Golf: Green from the Greens

How much does a hippopotamus hamburger cost? Who cares? Except maybe Billy Casper, who figures that the wilder the chow the better his golf. So he occasionally tries hippo (at $2.49 a lb.), and regularly downs elk ($1.49), bear ($2.25), moose ($1.98) and buffalo ($1.89). There must be something in it. Last week Casper was the only man on this year’s P.G.A. tour to have cracked $100,000 in official winnings. He thus joined the late Tony Lema, who turned the trick in 1965, Arnold Palmer, who did it in ’63 and ’64, and Jack Nicklaus, who did it in ’63, ’64 and’65.*

Of course, the totals do not include unofficial tournaments and sundry additional enterprises that can add another $50,000 to $250,000 to a golfer’s take-home pay. The tally does decide who is the 1966 P.G.A. money champ. And in the approach to that pin, Nicklaus is only a putt or so away. Jowly Jack has been skipping a few contests in favor of some fishing and hunting, but when he does play, he averages more winnings than any other man on the tour. With seven official tournaments to go, he could catch Casper. The standings to date:

Total Won In Average Billy Casper . $107,715. .. .4. …17. …56,336 Jack Nicklaus . 87,953. . . .1. . . .13. . . . 6,765 Arnold Palmer 79,717. .. .2. .. .17. … 4,689 Doug Sanders 70,996. . . .2. . . .23. . . . 3,036 Gay Brewer . . 68,015 …. 1 …. 20 …. 3,400 Phil Rcdgers . 65,112. . . .2. . . .23. . . . 2,830 Gene Littler . 61,653 .. .0. . . .20. … 3,082 R.H. Sikes . . . 61,584. . . .1. . . .24. . . . 2,566 Frank Beard . 59,681. . . .1. . . .25. . . . 2,387 Al Geiberger . 55,728. …1….21.. . 2,653

*The P.G.A.’s alltime leaders: Palmer $723,699 in twelve years, Casper $579,714 in twelve years, and Nicklaus $503,898 in five years.