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Sports
Page 16 Friday, June 19, 1981 The Michigan Daily
Unknown Thorpe surprises field,
leads Open with first- round 66
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ARDMORE, Pa. (AP)-Jim Thorpe,
one of the few blacks on the pro golf
tour, birdied the last two holes for a 4-
under-par 66 and a surprise one-shot
lead yesterday in the first round of the
81st U.S. Open.
Thorpe, 31, a one-time running back
at Morgan State, is a career struggler,
a refugee from the PGA Tour's Monday
morning qualifying ranks, a non-winner
simply trying to make a living. He's
playing in his first U.S. Open after.
several unsuccessful attempts to
known and the defending champion
here, agreed with the general premise
that this event has a history of
producing surprise leaders in the early
going.
"A lot of fellows, myself included,
sometimes can take a lead, and then
their golfing abilities won't allow them
to keep the lead.
"I don't know how well Thorpe will
play the next three rounds. That
remains to be seen.
"ALMOST ANYONE can lead one
the traditionally deep, difficult rough
decreed by the sponsoring U.S. Golf
Association on its Open courses.
J.C. Snead, who used his driver only
four times on the historic, 6,528-yard
Merion Golf Club course in
Philadelphia's Main Line country,
chipped in for a birdie on the 18th hole
for a 67 that left him alone in second.
"Most of the holes here, it's not
necessary to kill it," Snead said, "and
I've been hitting my irons good."
THE GROUP at 68 included former
PGA champion David Graham of
Australia, Jack Renner, Chi Chi
Rodriguez, former national amateur
champ John Cook and Bob Ackerman, a
club pro from Detroit.
In addition to Nicklaus and Miller,
the starry group at 69 included Lon
Hinkle, Bill Kratzert, former Open
champion Hubert Green, Rex Caldwell,
George Burns and Tommy Valentine.
"This was the day to shoot the low
score," Watson said. "The greens are
going to get harder and harder and
harder, and the scores are going to go
higher and higher and higher."
THE WEATHER conditions were
near perfect-very little wind, with
temperatures in the mid-80's under a
bright sun.
And, in general, the world's best
players took advantage of it. There
were more than two dozen scores at par
or better. In three previous Opens, no
one has broken par for 72 holes on the
course that makes up in subtle deman-
ds, in white sand bunkers and brooks
and rough and treacherous, rolling
greens and sloping fairways what it
lacks in length.
Thorpe, however, said it "wasn't
playing that tough."
ONE OF ONLY a half-dozen blacks in
the 250 men who play the pro tour,
Thorpe has had indifferent success. He
once lost his playing rights for poor per-.
formance, played the mini-tours and
then rejoined the PGA circuit three
years ago.
His best season was 1979, when he
won $48,000. He hasn't finished higher
than second in his career, has collected
only $7,000 in winnings this year and
has career earnings of slightly over
$91,000-less than Watson won in his
last two starts.
Thorpe said he was not named for the
famous American Indian football
player and Olympic athlete.
"MY MOTHER and father had so
many kids, they were running out of
names," he said.
A powerful hitter, Thorpe said he has
"played pretty well in the past, but I
just need to put four rounds together.
"I'm pleased with the way I played
today. I used an iron off the teea lot and
kept it on the short grass.
"I'm a long hitter, but I'm not ac-
curate. Being able to use the irons so
much was an advantage for me."
He bogeyed the second hole from the
left rough, but got the shot back with a
20-foot birdie putt on the next hole.
WEDGE SHOTS set up birdie putts of
three and 10 feet on the seventh and
eighth.
A deep bunker on the 11th cost him a
bogey but the wedge set up another 10-
-foot birdie putt on the 13th.
He took sole control on the last two
holes, two of the more difficult on the
course. A beautiful 3-iron shot left him a
three-footer on the 17th, his third deuce
of the day, and he dropped a 30-footer
on the final hole.
SNEAD, A nephew of the famed Sam
Snead and runnerup in the 1973 Masters
and 1978 Open, has been in a deep slump
for several seasons, much of it caused
by an errant driver.
He used that club only four times this
day and went to the one-iron eight
times.
"I think I can play decent the next
three days if I can keep it in the fair-
ways," he said.
Miller has been troubled by a sore
shoulder since winning two tournamen-
ts early this year and was in such pain
early in the week, "I didn't think I
would be playing today," he said.
MILLER BIRDIED his first three
holes, then cooled off. "I'm going to be
very aggressive," he said. "I shouldn't
even by playing, so I've got nothing to
lose. I'm going to go for every flag."
Nicklaus, holder of a record 17 major
professional titles, said he "played a
pretty good round of golf. Any time you
break par in the first round of the U.S.
Open, it's a pretty good round of golf.
"I'd like to be leading, but I'm really
not concerned with the lead until the
last round. Until then, I just try to play
good, solid golf and stay in contact."
HE THREE-PUTTED on the third
hole, wedged to four feet for birdie on
the eighth, dropped birdie putts of 18
and 15 feet on the 10th and 11th, then
took two to get out of a bunker and
bogeyed the 15th.
Watson, golf's leading money-winner
for the last four years, had a tougher
struggle in the first round of the tour-
nament he has yet to win, the tour-
nament that he admits is his greatest
ambition.
"I didn't keep it in play very well," he
said. "I missed six fairways, so I guess
I'm lucky to shoot 70. I was a little ner-
vous off the first tee and didn't hit a
good shot until the fifth hole.
"BUT I DIDN'T let it totally get away
from me."
He wasn't alone in his troubles.
Ray Floyd, second only to Watson on
the money-winning list and a three-time
winner this season, got it in the woods,
in the water and in the Scotch broom
grass that sprouts from the bunkers. He
took a fat 75.
South African Gary Player, two-time
U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin, and Lee
Trevino, who beat Nicklaus in a playoff
for the 1971 Open title on this same
course, were at 72, 2-over par.
Tom Kite, among the pre-tournament
favorites, was another shot back at 73.
And Arnold Palmer, still trailed by a
hopeful army, went to a 77 that included
a triple-bogey on the final hole.
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BEN CRENSHAW BLASTS his way from the sand trap at the first hole of
yesterday's first round in the U.S. Open at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore,
Pa. Crenshaw finished the round with a par 78, putting him in a tie for 16th
place, four strokes behind surprise leader Jim Thorpe, who notched a four-
under-par 66.
qualify and was among the more ob- round. But four rounds is something
scure pros in the 156-man field. else. The better players are going to be
AS SUCH, lacking particularly im- there at the end."
pressive credentials, he fits the mold of And many of the better players are*
many early-round leaders in the well within striking range of the power-
American national championship. ful Thorpe, one of 12 children of a Rox-.
"IN THE OPEN, in the first round it's boro, N.C., greenskeeper.
always a surprise that leads it," said Nicklaus, seeking to become the first
Johnny Miller, a former winner of this man to win five American national
title. "Except for last year, the fellow championships and, at 41, still the most
leading the first round hardly ever wins feared competitor in the world, was'
it." only three back at 69. Miller, a former
Last year was an exception. winner of the U.S. and British Opens
"Let's see," mused Jack Nicklaus. who said he really didn't expect to be
"Last year the first round leaders were playing, also was 1-under par.
me and Tom Weiskopf. A couple of TOM WATSON, the Masters cham-
relative unknowns." pion and golf's outstanding performer
BUT NICKLAUS, generally regarded over the past 4% years, managed to
as the finest player the world has match par-70 despite a struggle through
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