Evening star., 1908-12-20
RANKING OF THE
CRACK GOLFERS
Travers, National and New
Jersey Champion,
Heads List.

than ordinarily complex task. for with the
exception of Jerome d. Travers in the
amateur and New Jersey championships
the other titleholders of consequence nave
all been beaten. Even Travers could not
repeat i'm the Metropolitan Golf Associ-
alton championship. for after heing up
with Charles A. Seely in the morning he
lost his chance to gain the title Tor the
third year on the thirty-eighth hole. An
other factor is that this has been rec
ord year for large fields at tournaments
and for fine first appearances by young
sters At lawn tennis there Is an ofn-
cial ranking committee. and. while no
such mandatory rating is needed IN 1901
ball or golf. the hack of one permits an
individual opinion on the matter. Inc
players chosen for the first sixteen IN
each season may be regarded as very
capable of touring I'm this country OF
abroad as an all-America team.
To win the score medal or first cup at
a hatch of tournaments Is not always
recommendation for the selected o,Nisloa ~.
for many who head the lists at summer OF
winter resort competitions are In reahtv
only mediocre players The Vaiue or .he
course as a test of golf ana the quaily
not only of the entrants but OF nose ,,on ue,
feated hy the person under consideration
must, with other things. be regarded - III
fixing the merit of a tournament win 70
gain a final through the easy emo OF
draw does not count as much as 20 90 iol t,u
ones way through the hard hai1. vi
the other hand, after three very nary
matches for player to lose in the 1our.n
round to one who is keyed up after three
easy victories Is to hgnten .ne pant p''.s No
defeat. Many more such points must DC
regarded in studying golfing form.
There is no question of the rlght OF ira
yers to head the list as he did last year.
Although beaten as e.r'pHns 81 IMrs ,o4. m tn ,os
and 'O6 Travers has gained aplllty
through the hard treadmill of experience
and since his victory in the NJ u. "A.
championship of 1906 ne mas peEm et,,,,aso .mo
foremost golfer in the country. onques.
tionably should Travers go to Mulrilelo
this spring for the British championship:
and be on his game. he would De hIos.
worthy representative OF the o.ats a nr
Stripes On his path to the retention VI
the national title this fall at Garden Cty
he bearded the lion by defeating Wai.er
J. Travis on his home course py aho !
at thirty-six holes. IraverS Mer,s won Gountv ntv
tournaments this season. also the MONT
clair championship. The assault on tne
Montclair record. which had been 70 Wnen
Travis joined that club last year. nas
resulted in a triumphant 6S. and with a
midiron he has recently done Ahe course
In u.
Travis Second.
There is no question this season that W.
]. Travis is to be placed second and over
H Chandler Egan, who has led him IN
tie rating for three years. for the latter
has not done himself justice. 1t was not
that Caesar nodded, for when all is con-
sidered Egan played very well indeed,
and only the two terrible rs may be put
above him. During the winter and until
May Is Egan studied stenography In en-.
Of nil
whatever. He took a position then In
railroad Office at Louisville and moved to
that city, working five nights q week
overtime on account of a rush in getting
Der and prevented Egan coming to the
amateur championship. In the latter part
of May he went to Memphis for the
Southern Golf Association championship
to please Louisville friends. He won the
score medal with q. but N. M. Whitney
beat him in the final. Thinking it better
to lose his title by a defeat than to de-
fault. Egan went to the Western Golf As
sociation championship. where ]. E. Cady.
on his home course. beat him out. Egan
won the Louisville tournament in the fall.
He had his revenge by beating Cady up
in match at Louisville. and Egan has
lowered the record there to 81, with
midiron doing Is.
Travis brought home the score medals
from both the national and metropolitan
championships, scoring 153 at Garden
City and '158 at Baltusrol. He was not
overgolfed at Garden City. but with such
fast players on his end of the draw for
successive rounds as Chad Sawyer.
Wilder. T. NJ Sherman and Travers the
week was too long for him. and the jour-
ney as painful as though he had dry peas
In his shoes. Travis won the tourna-
tents at Apawamis. Essex county, Mass;
Garden City. Nassau and Poland Springs.
He beat wilder by up in the shadows of
the Essex oaks, and at Poland Springs
kept w. c. Chick from winning out by
third victory the much coveted $500 cup
On the reformed Garden City course
Travis has records of II and 145-his
mark on the old course was 60
h II. Wilder probably is the best golfer
Harvard may claim since the undergrad
Egan. and the fourth place is due to
him: He is the intercollegiate champion
as Egan was in his day. and he much
resembles him in style and methods: pos
,niy sd ne win go las as far in national golf; In
Travis 6 down with II to 60 but he was
stricken with cramps at the seventh hole
ana the match was suspended for some
minutes He played weariIy after that
until the advantage had been lost, but at
TINS juncture Wilder became nearly him
self again and carried Travis to the
forty-first hole-the longest championship
contest on the American books-before
0eing beaten. Returning to Boston,
Wilder was in the Doctors hands until
the eve OF the Lesley cup match at Gar
den city. and here Travis beat him by Q
and !. Later In the month Wilder was
IN good health and he played his game
during the intercollegiate championship.
College Leader.
In the Intercollegiate Wilder tied for the
medal VIII J. w. Coe. besides gaining the
title. Fe won the Country Club spring
and t'e -Abenaqui tournaments, was run
nrr up 10 Fuller in the Massachusetts
oampionship and to Travis. after being 9
M at the turn. In the Essex county tourn-
ament. Also to be selected are J. G..
Anderson and Warren X. Wood, although
neither qualified for the amateur cham
p'onship-"a good mans fault some one
has said who was in that company An
derson had considerable success in the
Massachusetts, tournaments and made a
record of "a at Essex county. while Wood
won the north and south title at Pine
hirst and for his basket of records
garnered % at Normandie ~ Ravilsloe,
~ Homestead and 80 for Jackson Park,
Chicagos public course.
Findlay 8. Douglas needs no introduc-
lion TO the list. He won the Lakewood
tournaments. both spring and fall. and in
records lad II for difficult Apa wants. 75
at Yountakah and IS over Fairfeld's new
eighteen holes. Fred Herreshoffs win
lings were AT Ekwanok and in the Yer
mon: championship, but he was runner up
both times to Douglas at Lakewood. His