New-York tribune., 1912-08-29
TRAVIS WON'T COMPETE
necIines to Enter Contest for
the Lesley Cup.
c0NDITI0NS, THE REASON
savors the Old Singles and
Four Ball Matches in
Golf Fixture.

Recause Of lack Of accord with the con-
,,,ons of play governing the annual in
,.,clty team matches for the Lesley cup
.ors the Massachusetts, Pennsylvania
a metropolitan golf associations, Walter
travis. OF Garden City. has declined an
,,5,ation to play on the NJ. C. A. team
.s,s fall. The original metnod of dividing
ro the day between singles and four-ban
.,r,ests seemed TO meet with general sat
,.,.ction until q request came from Mas
..cbusetts to substitute the old-fashioned
foursomes
Although the majority OF the Pennsyl
,sn,a and metropolitan golfers preferred
,,s four-ball they agreed TO the change.
N. right 10 alter the conditions for these
,n,sreity contests rests with the donor and
,hs presidents of the three associations,
al now that Travis has come out so fiat-
.,otedlv the chances are that the ad
disability Of going back to the four-ball
xgl be given careful consideration next
..sson. me teams will compete over one
4 the Philadelphia courses, probably
huntingdon Valley, on September q
sud g.
Trayis's letter to Findlay s. Douglas,
,.ntsin of the metropolitan team, ex-
,sining his reasons for declining, is as
follows:
~ hsv, your note Of the 23d inst, ask
INF If can take part in the next Lesley
,sam match on September q and Is.
,sret that ! shall be unable TO do so.
,,d II may be permitted. ! should like
!. Siefy state my reasons; When the
,sSey competition was first inaugurated
\ consisted OF singles and four-bal
catches. The four-ball matches were
s.terward changed to foursomes at the In
.,jsston Of the Massachusetts Golf AS
.OcIstiOn. 1t is not necesarsy here to en-
fer into the reasons for such change, al
though such are very Illuminating. The
change. however, was made despite the
,sct that the large majority Of the play
ers on the two opposing teams were IN
favor OF four-ban matches. So strongly
aid this preference manifest itself that
year ago the Pennsylvania Golf Associa-
top officially voted In favor Of four-ball
matches. with only one dissentient, and.
ss IS well known. the Metropolitan Golf
Association players held similar views.
III is therefore perfectly clear that the
umpetition is carried on under conditions
d play which the large majority Of the
plavers are not in sympathy with.
AS one Of the majority. ! do not feel
mat 1 can consistently any longer take
psrt in the event under existent condi-
tons. opposed as have always been 10
Ae change from four-ball matches to
Dursomes. which latter no one ordinariiy
aays. and they furnish no test of goifing
lbility in any way.
u write this decination with the ut
sost regret, as ] have had the honor OF
skiug mart in nearly all Of these annual
eetings from their very inception, and
nall miss them greatly In the future
with a card OF 5--34-71. Z. w Loving,
n the New York Golf Club. led the field
n the qualifying round OF the annual
,urnament OF that organization yester-
day over the public links az Van Cort-
sndt park. His score was only stroke
worse than par. and. incidentally came
within that margin OF equaIing the rec
ord for the course
Although Loving's performance was the
ak of the gallery. IL was eclipsed in the
|rternoon by W. d. Patterson OF 'he
Golf Club. who beat
aa. mark by q stroke. Patterson was
tavo, 10 meet Sterling Smith, of Merri-
mac Valley, IN the first match round the
wogramme calling for the qualifying
nund AT eighteen holes and the hrst
match circuit in the afternoon, thirty-two
|Navers qualifying for the chief cup.
with nothing but fours and threes over
he meadow holes, 1t soon became ap-
Imrent that Patterson was out for a rec
md He reached the turn in S6. with
nthing worse than fves, and only two
stbese. He was on even terms with par
ss played even better golf returning
specially In the last six holes over the
ms showing his only weakness on the
r.sns This lapse prevented him from
s,tng the record. However ne was
mn equal TO par with "a, getting the
,.a q, n the course record.