The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-29
GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP REFORMS.
CHANCES TALKED ABOUT AMONG
THE ENGLEWOOD PLAYERS.
Only nj nay OF Eighteen Hole Medal Game
n Btxtyfour 70 Quaiify-Pairs 70 ne
Placed on Even Merit for the scOre
Round DRAW From Hat Votedobsolete.

Two matters were uppermost In the talk
OF the golfers at the amateur champion
ship-the advantage OF placing instead OF q
draw for the qualifying round and the wis
dom Of again changing the conditions OF
the competition. The men who were over
thrown In their advocacy Of match play
without a qualifying round three years ago
are still making o secret fight against the
American system. They have kni yes
whetted for the qualifying round, whether
the majority may want 1t or not. In Great
Britain the qualifying round Is steadily gain
ing in favor as the ideal sitting out process
for a large field. When the consciousness
OF this state Of things dawns on some Of the
anti-qualihers they will shift their allegiance.
Meantime they intend to throttle the quail
flying round at the first opportunity. Some
Of the men who only love the match game
and who regard medal play as the invention
Of the devil have been induced through this
sentiment to come out against the prevailing
conditions.
"Two successive days Of eighteen hole
medal play is as dull as ditohwater,' de-
clares Hugo r. Johnstone Of the Myopia
Hunt. Il favor getting rid Of the pad and
pencil on the first eighteen holes, with sixty
four to meet al eighteen holes match play
on the second day. A number Of golfers
will 60 to the annual meeting this winter to
urge this suggestion"
II active players come forward as Is prom
ised by the long driver from Myopia, this
e%minently practical change may be brought
about, but to bring them forward as de-
baters will not lead to the abandonment en-
tirely Of a qualifying round. The best
golfers believe that a quick shaking out Of
eighteen holes medal play Of all but sixty
four is the most equitable and interesting
way to play the championship. Its fairness is
demonstrated by the fact that the sixty
fourth man, who only qualified after a tie,
won out a! Glen View in 1902. Three semi
fnalists this year and last were among
the first ten on eighteen holes Of medal
play. The extra eighteen holes was only
monotony to them. The thirty-two to
qualify were no higher in match playing
abilities than some In the next thirty-two.
Practical changes in the championship
methods, to be clean cut and free from
theoretical deadwood, seem to come in best
shape from players rather than from library
golfers. But for the eleventh hour speech
and motion Of Walter T. Stern Of St. An
drews, at the annual meeting Of 1905, the
cumbersome two day qualifying round Of
ffty-four holes used at the Baltusrol oham-
pionship Of 1904 would nave been retained.
Outdoor men may express their ideas
bluntly, but they get the arguments home
with sledse hammer force.
1t may be safely predicted that sixty-four
will be permitted to qualify in 1907. On
the subject Of the draw the kickers against
the present plan ran against q technicality
at the start. At the annual meeting OF 1904,
when Walter j. Travis and Findlay 8. Doug
las, among others Of proved prowess on the
links, stood out for a change Of bylaws to
specify that the pairings should be by Q
public draw, certain committeeman took
umbrage at the suggestion.
Never" declared some Of the old hands,
have the pairings at a championship
been by placing. There has always been
a draw by the committee Of the names Of
those Qualifying"
-The committee is to be congratulated, !"
was the burden Of the r%ejoinders from the
players. yet as a matter Of form let US
have inserted the clause by a public draw
Result, motion carried and amendment
adopted. The best players had somehow
conceived the notion that there was a
COOhlnR Vi tU6 uTdW, ny winch -FOUR OF
the strongest to qualify would be put in the
top and four Of equal strength in the lower
end, with the idea that the semi-finalists
would surely be orackerjacks. This Is the
sort Of arrangement that keeps up the
interest in a tournament as a spectacle.
To the players a public draw has the choice,
for il two high class ones must come to-
gether, they naturally prefer to have the
meeting early IN the tournament, when
H.. ,rL@. a~I xuharo ~ tha al,1Ir - tL1
ment, designed only to keep the gallery"
attracting power OF a tournament.
Yet, not to question the committees
integrity in the matter, while the players
Of the championship draw, it is true that
the interest in more than one club tourna-
ment has been enhanced by O judioious
placing OF the best players to qualify,
Still as long as q championship Is a war OF
extinction, the draw must be safeguarded.
There Is room for al Improvement In the
happy go lucky custom Of taking the names
from a hat. Travis advocates the use OF
numbered balls in a leather bottle, such as is
aSoH table, s2 se'e At the Ne a]stf SspsG OF P aoIt A. ass the
citation championship Jerome Travers had
lower end included E. NJ. .Byers, Walter
Travis and the very pick Of the tournament.
Lyon and II. Chandler Esan we're the only
two Of proved national strength in the top
sixteen, while in the bottom end champions
were as thick as roses in June. Byers came
though the bramble hedge Of the lower
half to win, but from the same thorny place
he only succeeded in being runner up In
the Metropolitan championship. Faulty
drawing from the hat, the slips sticking
together, and so on, has often been blamed
for this Jumping together Of low scores.
To fix the places by numbered balls would
be more satisfactory. No n could grumble
then, even II placed In a hotbed Of golf.
So that there was q public draw at match
play the good golfers we're content. They
did not think 1t necessary to give to the COM
mittee a free hand in the pairing rs for the
qualifying round. The committee chose
to bind itself by the letter Of the law, with
the nonsensioal result Of a draw for partners
In the soore round. At Englewood tome
Of the best golfers had to go In the SCORE
round with men who needed more than
a hundred, a pairing Of a hare and a tortoise.
There is no reason why a poor player
may not enter a championship, IL his con-
| science does not upbraid him, but It seems
unjust that the draw should foist him as
playing mate on a man who might other
wise win the low score prize. The players
who urged a public draw for the match
pairlngs had no conception thu. the oom-
:. ;ktaa would Oopatr,a The ;nat,,ot;oo.