The Washington times., 1915-08-15

those little incidents that occur from
time to time. helping one here and go
Ing against one there: refer to it be-
cause know that 1t settled Just about
Of the Tinted States that has ever
been held. Mr.. Ouimet rave us no
made up my mind to do 1t at the seven-
behind. (Ray was out Of the hunt.
but IN some strange manner. a drive
which ! thought had struck perfectly
iinished IN bunker. People who saw
romed of something and broke fully
eight yards into the hazard.
regard as my best golf in champion
IN ps l have no hesitation in select
inH the Sandwich meeting of 1899 as
the :oy-week Of my life. could 1T
a Dali then; the recollection Of 1t is
gle which 1t has been in recent times
70 keep In the foreground When the
game .ias been easy to you and you
have never thought Of the bare pos
to the hole with any kind Of iron iron
| cluo. IT 10 no small chagrin to find the
whole thing going against you. to
rsalise that the winning Of champion
ssepr.a spr aas mS become .ennnd hard york I had
| 1888. and the third at Sandwich in the
Following season was just the pleas
antest task that ever presented itself
S,e: me: enjoyed the unmatchable
90 anything with a club and a ball.
PEOPLE have declined to accept my
own estimate that, during recent
years. a,,, my golf has been four strokes
they knew the difference in my feel
ings when playing. they might be
! tempted to agree with me. l realize
run well now that golf is not easy,
even .noush one may win at It.
cess IN the British open championship
that ! started for my maiden visit to
america Perhaps l left some of my
pest FORM IN the States q have never
played quite so well since except, per
maps. Tor a few months in the spring
OF last year,. but enjoyed every min.
ute OF the golf and the life, even to the
travelling. which was more or less con-
occasionally from serious comne,itinn
! renshed nothing more than the boil
ing indi gnation Of two caddies who
ofered to teach Willie Smith and me
% now 10 play golf on the Van Cortlandt
trom Tsnt tSs mssdns ssdFs for quiet game far
our G aen,ty Ts eassfes and svsae, aaeT ne.hins
US for innocents. thew viiy voimnie.rsd .akins t
give US hints. Entering into the spirit
OF SO kind-hearted an offer, we decided
We held the club in a variety OF WaWs oies
arranged our feet In a manner that
s,p,n1or Wouia have made the hair OF any in.
and did man% .nno otbsn on eng missed the globe.
caooies were extraordinarily patient. SO
we decided that we ought not to tres.
PSss Ws ar any y, longer on their good nature.
end Of about three minutes our henchs hs
mn men looked at one another curiouslv.
nen simultaneously they flung down
ne most cups Wis,sn, and stamped of. making the
ever delivered at our heads. 'oaS
q, RnoW wsst, nothing worse than the ordeal
cham pionship with the prospect of win.
nlng. to see what the other fellows viii
aecomplish. I had very severe dose
n the IL nr., a. Sandwich an In 1911. ! was one Of
Al least eight men had a chance q;
;n,ar,s, ;Ee,a,rns my score, and they arrived at
1ntsrVnis da al, during ,s,ng period Of two hours.
last green all the time. First one one
x1uid iail BY stroke. then another.
~ tns while reports were arriving
and 8 to win" It was like the sworS
OF Damocles hanging over my head for
two whole hours.
A sharper experience Of the same kind
was that at Prestwick in 1895. was in
the couple Immediately in front OF
Willie Park. and when i finished.
knew that It was a toss-up as to whether
he or / would win. heard at once that
he needed par at the last hole to tie.
He hit beautiful drive and ran his
long putt to within about three and a
half feet Of the hole. THAT settles n. .
l thought: and possibly because I did
not want to watch him playing the shot
that was almost sure to equal my total.
found myself pushed to the back of
the crowd. 1t seemed about twenty
. minutes q suppose it was no more than
twenty seconds) before a murmur of dis
appointment and sympathy from thou
sands OF throats told me that the putt
had been missed.
After these trials. think I know
something OF the feeling Of the man
, who Is hoping for reprieve after hav-
Ing been sentenced to death.
(copyright 1915. by the Wheeler syndi-
cate. Inc.)
This is the tenth Of a series OF articles
on golf that Mr.. Vardon. the British
champion. Is writing specially for Tho
Times The eleventh article will appear
noxt Sunday.