New-York tribune., 1915-07-04
Merit Not All-Important,
Especially in Matches
Involving Titles.
HONORS FLY WHEN
FORTUNE FROWNS
Anderson, Evans and Many
Other Stars Have Experienced
Curious Whims of Fate.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.


According TO Walter J. Travis and
other experts, luck is only a small part
of the game. They point 10 the fact
that Vardon, Braid and Taylor are the
three greatest golfers in the world, and
that among them they have won six
teen British open championships, show
ing that merit succeeds above any
other factor
Merit, or ability, undoubtedly sue
ceeds above any other factor. But this
doesn't mean that blind luck plays no
important part in individual matches,
Good luck has won-snd hard luck has
lost-more than one well-played, hard
fought match over the sweep of the
ancient green. In the long run luck
may even up, but in an 1S-hole or Sc
hole match luck may be all on one
side, or largely enough on one side TO
decide the issue.
Those who refuse TO credit this
should ask John G. Anderson. Some
years ago Anderson met Chick Evans
in the final round, for the amateur
championship of France. For thirty
seven holes these two fought out a
brilliant duel of wood and iron with
out advantage. The second extra hole
was par 4. Evanss tee shot was well
below his average, and Anderson had
visions of victory at last.
Teeing the ball up, he took his
stance. Just as he reached the top Of
his swing and the club head started for
the ball, a large touring car swept
around the road curve and emitted a
series Of loud and raucous honks just a
few yards behind the player. Under
the high nervous tension, Anderson
naturally shied, swung wildly, struck
the ball high up in the heel of the club
and dispatched it TO an unplayable lie
back Of q tree TO the left of the course,
where he required three shots 70 play
out. He was on the green in 3 and
went down in one putt, getting a 6.
Evans finally had TO hole 10-foot putt
for a win in 3
Blow for Evans.
Fortune favored Evans that day, but
the Fickle Goddess hasn't always been
with the Chicago star. In fact, he has
had more than his share of tough
breaks. At Ekwanok, in 1914, the West
ern star drew Eben N. Byers, one of
the hardest fighters of the game, in his
first round of match play. The two
came TO the last hole all square. Byers
got away a short tee shot that barely
his drive into the long grass in front
of the tee.
One hundlcG and fifty yards beyond
this long grass there IVES a deep ditch
10 catch 2 poorly played second shot.
Recent rains had left the fairway soft
where the ball generally struck with
but little run, frequently not travelling
over q yard or two. even after a drive.
Playing frcm the heavy grass, Evans
1.fvhs 81 nd NJ mo n
play safely this side of the ditch,
pitched at least 25 yards short.
To the anazement of himself and the
big gallery, the ball struck and bounded
forward as if landing on stone, winding
up in the ditch. This shot put Evans
out of the championship, and to this
day no one has been able TO account
for the terrific run Of the ball, eX-
cept that il struck upon a hard plot
where 99-l0G of the remaining area
was soft, and sufficiently soggy to have
left an easy poke for the green and
the certainty of a halved hole
In the same tournament at Ekwanok,
Francis Ouimet had a hard match with
young Max MGrston, who was moving
at top speed. They came TO the four
teenth tee all even. Just in front Of
this tee there is a veritable chasm to
carry, 80 OF 80 feet deep and at least
$50 feet wide. A topped shot almost
surely means disaster here. For at the
bottom there is flooring of rock and
underbrush. leaving an unplayable lie
nine times out of ten.
Ouimet's shot, badly topped, spun
into this cavernous depth. No one
figured that he had chance to even
get a halve, as Marston's long drive
usifh fob 6fota
Of the green But when Ouimet de-
N scended ana found his ball. it was rest
Id ing nicely ia an open spot, and he pro-
~ cecded 70 play out in one shot. land on
the green, get down in one putt and win
with against Marston's par 1. This
put him l up, and IL was by that mar
row margin that he won the match.
Granted that the amateur champion
made a brilliant, courageous shot. But
how often Goes a golfer find perfect
lie in cavern replete with rocks and
huge powders and a heavy under
growth?
Two golfers will top their seconds
into a bunker. One will lie nicely,
awaiting an easy pitch out to the
green. The other will be jam up
against the bank or in a heel print in
the sand, where there will be at least
the difference Of stroke. Breaks in
luck of this type occur frequently.
There are also breaks where one mans
topped shot will stop just short of a
trap, where another's runs deeply IN,
making the difference of a stroke or
more.
Ted Ray, for example, will never for
get the sixteenth hole at Sandwich
The par here is 3, and a 4 would have
given Ray the championship. His tee
shot caught the trap, and when he came
10 the bail il was not only up against
the side of the bunker, but was living
deep in heel print. Ray is a mas
ter of the niblick, and the one he
carries is more like shovel But
even with this doughty weapon he was
unable 10 dislodge the ball, and at his
second vain shot he saw the champion
ship pass on beyond.
few minutes later on Harold Hill
ton, with a to win at this hole, after
Ray had failed, put his tee shot in
almost the identical spot, and he found
Judgement in a heel hole that looked
as if some one had blasted out the
spot. Hilton, too, was unable TO get
out and lost his chance.
In both cases, you say. this was the
result of a poor tee shot and not Of
hard luck. This is only partly so.
Nine times out of ten Ray would have
been able TO play out from any trap
with the loss Of only that one stroke.
But one poor shot cost him at least
two more, which is a heavier penalty
than Dame Fortune should ordinarily
require.