The Young Turks
Ken Venturi tapped his ball firmly. Unerringly it rolled across the green, plunked into the cup 65 ft. away. A roar went up from the gallery at the Gleneagles Country Club in suburban Chicago. The putt gave Venturi a birdie 3 for the 69th hole, and an eventual one-stroke victory in the Chicago Open. Pocketing $9,000 in prize money, Venturi added another chapter to golf's big story of 1958: the coming of age of a new group of young golfers who promise to dominate the game for years to come.
Gone from the list of leading money winners are the grand old tournament veterans--Sam Snead, 44, Ben Hogan, 46, Jimmy Demaret, 48, Lloyd Mangrum, 44, Byron Nelson, 46, Gary Middlecoff, 37. Still fine golfers, they now find it easier to make big money on their reputations. They earn up to $100,000 a year endorsing a manufacturer's golf clubs and balls, drawing royalties on every club sold bearing their name, holding down cushy jobs at swank country clubs, where they charge up to $50 a lesson. For a further fee, they sing the praises of cigarettes, fishing tackle and sport clothes. Playing only in occasional major events, the old pros find it hard to keep their game sharp enough for tournament competition.
New Generation. The golf circuit belongs today to the younger men who have the stamina and ability to play in pressure-packed tournaments week after week, ten months of the year. With the 1958 tour two-thirds complete, three of golf's Young Turks hold a long lead in the earnings list: Arnold Palmer, 28, of Latrobe, Pa. ($40,478), Bill Casper, 27, of Chula Vista, Calif. ($38,332), and Venturi, 27, of San Francisco ($37,044). Palmer has finished in the top ten in 13 of 24 tournaments, Casper in twelve of 23, Venturi in 14 of 24. Palmer and Casper have won three tournaments each, Venturi four.
Each has a different strong point to his game. Handsome, thin-lipped Arnold Palmer is one of the game's longest drivers. Brash, freckled Ken Venturi is without peer on long irons. Chubby, affable Bill Casper has the steadiest short game on the tour. There are weaknesses, too. Palmer is a streak player ("It seems I was always blowing up just when I thought my game was under control''). Both he and Venturi are subject to long sieges of putting miseries. Casper tends to scatter his long shots and has a predilection for one bad round in too many tournaments; at Chicago, he carded a horrible 80 in the first round, came back with two 64s and a 67 to finish a respectable seventh. But overall, these three are far more consistent than the hot-and-cold young pros who make up the bulk of the touring company.
Play to Win. Venturi, who has won $60,000 in just 21 months as a professional, is the best bet of all for the future. A gritty perfectionist of the Hogan stripe, he practices endless hours to correct his flaws. The first time that he finished out of the money, Ken went back to his hotel, practice-putted in his room for four hours, came back with twelve straight rounds under 69, won two tournaments. "There are basically two kinds of players," he says, "those who play to win and those who play to finish in the money. The man who plays to finish in the money will seldom win a tournament, but the man who plays to win will probably finish in the money." Playing to win, Venturi has missed the money only three times in his career as a professional.
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