0. B. KEELER Winning the 42nd amateur championship of the Southern Golf Association, over a great field playing June 15-19 at the Capital City Country Club, Atlanta, Gene Dahlbender, Jr., the hometown competitor with a decade of remarkable though rather unsuccessful play behind him, apparently had acquired something of the tournament touch. At any rate, he then battled his way into the semifinal round of the U. S. Amateur at Memphis, knocking over two champions in one day--Skee Riegel, defending National champion, and Robert Harris, 1948 Intercollegiate champ--and lost to Willie Turnesa, who went on to the top for 1948. And Gene had a lively time, all over the dainty Capital City layout, before he crossed clubs with George Hamer, the Tall Pine from Columbus, Ga., in the final bout at 36 holes. Billy Key, one of Freddie Haskins' kid wonders from Columbus--17 years old and scaling 138 pounds soaking wet--won the medal with two par rounds of 71, totaling 142, Dahlbender traveling easily to a score of 72-73-145. Tommy Barnes, defending champion, was defeated 3-2 in the second round by Charles B. Dudley of Greenville, S. C., and Dahlbender beat Dudley 5-3, in the next round after a touch 1-up victory over Gordon Clay of Georgia Tech. Gene then took Gummy Harison of Augusta for a 6-5 ride, which brought him to the final with Hamer, Southern champion of 1946, who had beaten Sonny Swift, another Columbus youngster, in a tough bout, 2-1, the afternoon before. The concluding battle was rather on the classic side, with Dahlbender and Hamer and Old Man Par' all tied and square at the end of the morning round, with cards of 71. Old Man Par was 1 down at the end of the first nine in the afternoon, with Gene and George still square, with 35 strokes each. Then came the break. Hamer's drive off the 28th tee caught the steep bank on the right, he had to play out sidewise, and his long third was bunkered by the distant green. Dahlbender's second found the trap also, and both recovered brilliantly, but Hamer missed a 10-foot putt for a par 5, and Dahlbender canned a six-footer for a birdie 4. That was it. Dahlbender won the 30th with a birdie 4 and the 31st and 32nd with pars, and the match closed, 3-2, at the 34th. Gene needed par for a card of 60, and he played only one really bad shot in the round, when he missed the green at the 33rd hole and allowed the match to go one more hole. Yet he was never up until that long 28th in the afternoon. The committeemen and membership of the Capital City Country Club went all out as hosts and the contestants will remember for many years to come the courtesies and hospitalities of this beautiful spot. The Southern Golf Association will always be deeply grateful to Messrs. R. B. Godley, "Bud" Bicknell, Jesse (Admiral) Draper, the host pro, "Pop" Beckett, and the many others who left no stone unturned to make the play of the Southern Amateur Championship a complete success.

Match Play Results: