Golf with Trimmings

At the first tee of Chicago's Tarn O'Shanter Country Club, golfers stood around with sour looks on their faces and red numbers on the backs of their pants. A loudspeaker blared to the grandstand: "The next hitter, from Hollywood, California, the man who plays Joe Palooka in the movies--Joe Kirkwood Junior!" Elsewhere on the course, a "Masked Marvel," a man in kilts and Joe Louis were going their rounds. This was Chicago Promoter George S. May's idea of a golf tournament. It was in violent conflict with most golfers' ideas, yet the top pros, from Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan on down were all there. The Tam O'Shanter offered prizes totaling $50,875, golfdom's bonanza of the year.

For his sixth annual carnival-tournament, flamboyant Promoter May drew the biggest crowds ever to see a golf tournament. They saw Herman Barren 36, a stocky, swarthy veteran from White Plains, N.Y., score an 8-under-par 280 to beat the big names. It was worth $10.500. Ellsworth Vines, ex-tennis champ who turned to golf in 1940 because he considered it less monotonous, came his closest yet to winning a major tournament, taking the $4,325 second money with a 281. Vines was one of twelve pros who refused to wear an identification number; if he had worn one like a good boy, under Promoter May's rules his prize would have been $5,000.

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