BEN HOGAN CO. MAY BE SUBJECT OF A THREE-WAY BIDDING WAR

          Spalding Sports Worldwide, backed by its parent,
     Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., "is interested in buying all
     of" Ben Hogan Co., including its golf-ball manufacturing
     plant in OH, according to Lynn Henning of GOLFWEEK.  But
     Henning writes that a "bidding war has emerged," as CA-based
     Taylor Made Golf Co., "which plans to enter the golf-ball
     market soon, is interested in buying only the [OH]
     operations as a manufacturing facility for its new line of
     golf balls;" and FL-based Edwin Watts Golf Shops, the off-
     course retail chain, "wants only the club-manufacturing end
     of Hogan as a means for adding a premier name to its in-
     house golf club sales."  Hogan Co. is owned by VA-based
     businessman Bill Goodwin, who bought the company five years
     ago for $61M, but a "stark indicator of how far Hogan has
     fallen is its likely" '97 selling price, "which may not
     significantly surpass" $20M (GOLFWEEK, 9/20 issue).