Evening star., 1916-01-02
WONDERFUL SHOTS THAT WON
GOLF TITLES AT LAST MOMENT
What the Word Thrill Means to Players Who
Must Play True to Keep Up With
A.. and Pass Leaders.
BY JEROME D. TRAvERs.

/ nave WdtCHcu d Ddi Sdhic, anu os
some critical point I have seen a home
batsman lash out two-base hit just
| beyond some infelder's reach, scoring
the winning run. And 1 have thought
that l was thrilled to the limit.
But at Brookline, Mass, where Amer
ica's open golf championship was un-
der way, 1 found that 1 had just dis
covered what the word thrill really
means.
We were standing around the eigh-
teenth green that Friday afternoon,
knowing that Vardon and Ray, the
great English players, had tied for
first place, when word came in that
! young Francis Ouimet. the fine young
Massachusetts amateur. was still in
the fight and with bare outside
chance to tie the two English stars
The story OF that remarkable finish,
where Ouimet accomplished the mirac-
uIous, has already became old in the
telling, but there are two shots con-
cerning which I do not believe that
the half has ever been told" To my
mind these two puts outlined the most
wonderful golfing psychology that the
game has ever known in all It's MS
tory. And before ! take these two
shots up | should like somewhat fur-
ther 10 illustrate the psychological
possibilities of the occasion from
section of my own golfing experience;
No one who hasn't been through J.
can ever appreciate the strain, that
comes in the winning of a first cham-'
pionship. 1t is almost unbearable, and
has broken many golfers who might
have added the title to their acnieVe-
lnents. 49,,
NV first championship came over the
Euclid course at Cleveland, Ohio, In
1907. In the final round of that ar
fair. playing against Archie Graham,
/ had come to the thirteenth noie IN
the afternoon with the lead of D Up
and to play. 1 had to win but one
more hole of the remaining SIX 10 oe
champion. ! had to halye but TWO
holes to be champion. Yet when l
cap,e to my last putt on the thirteenth
green almost cracked. / had only
four-foot putt to make IN order 70
win and even il l missed 1t would pc
dormie FIVE. / felt that couldnt make
that mutt if I had to be shot. told
Graham SO. "Oh. drop it in, he re-
marked. "and end the agony. tou
couldn't miss it with your eyes smut
| got the putt, but ! was surprised
when il dropped in Now / am not
supposed to be afflicted with any great
mount of nervousness, but here was
putt that was not at all vital or iHi-
portant but which came near upset
ting me because 1 realized that
championship was so close am
using this case to illustrate the re-
markable psychology involved in those
two puts by Ouimet last iaii-
Two World Beaters.
When ouimet had finished the six
teenth hole he stiu Mad a and a
left for a tie with the two Britons. Ana
a on the eighteenth hole was next 10
impossible, except by 2 fuke| so ne had
to get a on the seventeenth. Now the
seventeenth green at Brookline Is
most treacherous anaF, or was .ha
day, with a decided slo0e and as fast as
of INV game is putting, and that green
! had got well upon my nerves anu hao
me guessing.
On his second shot that day ou,met t
twenty feet from the cup and above the
hole 1t was almost impossible 10 get
close to the cup on your second shoe
here, as the hole was close 70 a Dunhea
that would have meant disaster IN case
OF any deviation from an almost perfect
lire. So Ouimet had to play above ana
to the right of the hole. leaving the
hardest Of all putting combinations,
downhiIl, sidehill putt. 1t was about as
di.ficult a putt as a man was ever called
upon to make. Under the circumstances
1t was almost beyond hope Inere was
hardly a chance for him to lay dead II
he missed the cup over the fast, tricky
green he was almost sure to go hve or
six feet below and have another hard
Dutt TOT a T.. Anu even q tHSIC "VoiN
have been useless.
Ouimet knew this. and he must have
figured just what 1T meant But even
though knew he had wonderful tenn
permanent for golf. i was surprised to
note the sure easy and confident way
he went to that putt. recalled my own
experience of six years before. Yet here
was a kid of twenty-without f1utter.
He went for the cup as IL he had been
trying a practice putt Over the wet.
slippery green rolled to fast smooth
ness the ball started on a perfect line.
curved in at exactly the right spot and
struck the back of the cup with as well
come a cluck-cluck as I have ever
heard
But that wasn't ALL He had gotten his
on par hole-the hole that next
day cost Vardon any chance for the
championship. as the Englishman took
there-but there was still an
ing for fine golf to register the needed
4. Ouimet had a good drive and played
a fine second shot over a road guarding
the green to the edge Of the bank.
where the ball struck in the rain
soaked turf and stopped dead. There
was dip in the green between his ball
and the cup with the hole up the slope.
On this shot l would have used a putter
to follow the roll of the ground and
get up fairly close. But Ouimet elected
to use a mashie. and when he pitched
the ball landed six or seven feet short
not an exceptionally long distance
away. but the most trying distance
Imaginable when one needs that putt
badly He had already wriggled out of
one close call and was up against an
other-one shot left to tie Britain's two
soinng kings and keep his country on
the golhng map. II was that one shot
or America passed. TO let England fight
out Americas championship on Amert-
soil.
The nervous strain here must have
been even greater than IL was upon the
previous hole. There he was. with
1900 OF his countrymen looking on and
praying for his success I have never
seen an occasion so charged with ex-
element. The air was rife with IL
and you could feel suppressed emotion
darting about like currents of elec-
tricity- Again j recalled my expert
ence of six years before and the nery-
GUS hutter felt where everything was
in my favor. and ! wondered IL hu-
man lived who could hold his poise in
Ouimet's place. With me it wasn't
much the fact that he made the
putt as II was the way he went about
IL. There was no sign of any sort of
nervousness. He walked UP to his bali
with an easy, steady stride. barely took
a look at the hole. wasted no time in
getting set, and with 5000 OF
his followers almost breaxing apart
under the strain ne putted boldly for
the center with a clean. free tap that
could have come only from muscles
under perfect mental control
And when that putt dropped
realized that I had never felt a re1u-
lar thrill before-that the others were