Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-04-10
GOLF GOSSIP
TRY Latest Nail

NEW YORK Harold n. Hilton, the
British amateur golf championship
and 1911 American champion, is not
grieved when he sees any OF the old
guard OF the British professionals put
out, as he believes ii makes for the
benefit Of the sport.
AS Hilton himself is one Of the anna
teur old guard, sharing so many of
the premier honors of golf in Eng
land with John Ball as TO make his
name a rather monOtOnOus feature in
the annual report Of the British cham
piCnships, his views, which follow, on
the subject Cf new blood have 4 pecu-
liar force
Competition Harder Now.
The rising professional of the pres
ent day has an extremely difficult row
to hoe" said Hilton. Nowadays he
is faced by a much more formidable
task than were his predecessors in
their youthful days. In 1893 John
Henry Taylor leaped into fame in on"
single bound. and in 1894 he was firm.
ly established as one Of the leading
three players-if not indeed the lead
ing player-in thu land.
One must admit that Taylor is 4
golfer who matured very quick and
that at the age 0: %, with compare,
lively little experience, he exhibited
an exceptional genius for golf. But a
close analysis of the game as it was
played in those far off days, and OF
the opposition which had to be over
come, plainly suggests that the task
Taylor had before him was, in com
parison with the task which Ray and
Duncan have had to surmount, a com
paratively simple one.
Not Equal to Later Players.
Without in any way disparaging
the many fine players, against whom
Taylor's early triumphs were achiev-
ed, think it would not be for a mo-
ment contended that they had brought
their game to the wonderful pitch OF
perfection attained by Vardon, Tay-
lor and Braid in recent years.
LAS evidence of the magnitude of
the task before the younger player in
the present day, we need only point
out that though both Ray and Dun
can-and Tom Ball also might we'll
be included-have all been playing the
very finest golf for some five or six
years or so, the sum total of their
successes in the great events of the
year has been limited to only one
triumph apiece. Ray has once won
the open championship and Tom Ball
the News of the World tournament
and now Duncan has achieved equal
distinction with Tom Ball--a ineageT
enough list for the great golf these
men have been playing for number
of years.
Should Have Played Earlier.
Had any one of them been born
fifteen years sooner, and in those
earlier days attained the same de
gree of skill they now exhibit, we
have no hesitati oG in saying that theirs
would indeed have been names to con.
jure with Unfortunately for them
when the great triumvirate of Taylor,
Vardon and Braid were firmly estab.
lished on their throne of supremacy
only the passage of years has shown
how firmly OF course, this all serves
to emphasize the wonderful golfing
genius Of the triumvirate, but we
think we have made clear the diff
Guilty of the player who aspires to
take his place by the side Of these
three great masters.
Hard to DispIace Leaders.
professional golfers who have
reached the top of the ladder strive
to defend their supremacy with might
and main. while the young profession
al is forever striving to get his fingers
on to the first round Of the ladder.
The case of George Duncan show this.
When the championship opened at
Hoylake last spring his grip seemed
to be very strong and a win would
have enabled him to pull himself be-
side Ray and up toward the level Of
the triumivrate. His disastrous fail
ure sadly shook his hold. Near the
end of the season Of 1918 he re-estab-
ltshed it by working his way into the
final at Walton Heath, only to find
one of the Inevitable giants, Braid, pre-
pared kindly but firmly to shake him
loose again. A crushing defeat would
have pushed him back for another
season among the crowd Of climbers. "