A RANKING LIST.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20232, 16 February 1934, Page 11

A RANKING LIST.

Sarazen’s Choice of U.S.A. Golfers. Now comes Gene Sarazen, on whose head has rested virtually every major golf crown, with his slate of the ten greatest American golfers of the year 1933. Densmore Shute, Philadelphia, who won the British open at old St Andrews last June, is Sarazen’s 1933 king of golf on the list in which he ignored his own claims. Behind Shute, as the present P.G.A. champion sees them, are:— Craig Wood of Deal, N.J.: Joe Kirkwood of Chicago: Paul Runyan of White Plains, X.Y.; Leo Diegel of Agua Caliente; M’Donald Smith of Great Neck, L. 1.: Walter Hagen of New York ; Ralph Guldahl of St Louis: Willie Goggin of San Francisco, and W r illie M’Farlane of Tuckahoe, N Y. In explaining his choice of Shute, Sarazen said : “ Denny has been climbing every year and in 1933 realised the great promise of his earlier performances. He showed the champion's unbeatable mettle by beating Craig Wood in the play-off for the British open, and there made the finest first showing ever made by an American golfer crossing the Atlantic. “ Only in December, Shute again proved his top rank by beating Johnny Goodman, the national open champion, in a seventv-two-hole match at the Miami-Biltmore. for the world’s championship and the Colonel Henry L. Doherty gold cup.”