The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 8

Tuesday, June 12, 1979 Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune 9 Watson would like Open to be first step to greatness By George Strode Associated Press writer TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) Maybe Tom Watson Is right. He Insists he doesn't belong on the same golf plateau with Jack Nlcklaus at least for now. "I need to win more major championships. That's how the press, the fans, young peers judge a player," said Watson, well-rested for a charge to his first United States Open title. America's most prestigious golf tournament opens at Inverness Club Thursday.

Watson and Nicklaus will rank in the forefront as favorites. "You must win the Open to be considered a great player," said Watson. "With one exception Sam Snead no one has been a great player without winning the Open." The year-by-year yardsticks of the game's two greats, at comparable points in their careers, support Watson. At age 29, Nicklaus had Won two Opens, three Masters and one PGA National in eight tour years. That was six major professional titles among his 30 tournament victories.

Watson is now the same age a decade later. His comparable figures in tour seasons: no Open titles, one Masters, two British Opens and three majors among his 14 tour triumphs. But this is 1979 and it's clearly Watson over Nicklaus in the first half of the tour. The red-haired Missourian has needed just 14 starts to pile up a tour-leading $353,000. He's won four times.

He's finished second four times. He's been in the top six on 10 occasions. Meanwhile, Nicklaus, 39, is fighting over-the-hill charges. And, by his own admission, he's played very well just one time in eight starts finishing one stroke back in the Masters for fourth place. The man who has won an unprecedented $3.8 million on tour has paltry earnings of less than $35,000 this' year.

"I haven't been satisfied with my final results this year," said the blond Ohioan, "but I've still got three majors left to put my game back in shape. I need a win under my belt to get untracked." Even Nicklaus, the winner of an all-time record of 15 major professional championships, concedes he's no longer the man to beat every time he tees up. Nicklaus says it's Watson now. "Tom is playing so much better than anyone in the game," said Nicklaus. "He's going to have to play poorly for somebody to beat him." Watson, however, can see problems with his game two days before the Open begins for a third time over Inverness, a relatively short but tight 6,982 yards.

"I'm still having trouble off the tee," he said after shooting "about par" of 71 in a tuneup Monday. Watson was headed for more driving work after his round, too. But then Watson's confidence showed. Just over a two-week vacation, he grinned and added, "I'm putting well though and that's the name of the game." let Sports CART sends delegate to USAC brass It's fredbird ST." Fredbird, the new mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, holds a young fan dressed in a tiny Cardinals' uniform prior to a recent game at Busch Stadium here.

Though not as much of a prankster as the KGB Chicken, the unruffled Fredbird has become a hit with Cardinals' fans. (AP photo) By Steve Herman Associated Press writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Championship Auto Racing Teams, offering as evidence of good faith to forego a conflicting race at Trenton on June 24, said it was prepared today to make peace with the U.S. Auto Club. Ray Smartis, general manager of the Ontario Motor Speedway in California, was the CART emissary in the latest move to end a six-month war that has divided championship racing into two openly hostile camps. Smartis met with the CART board of directors in Trenton Sunday night, then flew to Indianapolis on Monday and met briefly with USAC President Dick King.

He was to present a proposal to USAC today. CART would not "divulge details of the proposal because "the whole thing is in Smartis' hands We don't want to do anything to jeopardize it," said CART spokesman Dan Simmons continues rampage against LA By Ken Rappoport Associated Press writer Ted Simmons has it all straightened out. "At 29, I have reached the point where I know what I am doing at the plate," says the red-hot "I've turned into the hitter I've always wanted to be." Because of him, the St. Louis Cardinals have turned into high flyers in the National League East. Simmons continued his recent rampage Monday night with two home runs and six RBI" as the Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-7.

That makes seven homers in the last 13 games for Simmons and 16 for the season. The victory was the ninth in 10 games for the NL's most surprising team. -In other games, the New York Mets edged the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2; the Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves in 11 innings, 6-5, and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Houston Astros, 4-2. Simmons hit a grandslam homer in the third inning off Los Angeles starter Jerry Reuss to highlight a five-run inning. Then he broke a 7-7 tie with a two-run blast off loser Lerrin LaGrow.

Tom Bruno, the third Cardinal pitcher, was the winner in the heavy-hitting game which also featured a home run by Lou Brock that put the St. Louis star 52 hits short of 3,000 for his career. Mets 3, Reds 2 Wayne Twitchell's five innings of one-hit relief pitching and Lee Mazzilli's tie-breaking RBI single in the fifth enabled New York to beat Cincinnati. Twitchell relieved New York starter Jesse Orosco with two on and two out in the fourth and allowed only a seventh-inning single by Junior Kennedy over the final five innings, striking out four and walking one. Expos 6, Braves 5 (11 innings) Rodney Scott's bases-loaded walk in the llth inning forced in the winning run for Montreal.

