Bluidy Magic Lantern

"Get oot o' there wi' yer bluidy magic lantern," thundered Scotland's late golfing great, Andra Kirkaldy, when a cameraman dared set foot on the sacred Old Course at St. Andrews at the turn of the century. Had Kirkaldy been around St. Andrews last week, he probably would have heaved his clubs into the North Sea. Heavy tractors trundled television cameras, cables and lights all over the course. Cameramen swarmed over roughs and fairways, technicians and officials thronged the greens, and close to 5,000 Scots followed the proceedings with alternating amusement and dismay. For an 18-hole golf match between two of the world's best--Arnold Palmer of Latrobe, Pa., and Gary Player of South Africa--it was a whale of a Hollywood mob scene.

The American Broadcasting Co. set up the scene for its Wide World of Sports series, offering a "$10,000 winner-take-all" prize. For nine sweaty hours, Palmer and Player, warming up for the 101st British Open at Birkdale this week, inched over the 6,936-yd. course, waiting for the lumbering tractors to haul the bluidy magic lanterns into position. Gibed The Scotsman: "A funeral procession could have given today's affair a start and a beating."

But for all the video-idiocy of the match, it was well worth watching. With a double score to settle--his loss to Player in the Masters last April and his frustrating performance over St. Andrews in the 1960 British Open, when he lost by a stroke--Palmer blazed out the kind of game that made him the top moneymaker in golf history last year (with $80,738). He fired the first nine holes in par 36, came home with a whirlwind 34. After a birdie on the 16th, he blasted an eagle three on his jinx hole, the lyth, which he three-putted three times last year. He birdied the last hole, finished five strokes ahead of Player. Though the match added $10,000 to his jingling till, Palmer still remained second to Player in official 1961 earnings, $55,539-23 to $54,283.93, because the Professional Golfers' Association does not recognize the prize.

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