Golf: While the Cats Are Away

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If absence really does make the heart grow fonder, Arnie Palmer and Ken Venturi must think that Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are the tops, the Colosseum and the Small Business Administration all rolled into one. Nick laus (at $152,000) and Player (at $71,000) were big winners on the 1965 pro tour, but so far this year they could qualify for unemployment compensation. Jack has played in one tournament and earned $1,405; Gary has yet to see a sixpence. And last week, with $57,000 up for grabs in San Francisco's Lucky International tournament, they were planning a trout-fishing excursion at Player's South African farm.

All of which was fine with Palmer, who has never been the sort of man to turn down a dare. Arnie went back to cigarettes when they put warning signs on the packages, and in three tournaments so far this season he has placed first, second and third for total winnings of $23,787. He still is not satisfied. "I'm making too many bogeys," Palmer complained last week, after he shot a nine-under par 275 to pick up third-place money of $3,037 at the Lucky.

"How Can I Play?" Venturi, on the other hand, is satisfied with anything he can get. Ken started his career at the top, and has been trying to climb back there ever since. He barely missed winning the 1956 Masters as an amateur, turned pro, and had earned $122,000 by 1960. But over the next three years, he didn't win a tournament, and his official earnings in 1963 came to $3,843.33. In 1964 Venturi finally won a big tournament—the U.S. Open—only to notice, a few months later, that his fingers were cold and the skin on his hands was peeling. In a game that depends almost entirely on feel, he could not even grip a club without his hands going numb. Doctors told him he had a circulatory ailment, advised him to give up golf. Venturi stubbornly refused to quit, and went out to defend his championship in the 1965 Open. He shot a dreadful 81-79, failed even to survive the second round cut. "How can I play?" he groaned. "How can I ever play tournament golf again?"

Venturi entered the Mayo Clinic, where surgeons sliced through the ligaments on the backs of both hands to free his pinched nerves. On the strength of his showing last week, the operation was a success. He had to wear gloves on both hands between shots and use hand warmers besides, but he fired an eleven-under-par 273 to win the Lucky by one stroke and collect his first winner's check—$8,500—in almost two years. "It's nice," he said, "to be back among the players."