The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-05
GARDNER USURPS POST
EVANS OWNED so LONG
Now Must BE Rated as First
Golfer Of Middle West
Wonder Driver.
ny JOHN q.

DETROIT, Sept. An honor and
praise to Robert Gardner. amateur
champion golfer Of the United States
of America. The former holder OF the
worlds pole vault record proved that he
v as versatile an athlete as can he
found among the ranks OF the high cl IS
athletes to-day. Because of this, his
second triumph within six years. he
surely must ~supplant Charles Evans.
Jr,, as the premier consistent golfer of
the West.
Last year. also. 1t must he remem-
bered. Gardner won the Chicago cham
pionship from n field which included
many OF the hest professionals II
amateurs. He is an exponent Of re-
sourceful golf and his play all through
the tournament has shown the ability
TO come from behind and win. There
was no doubt that the better man won
to-day.
We had a fine match in the morning
and until the turn in the afternoon.
Both Of us missed puts in the fore
noon which would have meant the hole
and which We should have got, but
there was just enough dew on the grass
and n sufficient quantity OF mosquitoes
around TO give q little extra bother
and turn our thoughts to something
else besides the true line to the hole.
My advantage in the morning round
was due to good chip shots and ore
putt, while Bob was a bit off on the
direction of a few long irons. He did
hole a beauty of a putt for a 2 on
the last hole, which gave me a slim
thread for afternoon play.
One Drive More Than ESQ Yards.
II would have turned out a splendid
contest IL | had had a lead of four
or five holes with which TO stat of
the afternoons round. There W = no
holding back the Chicago golfer after
lunch. ! have played in enough matches
TO know what long, straight driving
means and how II heartens the wielder
of the mighty driver and correspond
ingly weakens the play Of his opponent.
Although ! may not have been hitting
as Ions a ball as | had on other days
in the tournament. even so when | did
paste one out well down the course
Gardner was pretty nearly forty to
nifty yards ahead of me.
never saw such consistently long
shots, each one by actual measurement.
not guesswork at all. well over $50
yards and some 275 yards. while one
at the tenth was 2sS. This was not
due to a long roll. for there was not
much of that to-day because OF the
dampness and the light rain which fell
during the round, which makes the
record all the more remarkable.
Added to this was the fact that Gard
ner is a magnificent long iron player.
and Just to show what | mean by long
I will give a few instances. At the
second hole, Az yards, Gardner was
almost IN with n drive and light mid
iron at the third hole he was on with
a drive m heavy mashie, and the hole
measures 45S yards. At the sixth, 42i
yards, a drive and a mashie suficed,
while the seventeenth, AS yards, was
reached by a drive and a mashie nib
lick,
Light Iron Carrie Green.
But the shot which trimmed them all
was on the last hole of our final round.
The hole measures 2l0 yards from the
back tee, where We we're playing from,
and no one else had attempted to get
the distance short of a cleek or a spoon,
and some did not hesitate to take bras
sizes. But Bob Gardner took out a well
laid back light iron and poked the ball
up TO within 10 feet OF the hole, all
carrq, a sample only of the power which
lies IN the steellike muscles and per-
feet timing apparatus.
The turning point IN the days PLAY,
according to my own figuring, came at
the eleventh hole, ! was two down at
the time and took n 8 on a very easy
i've hole, Bunker trouble was tho roa.
ron for the failure to get par figures.
Then II was that I felt the beginning
of the end. II often is evident long
before the finish that your opponent has
his game so under control tina only n
miracle can change matters. The loss
OF the twelfth was due tothe poor drive
which caught the canal. | had a very
fine chance at the thirteenth hole to gain
back one, hut fell down with no possible
excuse TO offer.
T~rnvers's NarRi Identical,
The end came when Gardner laid his
tee shot almost dead tothe hole on thu
40 yard fourteenth. and the margin OF
defeat was the sameas two years z a
Garden city, when ! had to submit to a
hne beating at the hands Of the prescn,
open champion. JEROME rravers.
sorne time ago Chick Evans wrote a
poem about being a chronic semiinsllst
Fate seems to will that I shall sticl
around somehow until the other hnalis'
Pop along and trouaoo me, but I an