Sport: Eight Below

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In a game of golf par means the hypothetical number of strokes required to play a hole perfectly. For most 18-hole golf courses par (for men) ranges from 70 to 72.* A decade ago, when Supergolfers Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen dominated U. S. fairways, four par rounds were good enough to win almost any tournament. Last week, when this year's troupe of top-notch U. S. golf professionals concluded their winter trek around the "grapefruit circuit," the scores they whacked into the record books conclusively proved that par has lost its meaning.

> In 22 tournaments the average winning score was eight below par. It took a nine-below-par 279 to win the Masters Tournament at Augusta, one of the toughest tests of golfing skill on the North American continent.

> In the Phoenix Open, 27-year-old Byron Nelson posted a 36-hole total of 130 (65-65), lowest in the history of U. S. professional play.

> A 63 was chalked up in the third round of the Texas Open by Harold ("Jug") McSpaden (in a warm-up round he shot 59). In the Miami Four-Ball Tournament Partners Ralph Guldahl & Sam Snead played nine holes in 28.

Reviewing these feats, Tournament Manager Fred Corcoran of the Professional Golfers' Association last week recommended that men's par, intact for the past quarter of a century, be whittled down for golfers of tomorrow.