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Knowles Wins French Amateur Golf Defeats Four-Time Wi n ne r, De La Maze New Englander First Yank To Annex Crown Since 39, When Chapman Was Victor CHANTILLY, France, June 1 UP. — Robert Knowles, 36-year-old insurance broker from Brookline, Mass., won the French Amateur Golf Championship today, dethroning Henri De LaMaze of France, three and two -with a blazing streak of stretch shooting in the 36-hole final. Only one up after a close 18-hole morning round, Knowles let loose with a three under par 33 going out oh the afternoon round to end LaMazes reign. The Frenchman had won the title for the past four years and was seeking his fifth in a row. That spectacular third nine gave Knowles a 6 up margin going toJ;he *28th hole, and while De LaMaze then shot three consecutive birdies to halve his opponents margin, the U. S. Walker Cup player bore down to close out the match by halving the last four holes. "Without a doubt, Bob played the best game of his career," Dick Chapman of Pinehurst, N. C, who won the British Amateur Championship last Saturday and followed Knowles around the course today, declared. In winning, Knowles, the New England amateur champion, became the first U. S. j golfer to win the title since Chapman won it 1939. Chapman entered this years tournament, but withdrew; declaring he was too tired after capturing the British crown at Porthcawy, Wales, six days ago. Shoots 73 in Morning Knowles shot a one over par 73 to De LaMazes 74 on the morning 18. Knowles trailed only once during the match, La-Maze winning the fifth hole to go 1 up with a par four as Knowles shot a bogey five. But Knowles evened the match on the sixth with a par three and went two up when he shot birdies on the eighth and ninth holes. He also had birdied the first hole but lost that advantage when-his opponent birdied the fourth. De La Maze sent a 150-foot approach shot to within three feet of the pin and sank the putt for an eagle three on the tenth hole i as Knowles shot a par, but the American regained his 2 up lead when De La Maze flubbed a short putt for a bogey five on the twelfth. The Frenchman got one of thpse holes back on the fifteenth when Knowles, who had been driving down the middle consistently, sent his tee shot into the woods which surround the Chan-tilly Country Club course, which still bears scars of World War II. when the Germans used it to camouflage an airfield. Knowles shot three birdies on the first four holes of the afternoon round, sinking putts of 15 and 20 feet, but De Xa Maze matched one of them, leaving the American 3 up. Knowles blasted out of a trap to within an inch of the cup to win the twenty-third with a par four, to go 4 up. After De La Maze won the twenty-fourth, Knowles took the next two holes with par golf and made it 6 up when he also won the twenty-seventh, as the Frenchman floundered in the rough. Then De. La Maze made a strong bid to get back into the running. He fired three successive birdies starting the final nine, while Knowles needed two pars and a bogey. But that was the end, for they matched stroke for stroke after that with Knowles finally closing out the match on the thirty-fourth hole. For the 34 holes the match went, Knowles was even par, thanks to the brilliant golf he played on the third nine.
