The St. Louis Republic., 1902-12-21

Unfortunately. there is no official way
of ranking the leading golfers of America.
This Is due to the fact that there Is no
tournament held in which the competitors
are handicapped to furnish fair standard
of comparison. The Journeys take place IN
different parts of the country, under differ
ent PLAYING conditions and between en-
trants of varying merit. 1t is possible,
however. TO strike balance between tie
merits of the leading players by passing
an estimate on the character of their per
furnanceS, whether i'll winning or losing, in
the fields in which each competed. The
number of victories alone Is OF little value
unless the character of the field and the
value of the links as Il test of golf be taken
into account Furthermore, the amateur
cha ampionship cannot be regarded as an
infaliible veid dict of the merits OF The con-
testants. although the winner gains as
tangible reward the title of amateur cham
ptcn. Yet, year after year. the competition
may be relied on to bring out, in long
run. the hest player as the winner, save al
ways that a freshet or some other unfore-
seen occurrence happens along to put the
players frCn distance at 4 special disad-
vantage over Il links that T. d strange one
10 them At the beet
CHAMPION JAMES WAS LUCKY.
This year, q FIRE shet being to blame, it is
eeneraIly neiu amcng golfers that the win
ner owed more 10 luck than to skill and
that he is not really to be classed among
the first fifteen of our golfers. 1t is not to
bt overlooked tHdt uiueT Soou SoilIHS COIi-
di,iuns Louis \. James put out Ii. H. Conk-
lin one OF the best college golfers. in the
amateur championship. get this Will not
offset the weight of opinion against JameS'S
right to a high rating.
There is no question as 10 TrayiS's claim
to first place in any alignment OF the play
ers for his unparalleled performance in iy-
ing for second place In the open champion
ship would alone make this certain. aside
from his past record in the amateur cham
hips and his tournament record this
season, Which included the NJ. G. A. cham
p!onship. Douglass. III the greater part of
The season. proved 1T the recent Atlantic
City and lakewood tournaments that he
stands next TO Travis alone In third place
comes group of fve-Eben NJ. Byers. who
won honest victories from both Travis and
II. G. Egan in the amateur championship
and who has since won the open champion
ship of the Western Pennsylvania Golf As
ISOLATION and the championship of the
Rhode Island Golf Association; H. Chandler
Association and the intercollegiate Golf AS
sociation; Charles Z. Macdonald who is
piaying a much better game than when he
won the first l.. 5. q. A. amateur champion
ship; George A. Ormisten. a young Scot
who stands practically on even terms with
ByeIs. and who beat him when pi2ylns for
Highlands against Allegheny in the Iiral foi
the team championship of the W. p. 9 A.
and Frank Q. Renhart, Ian amateur cham
pionshfp semifnalist. who beat Travis in
the Morris County tournament won at the
Westbrook meeting. and was beaten only
hole by H. c. Egan, in the intercollegi-
ate championship.
SEELY IN FOURTH PLACE.
Bracketed in the fourth place may be
placed c. H.. Seely. twice winner of the
Connecticut Golf Association champion