The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-23
nerve HIS FORTE
Travis Great Golfer Because He
Never Cracked Under Strain.
He's Been One of Americas
Most Picturesque Players.
BY JACK VEIOCK.

New York, Feb. 23.-The name OF
Walter ! Travis will go down in golf
history as one of the greatest and
neryiest golfers the world has ever
produced.
Travis has decided to lay aside his
beloved golf clubs in so far as anna
teur tournament competition is con-
cerned. and all because he is golf
links architect and TIE United States
Golf association has ruled that anyone
who lays out golf courses is a simon
pure professional. So Travis is thru,
but the memory of his wonderful
plaving and the honOrs he captured
during his years as one of the world S
ranking amateur players will live long
after his name has been erased from
tie ranks of competitors for national
honors on the links.
Among the many great golf stars OF
the age. Travis has always been rated
in the front rank. AS a player, from
the mechanical viewpoint, he has been
rated as "phenom," bit perhaps
greater than his practical knowledge
of the game and the execution ne
used in playing it was his iron nerve.
His Best Asset.
Today he is 81 years of age. yet it IS
doubtful whether there are many
Golfers many years his junior who
can display the complete composure
y d steel nerve that Travis has always
displayed under fire. To the unlnlti.
ated, a holly contested game OF SolI
means nothing, but to those VINO nave
nIaved the game, or who have taken
enough interest in it to cling to the
fringe of a we'll played championship
m 7tch the meaning OF cOmpOSure anu
nerve under fire is perfectly plain.
one false shot in championship
saF1l-I inc
nerves under the strain of trying TO
make every move perfect, often
means defeat. And the golfer with
hieh-strung disposition is seldom aDle
to win his way into championship
rounds in any tournament, Tor IL
takes a nerve that is steady and OF
head to outplay a worthy opponent
on any mans golf cour-e.
These were the virtues that COM
bined in Travis to make him one of
the worlds greatest amateur payers
During recent years he has won nom
ors. and many OF them, yet ne was
growing old all the time, and COM
pared with a majority of the players
AGAINST whom he competed he was a
veteran at the game. But Travis
nerves did not crack, and today ne
can play the same wonderful gsme
for which he has always been noted
A Picturesque Player.
Travis has often been referred 10
as the most picturesque player in the
game. and not without reason A
! Norfolk jacket, weatherbeaten soit
hat and knickerbockers, coupled with
the proverbiaI black cigar, once seen
was never forgotten wherever Travis
pIayed-and he has been in the game
/ for twenty-five long, successful years.
Travis never had the physical
/ strength that is the forte of many
golfers He could not smash the ball
/ down the fairway with the velocity
/ of his many rivals, but he made up
/ for his inability to do long driving
( by his wonderful ability to use the
/ mashie, the cleek and the putter APP
! preaching the greens and playing on
! the green's was where Travis always
offset all other handicaps, and his
wonderful ability in these depart
ments of the game could never have
( been maintained for so many years
/ had not his nerves been of steel.
/ So the passing of this veteran is
honestly regretted by the golfing
world He was the only Yankee who
( pionship, as well as winning the
/ American national amateur title
three times and the metropolitan
championship four times.
OF all the matches he ever won, the
victory which tasted sweetest to the
old man was gained over Jerome D.
Travers in the metropolitan tourney
at Apawamia in 1915. Travers was
never particularly chummy with the
veteran, and before the match he
complained about having to meet a
player as old as the hills. AS it hap
pened. Travis overheard that remark