The Sentinel=record., 1914-02-05
BLAGDON AND
 JOHNSON PLAY
FINALS IN THE FITCH GOLF TOURNAMENT AT COUNTRY
 CLUB LINKS TODAY.
Golf Contingent Surprised at Being Able to Continue Match Under the Weather Conditions.
BY H. w. I4ANTGAN

| BY H. W. IAANIGAN.
 Press Representative Arlington and
 Eastman Hotels.
 1t is extremely doubtful if any oth- CT city. town or hamlet in the coun- try could have equaled Hot Springs performance yesterday and staged a golf matinee In the rotunda of the l Arlington Hotel in the morning the visiting players were bemoaning their fate of being forced Co wait for the weather 10 brighten up so that play in the Fitch tournament, the newest event on the Hot Springs Golf and Country Clubs calendar, could be continued
 The qualifying round Tuesday af- rorded a lot of rare good sport and the players wanted to continue their performance. At 9 o'clock Profes- sional Willie Hoare phoned in that the links would be in tip-top shape no later than 1 o'clock. So the golf contingent took a chance and motor ed out to the Essex course The big majority of them were confident that the trip would be in vain, but up.n reaching the club and stepping out upon the links they discovered that there was little, if any, mud, and that they would be able to perform.
 A. C Johnson of the Minikahda Club of Minneapolis Miun. the win ner of last weeks mid-winter tourna- ment, teed off with C. A Kerr If the Evanston Golf Club of Kansas City. Mo, in the first match in the first round of match play Kerr was hope ful of taking the taw of the steady northern player. and, while the Evan ston player put up some rare good golf in spots, Johnsons game was clearly the superior, and the tahy at the end was i up and to play in his favor.
 I A. Gacl0 Villas, the Chicago aviator put up one of his best games and won from F. AL Lay of Kewanee, III, hy the lop-sided score of up and ' to play.
 Phillips Blagdan of the Stac1bridge Mass. Country Club, defeated F. N- Dtebold of Pittsburg Pa mp and ? to play. Blagden was on his game all the way. and ,whhe Debold bat tied pluckily. he was always a stroke or two behind with the result never in any real doubt.
 R W. Thrift of Lima Ohio, gave A. M Levy of Houstan Tex sound spanking as a score of up and to play will attest
 Good golf marked the two matches in the semi-fnals. J huson drew Villas for an opponent A battle royal was expected and one resulted It was nip and tuck all the way with both exhibiting high-grade brand of golf and Johnson landing the vic. tor up and to play. Blagden came back with another high-class performance and surprised the enthu siasts by administering a sound de- feat Co Thrift The score was 1 up and 8 to play
 Johus-n and Blagden clash in the final round today They are 10 go 36 holes and their match should be hummer Johnson has played a consistently brilliant same in both tournaments since he reached the Spa B.agdens play yesterday was very strong They are bound to have great contest and if the weather is propiuous a particularly big gallery will follow them in their two trips around the course.
 The summary
 First flight. first round of match play: Johnson defeated Kerr i up and 8 to play: Villas defeated Lay, s uT