The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1913-10-12
Mere Boys Who Haze Carried America to Triumph

Copyright 1919 by Richard Spillane)
XOIHAT was there about game of
M golf. played on the Brookline
w links outside Boston. to thrill
all America and make Francis Ouimet
famous in a day? Golf is not the most
picturesque of sports, or the most stir
ring. yet the thousands who formed the
gallery went wild with joy and hardly
a newspaper from Maine to California
but hailed the youth as a national hero.
Ii was the dramatic situation that de-
veloped suddenly and unexpectedly that
fired the imagination of all the people.
a STRIPPING David, unheralded and little
known had triumphed over the Goliath
of Golf as had the other David over the
Goliath of Gath.
Since King James I and his brother,
the Duke of York used to go out on the
links of Midlothian with putter and nib
lick Scotland and England have known
mo better golfers than Vardon and Ray.
There Is more science to golf than some
persons think. To play the game well
requires long practice. Few attain ex
lcellence who have not played from their
youth 1t takes a year or two to learn
TO play tolerably vardon and Ray have
devoted their lives to golf. They are pro-
Efessionals. They know every angle of
1.-The game.
No one supposed vardon or Ray would
have much more than good exercise in
winning the open championship of the
limited States. Golf in America is young.
IGolf in Great Britain is the development
lof centuries. A good professional al
ways can defeat a good amateur. That
lis automatic. AS beftted men of their
thigh standing the two great Britishers
Isnowed down their opponents from the
tstart. Seasoned American players fell
ihy the wayside until 1t seemed merely
f.Ix .f..fk, 4
score the triumph. In the ruck of play
Iers was a lad of 20. slender smooth faced
land rather shy He started poorly and
for the first half of the first days play
Iseemed hopelessly out of 1t. Then he be-
gan to improve. The Englishmen's lead
was commanding, but by an .extraordi-
nary burst of good playing the youth
last hole managed to get on even terms
The three were tied. or all the Amer
leans only the boy amateur had lasted
out
It was honor enough that he should
make so good showing. That he should
win In the play-off was not reasonable to
expect But he did. For half the course
the veterans and the amateur were on
even terms. Then the strain began to
tell. Ray, whose nerves were supposed
TO be like steel, was the first to weaken
Then Vardon, who had gone through a
hundred matches without a sign OF falter-
ing, found it difficult to keep pace. The
youth forged ahead. Tt mattered not to
him that the thousands who formed the
gallery were acting like madmen and
that the air was electrical with their
cheers. As calmly and steadily as If 1t
were merely practice he made each play,
never showing any sign of excitement or
doubt. He was possessed of one idea--to
do his best as the American representa-
tive. He won, and his name will live in
golf annals as the boy amateur who de-
feated the greatest two professionals the
royal game has produced.
A few years ago he was a caddie en-
p1oyed on the links that were the theatre
of his triumph. He is only clerk in a
store. but he is prouder of his amateur
standing than most players are. When
the crowd. after carrying him off the
links. showered him with money. he
pleaded with the people to take it all
back. Not one penny would he retain.
He could not and honestly be an anna
feur.
Despite his name he is sure enough
American. His father was a French Cam
adian and his mother Irish He was New
England born.
1t IL remarkable how many mere boys
have carried the colors of America to
triumph in various fields. One of the
most spectacular naval exploits in his
tory was that of an American officer
who was barely Is. A young American
soldier of fortune, q veteran of two wars
before he was "a. rose to be general-in-
,ehief and lord admiral of China and