The Detroit times., 1915-12-15
Jerry Travers Champion at Both Styles of Golf, Makes
Plea for Medal Play Throughout National Amateu
Cites Detroit Tourney
In Criticism of
Match Game

Which is the fairer championship
test al golf-maych play OF meo"I
play2 II there is one golfer in this
Innprepared commonwealth OF ours
vho should know, II is Jerome Dun
.tan Travers. Travers has won the
amateur championship at match play
ON four occasions He has won the
open championship at medal play
once. lie has heen over both routes.
He knows the comparative value OF
each.
There Is no argument here at
all" said jerry. The fairer, surer
hest is over the medal play route.
That :, why | Aelieve our amateur
championship should be settled by
- hules Of medal play, rather than
- the match play system, which is
6 .iirely TOO complicated, which takes
entirely too long and which isn't
nearly as fair a test.
The golfer who finished first in a
72.hole test would oe playing better
GOLF than any one else. tie could
get there in no other way But in
our present system or match play II
is easily possible for man TO win
The championship and play only one
or two rounds OF high grade golf. 1t
Is as much 4 matte OF luck as II Is
matter OF go,Gnc skill.
Entirely too much depends upon
The draw. One man NAV have an
easy road aheai and the other have
star 70 bea, every day. Out at
Detroit this fall Chick Evans shot a
- his first round. 2ni wo5 sill beaten
the frst day. on the second had a
- and vas dropped out. Yet Sher-
rill Sherman went to the semi-finals
withou, playing a round under so.
Il have talked to leading golfers
from the east. the ives, and the
south" continued Travers, land with
hardly an exception they all favor
having the amateur title decided
over the medal round route There
are two reasons for this-one. that
medal play Is the better test. The
other Is that the tournament Will
then last only four days instead OF
week
WHY is a medal round the fairer
display? Because practically all luck
has been eliminated, and each mans
ranking depends upon his ability to
score, stroke Ivy stroke. This has
been proved well enough in England.
THE world three greatest golf
ers are Vardon BRAID and Taylor
No one disputes this statement. And
among them By the medal play sys-
TEN they have won something like
1G of the last 90 championships OF
Great Pritain.
do YOU know how many amateur
champions America has had in 20
years? Exactly IL. Not because
we have so many fine players. but
because by match play the element
OF luck plays too big part"
Travers takes his stand for medal
play in spite OF the fact that he Is
considered better and has always
q der match play condi-
tlv..-. Ax,Ietory In tho open tour
nament at Baltusrol last summer
was about his only medal play
achievement. whereas he has won
four amateur titles where match
play was the test.
Who would he more likely TO win
consistently at medal play? Trav-
ers. Ouimet. Gardner. Evans. Mars
ston-or who Travers and Ouimet
have each won one open champion
ship at medal play. Evans has I'm
ished second in another. There was
a time when Evans was ranked "a
the best medal play amateur in the
land. But this yeai he fell away
badly, although Ouimet's drop was
even greater.