Ellis Valentine began the Montreal rally with a single off Craig Skok and went all the way to third when Braves right fielder Gary Matthews bobbled pinch-hitter Dave Cash's two-out single. Skok was replaced by Adrian Devine, who promptly gave an intentional walk to Andre Dawson in order to face Scott. After falling behind 3-0, Devine threw two strikes before yielding the game-winning walk. Woodie Fryman, the fourth Montreal pitcher, earned the victory, yielding three hits over two innings. Phillies 4, Astros 2 Larry Bowa's RBI single in the seventh inning snapped a 2-2 tie and triggered Philadelphia over Houston.

Bud Harrelson walked to start the Phillies seventh and moved to second on a groundout by winning pitcher Randy Lerch. Pete Rose. walked, and Bowa then singled to left, scoring Harrelson. Harrelson appeared out at the plate on a fine off-balance throw from left fielder Jose Cruz to catcher Bruce Bochy, but the ball squirted out of the catcher's mitt as the runner slid home safely. Garry Maddox then added an insurance run with a double that scored Rose.

Unhappy Bowman Sabres' new boss MONTREAL (AP) Scotty Bowman did his best to smile through the interviews and say how happy he was to have become the new general manager of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. He tried to keep inside the frustration he suffered last season, when he guided the Montreal Canadiens Jasper, Bloomington North struggle into semistate By The Associated Press A crucial balk call and staying power-helped second-ranked Jasper and Bloomington North join defending state champion Evansville Memorial in Saturday's semistate baseball tournament at Jasper. Jasper stretched its winning streak-to 28 Monday as Jim LeMas- tus scored from third base on a balk to give the Wildcats a 5-4 triumph over Vincennes in the title game of the Jasper regional tournament, North, meanwhile, had to battle for four hours and 49 minutes to nip Moocesville by the score in the title fray at Bloomington. The two teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the regulation nine Innings. now 18-7, takes aim at Memorial's 56-game winning streak in one of'Saturday's games at Jasper.

The host team puts its perfect record pn the line against Jefferson- vjlle in the other game. Jeffersonville advanced by outscoring Floyd Central, 9-5, in the championship game at Jeffersonville. "The umpire made the first moye," said Jasper coach Ray Howard. "He must have felt the pitcher moved his hands after he reached the set position. That's a heckuva way to end the ball game." The regionals at eight sites, including Bloomington and Jasper, were rescheduled from Saturday because of rain or wet grounds.

The list of Monday's regional winners included ninth-ranked South Vermillion and East Chicago Roosevelt. It was trie first regional crown for each school. In other regional championship games Monday afternoon, seventh- ranked Columbus East topped Shelbyville, 7-3, at Columbus; eighth- rated Indianapolis Marshall downed Greenfield, 6-0, at Warren Central, and unranked Indianapolis Roncalli tripped Southmont, 4-2, at Pike. Jasper, which lost to Evansville Memorial in the final game of the semistate tourney last year, put runners on second and third with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh before the balk sent LeMastus home with the winning run. Howard predicted the Jasper semistate tournament probably is "going to be one of those nip-and- tuckers.

Let's hope the results are the same." Jasper's Mike Ballenger, gave up four runs in the first two innings, before settling down to hold Vincennes scoreless the rest of the way. East Chicago Roosevelt downed Hammond Noll, 5-2, behind Matt Sexton's three-hit pitching. South Vermillion capitalized on seven North Central seven errors, six wild pitches and one passed ball to post a 7-1 triumph Kevin Szengros and Ray Sockwell led South Vermillion with two hits apiece. Ken Hoggatt allowed North Central six base hits and struck out nine. Marshall, the state runner-up in 1974 and 1975, got two-hit pitching from Brent Vaan Duyn, a junior righty, and raised its record to 22-4.

Roncalli needed relief help from John Jansen, who came into the game in the fifth inning and struck out four of the last five batters. Roncalli won the game on Mike Quintan's two-run single in the sixth. Monday's garnee At MoMnliWtMi Moorewllle 7, Franklin 0 Bloomlngton North 7. Danville 3 to their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup title and their fifth in his eight years as their coach. But he couldn't.

After his formal remarks Monday, the anger and resentment began to seep out. They were the result of his year-long power struggle with Irving Grundman, a businessman given the position of managing director and executive vice president of the Cana- diens. "There was no room for myself and Irving Grundman with the Can- adiens on hockey philosophy," said Bowman, his jaw beginning to clench. "It was either him or me. It's best for the Canadiens and it's best for me that I leave.

I'm convinced of that. "He (Grundman) told me many times that he has a lot of respect for me as a coach, with innuendo from there on that I had limitations in other capacities," Bowman continued. "I have a lot of respect for him as a businessman, but no respect for him as a hockey man, and there's no use camouflaging it." Luginbuhl, vice president of Penske Corp. USAC spokesman Paul Reinhard said Monday night, however, "It's hard to believe it will be anything new, but maybe it is maybe it will be something to settle this. You're never sure quite how to react.

You don't like to get your hopes up too high for fear it's not going to work." CART, which broke from USAC late last year in a dispute over control of championship car racing, staged a Twin-Indy event at Trenton on Sunday, the same day that USAC ran its annual Rex Mays 150 at Milwaukee. CART drivers and owners met at Trenton on Saturday to discuss the possibility of running another CART race there on June 24, the same day as the USAC 500-miler at Pocono, Pa. But the CART directors met Sunday night with Smartis and discussed a possible reconciliation with USAC. "Mr. Smartis outlined a proposed plan to resolve the basic differences that exist, which he will present to the U.S.

