The Monday Sports Patrol, Daily Racing Form, 1952-05-19

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~ 1 The Monday Sports Patrol I By STEVE SNIDER United Press Sports Writer NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y., May 17 UP .— Golf is a dandy exercise for the week-end swingers, but pounding the tournament trail is a tough way to make a living. Most of the top pros are as full of aches and pains as the major league ball player after a doubleheader with first place at stake. "I was afraid we couldnt find 16 healthy players to tee off in the Palm Beach Round Robin," said Fred Corcoran, a guiding hand in the tournament since its inception. "We had only one alternate — Bobby Locke of South Africa. He was warming up in the bullpen all week." Byron Nelson, Jackie Burke, Jim Ferrier and Max Faulkner, the dapper Briton, all had leg trouble of some description. Cary Middlecoff is allergic to grass, Lloyd Man-gram has hay fever and Slammin Sammy Snead gave it the Luke Appling treatment: "Ah ache all over," he said. But like Appling, the ex-Chicago White Sox star, the Slammer is at his best when things arent right. Its when he feels real good that he starts worrying. Both Burke and Nelson were hampered in the Round Robin by their ailments. Jackie, top PGA money-winner, has a strained right knee that has been troubling him for more than a month. Nelson had an infection between his toes shortly before the tournament opened and played while shot full of penicillin. Ferrier, ex-PGA king, has had a gimpy left leg for 15 years. Now he has injured the right one. "Ive run out of knees," said "Kangaroo," who came out of Australia nearly a dozen years ago to become one of golfdoms most consistent winners. "I can hardly get around when the weather is wet." "The hard American turf is giving postmans bunions to Faulkner, the British Open champ. Back home he is accustomed to a softer fairway carpet and far fewer hills to climb. Middlecoff has the oddest possible ailment for a golf pro. He is allergic to grass — seven different species of the stuff. "I had seven shots to fight it before the tournament began," said the former U. S. Open king. One, presumably, for each allergy Cary once had to quit the tournament trail because of his vendetta with the grasses, but he figures he has that problem whipped now. Mangrum is only a mild hay fever sufferer and it hasnt kept him out of any tournaments. "Obviously, theres something wrong with me," said Ed "Porky" Oliver. "I feel great. Never felt better, in fact. If I could only putt!" The round man is on a diet. He says he has lost 40 pounds putting him around 185 or 190. But he still rates that nickname of "Porky."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1952051901/drf1952051901_2_3
Local Identifier: drf1952051901_2_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800