Labron E. Harris, Jr.

Labron Harris, Jr., of Enid, Okla., was five holes down to A. Downing Gray of Pensacola, Fla., after the morning round, then rallied to defeat Gray by 1 up in the final match on the No. 2 Course of the Pinehurst Country Club, Pinehurst, N.C. Gray's splendid morning round of 70, 2 under par, was offset by Harris' 72 in the afternoon.

Harris needed to play only eight holes in the afternoon to draw even, then went ahead permanently on the 28th hole. Twenty years old and a graduate of Oklahoma State University, Harris had qualified previously for the Amateur Championship in 1961, when he lost in the first round. Gray, 24, an insurance salesman, had never entered the Championship before.

The Championship was remarkable for the early-round defeats of many former Champions and other prominent players by younger qualifiers. Among those who failed to survive either the first or second rounds were Charles R. Coe, Amateur Champion in 1949 and 1958; William Hyndman, III, runner-up in 1955 and a member of the USGA International Teams since 1959; Robert Gardner, runner-up in 1960; and H. Dudley Wysong, Jr., runner-up in 1961 to Jack Nicklaus.

Patton, 40, was the only man over 30 years of age to reach the quarter-final round. He lost to Harris by 3 and 1 in one semi-final match. Charles Coody, of Fort Worth, an Air Force Lieutenant, was the other semi-finalist. Gray beat him by 3 and 2. The course's yardage of 7,051 was the longest ever for a USGA event. Charles Evans, Jr., made his 50th appearance in the Amateur Championship, something no one else has ever done. He lost in the first round. Former President Eisenhower was a spectator during the afternoon round of the final match.