CONTENTS

4 SCOREBOARD and Week's Winners
11 EVENTS & DISCOVERIES SI's editors report and reflect on the news
15 SPECTACLE The Masters golf course IN COLOR by MARK KAUFFMAN
24 THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SPORT As the camera sees it
70 COMING EVENTS

19 THE MASTERS
One of golf's newer classics, The Masters already seems as steeped in tradition as any U.S. sporting event. Perhaps that is due to its unique blending of southern charm and good old American verve, as described in this special report by HERBERT WARREN WIND

30 MY FRIEND, MY PLAYMATE
The loyalty of a young Korean boy to his dog in the midst of war and famine. From a forthcoming book by JONG YONG PAK and JOCK CARROLL

34 THE VEST-POCKET KING OF SIX-POCKET BILLIARDS
Willie Mosconi may be the best pool player who ever lived, but even a genius has problems. A portrait in words by ROBERT COUGHLAN with a photograph IN COLOR by ARTHUR SHAY

38 A RASCAL IN FUR
The raccoon is regarded by most as an inoffensive creature, but to SI's JOHN O'REILLY he has brought nothing but trouble. Our man has been robbed, tricked and kept awake by the woods' most impish prowler

54 GRACE IN A DIVE
Few sights are as attractive as lady divers in mid-air; and few sports are more exacting. LEE GRIGGS describes what Pat McCormick and other top divers must go through to become champions

59 ON TO AUSTRALIA!
As the Pan-American Games wound up a fortnight of hectic hemisphere competition in Mexico City DAVID RICHARDSON cabled a resume of the events and how they bear on next year's Olympiad

THE DEPARTMENTS

6 Hotbox: JIMMY JEMAIL investigates the controversy between spear-fishermen and conventional anglers

40 Motor Sports: JOHN BENTLEY tests that automotive powerhouse, the Chrysler 300

42 Flying: BILL MAULDIN encounters "Automatic Rough" on an overwater trip to Cuba and notes its beneficent effect on Viking-minded wives

46 Sporting Look: Things have happened to sport shirts

48 Column of the Week: FURMAN BISHER gets the word from the Cardinals' Eddie Stanky

49 Boxing: BUDD SCHULBERG finds it is still a fine sport on the college campuses

51 Boating: ROBERT N. BAVIER JR. puts the Century Coronado through its salty paces

52 Horses: WHITNEY TOWER follows Nashua through the mud at Gulfstream

63 Tip from the Top: MIKE TURNESA of White Plains' Knollwood Country Club calls attention to the role of your left thumb

68 Yesterday: Tragedy was common in postwar Italy, but the whole nation mourned the demise of Turin's great soccer team

70 The 19th Hole: The readers take over

COVER: Ben Hogan

Photograph by MALCOLM L. WISTER

Driving off the eighth tee of the beautiful Augusta National Golf Course in his losing play-off battle with Sam Snead for the 1954 Masters title, Ben Hogan exhibits the form that will make him a top favorite for the coveted crown again this year. Hogan has won the Masters twice, was runner-up three times, and his 1953 total of 274 is the lowest ever recorded. For a preview of this year's big tournament, turn to page 19.

Acknowledgments on page 53

PHOTO

IN NEXT WEEK'S ISSUE

PREVIEW: THE NATIONAL LEAGUE
On the eve of the baseball season RED SMITH surveys the circuit, from the World Champion New York Giants to the still-away but someday-maybe Pittsburgh Pirates. Plus reports by ROBERT CREAMER on the individual teams and players and two pages of bubble gum portraits IN COLOR.

PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN COLOR
For nearly a year people have been asking SI's editors: "What are you going to do about wrestling?" Here is the answer—eight pages of heroes and villains photographed IN COLOR and in action by MARK KAUFFMAN, plus an informative report on this bloodcurdling but highly moral drama.

ALSO: AN ODE TO FLIGHT BY BILL MAULDIN AND AN ODE TO SPRING BY EDMUND WARE SMITH