were it not for a U. S. G. A. ruling that dis qualifies contestants who play out of turn, this year's Open would have ended in a triple tie, just as it did last year. Big Ed Oliver of Hornell, N. Y., playing in his first Open, also posted 287, was disqualified because he started a half hour before his scheduled time.

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