After Ten Years

The U.S. Amateur golf championship is almost anybody's tournament: not since Lawson Little (who won in 1934 and 1935) has a golfer taken the title two years in a row. At the Memphis Country Club last week, five former titleholders were among the 210 golfers seeking the crown of California's Defending Champion Robert H. ("Skee") Riegel.

Not all the crowd-pullers were ex-champions. The biggest gallery followed cocky Frank Stranahan, 26, the muscular millionaire Ohio playboy who won the British Amateur championship this year. And Spectator Bobby Jones, the onetime nonpareil (he won the U.S. Amateur title five times), had put his money on a neglected entry. Jones thought that this looked like the year for Ray Billows, 34, a Poughkeepsie salesman who had reached the finals twice before--and lost both times.

Mother's Old Putter. In the six days of match play, many a good golfer fell by the fairwayside. Skee Riegel narrowly missed defeat in the first round by a Sunday golfer "I've never heard of before," then bowed out in the third. By the fifth round, when Willie Turnesa met Marvin ("Bud") Ward, they were the only ex-titleholders left.

Willie, 34-year-old "baby" of the seven-famed golfing Turnesa brothers (the other six are pros), had brought along good luck in his golf bag. It was his mother-in-law's 15-year-old putter, the same club that had helped Willie win the 1947 British Amateur (TIME, June 9, 1947). Turnesa and his putter were hot on the slow Bermuda greens,* and Ward lost, 3 and 1.

Perfect Creases. In the other bracket, breezing through his first five rounds, Frank Stranahan ran into Ray Billows in the quarterfinal. A big partisan crowd trailed the two golfers around the 6,617-yd. course. One of Bachelor Stranahan's pretty fans had no trouble predicting the winner. Said she, loud enough for the players to hear: "Frankie's pants have perfect creases. That other guy looks like a bum." Replied Billows affably: "Lady, I've got a nicely pressed suit in my locker --and I'll wear it tomorrow in my semifinal match." Stranahan had already muffed three easy putts, let it bother him so much that he began bending his tee shots. On the 13th hole, he hooked into deep rough, was in more rough with his second shot, struck a tree with his third, and conceded hole and match after his fourth barely reached the green. Billows' margin: an overwhelming 7 and 5.

In a Drizzle. Two days later, after taking their semifinal matches with little trouble, Willie Turnesa and Ray Billows teed off for the 36-hole finals. The long, exhausting tournament was telling on both of the contestants. Turnesa played the morning round in 74 and Billows in 77 (par: 70). At the halfway mark, Willie was 1 up.

In the afternoon, playing in a light drizzle, Turnesa won the first hole, 15 holes later was still 2 up with 2 to play. On the 35th hole, both drives were long and straight, both approach shots on the green. Turnesa was about 35 feet from the cup, Billows about 15. Willie calmly picked up his mother-in-law's putter, stroked the ball to within inches of the cup, for a conceded par 4. That meant that Billows had to hole out to keep the match alive. The crowd held its breath .while he slowly sighted the putt, then tapped it. Three inches from the cup, the ball trickled to a stop. After ten years, Willie Turnesa had won his second U.S. Amateur championship.

* Stiff Bermuda grass is not as close-knit and carpet like as bent grass, used on Northern courses--but bent won't grow in most of the South. U.S. Amateur championships are usually played on bent.

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