Auto Club," Luginbuhl said. "The CART board of directors has decided that CART will not conduct a race on June 24 at Trenton in a good-faith move in the best interests of championship auto racing, as requested by Mr. Smartis." The nation's three major races for Indy-type cars the Indianapolis 500, the Pocono 500 and the Ontario 500 are all controlled by USAC. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway recently said that invitations for next year's Indy 500 would go to participants in all three 500-milers and possibly other USAC races this year. That was the latest blast in the feud that started last winter with CART'S demand for a greater voice in making and enforcing rules governing champ car racing.

CART eventually split with USAC and scheduled its own series of races. The only big-name driver still with USAC is four-time Indy winner A.J. Foyt, who has won three of the four USAC races this season and finished second to CART's Rick Mears in last month's Indy 500. North 5, Moorewille 4 (13 Innlnji) At ColUBllMIQ Chemitanthli Columbua Eatt 7, Shettayville 3 Eaat Chicago Rooaevett 5. Himmood Noll 2 Vet says pin wasn't factor Jaeper 13, Loogootee 3 Vlncennea 11, Mitchell 2 Jaaper 0, Vlncennea BALTIMORE (AP) Dr.

Robert Vallence, attending veterinarian for Spectacular Bid, said a safety pin injury to the horse before last Saturday's Belmont Stakes probably was not a major factor in Bid's third-place finish. "I can'c see that (the injury) as a major factor in the horse getting beat," said Dr. Vallence. "It's like a splinter taken out of a finger. There is no soreness immediately, but 24 to 48 hours later, dirt may get up in there and it may become sore," Vallence said.

Trainer Grover "Buddy" Delp said that the colt had stepped on a safety pin in his stall before the race, but that it was decided not to scratch him. Delp said the pin was dropped on the floor of Bid's stall when a groom was removing protective bandages from the horse's legs early Saturday morning. Delp said the colt began pawing at the ground, and the pin became lodged in his hoof. Meanwhile, Belmont steward Gerard A. Burke said that veterinarians approved Spectacular Bid to race in the Belmont, so that action against Delp for allowing the colt to run with a bad foot appeared unlikely- Drs.

Manny Gilman and Ted Hill of the New York Racing Association both said that they had examined the horse before the race, and that he appeared healthy- 4 "I'm not saying Mr. Delp is telling a story," Gilman said. "All I can tell you is what saw. The horse came out for the race all right, and he came back all right. He also cooled out all right in the testing barn, and he looked perfectly sound when he stepped a van Sunday morning to leave Belmont." Hill said he inspected each of the horse's feet and found no inflamma- 'tlon.

But an Infection could have started, he said, since the horse was not immediately given a tetanus shot. After returning to Pimlico Sunday, hemorrhaging was discovered in Bid's right foot after his shoe was removed. Vallance said-that he had taken no X-rays, but that there was no apparent bone damage. The horse was given a tetanus shot, and shots of penicillin and bute to ease the soreness Sunday, Vallence said. Bid will continue to be given penicillin, he said.

Floyd Central 4, Spring! Valley 3 Jefleraonvllle 10, Southnwnl 12. Rltter 3 Roncalli 1, Lebanon 0 Roncalli 4, Southmont 2 At South Vermllllon 7, Waal Vtoo North Central (Sullivan) South Vermllllon 7, North Central 1 At Central Indlanapolla Marshall 8, Indlanapolle Scaclna 4 QraenHeM 1, Hamilton Soythefattm 0 ImManapoUt MarahaM), OrilnfleW First-round semistate pairings June 16 of the regional winners in the 13th Indiana high school baseball tournament: Cotumoui teat (27-2) viT Central (21 EMI Chicago Rooeeveit (JWJJve. South Bend Mama Fort Wayne (27-2) va. LaPotte USAC midgets here for Wednesday show The United States Auto Club's midgets will be making their annual visit to the Kokomo Speedway on Wednesday night with most of the top drivers in the country expected to participate. Promoter Bill Lipkey has received more than 30 entries for the program which will start with qualifications at 7 p.m.

and the first race at 8. Track gates open at 6 p.m. Mel Kenyon and Ron "Sleepy" Tripp, two of the all-time great midget drivers, will be setting their sights on the checkered flag at the Kokomo oval. Indianapolis 500 veterans Johnny Parsons, Gary Bettenhausen, Larry Rice will also be on hand. Other top midget drivers include Bob Wente, Steve Lotshaw, Lonnie Caruthers, Jeff Nuckles, Steve Cannon, Todd Forbes and Jerry Weeks.

Scheduled on the program will be four heats, a trophy dash, the semi, and a 40-lap feature. Lipkey is expecting one of the larger crowds of the season for the mighty midgets. In case of a rainout, the program will be rescheduled for Thursday the 14th. Mel Kenyon Sleepy Tripp.