Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-18
Both Are in LimegIare No,U
at Oakn,ont; Match Be-
t,Ueen Them Would Be
Seasons Star Card
BY GRANTLAND RICE
Pittsburgh. Aug. Is


TN THE midst of the championship
golf jubilee now under way at Oak
mont, there are two outstanding fa
vorites who are absorbing the bulk Of
attention.
These two men are Chick Evans. the
present champion, and Francis Oui-
met, one of the greatest golfers Amer
lea has ever shown.
Back of these two normally. or
paired with them, you would ordinarily
find the names of jerome ID. Travers
and Robert A. Gardner, who have ac-
counted for six titles in their time.
But for the last month neither Gard
ner nor Travers has shown his best
form, although one or both may turn
with dizzy suddenness and romp back
to the old stride.
There are several names mentioned
iiust back Of Evans and Ouimet, but
among the leaders few are put beyond
Oswald Kirby and Bobby Jones. the
Metropolitan champion, and the young
Atlanta star. Kirby and Jones have
been playing brilliantly the greater
part of the summer.
If either is favored by the luck OF
draw and permitted to get under good
headway. there are none around out
side of EvLns and Ouimet who has
better chance.
Evans VS.. Ouimet
Beyond any doubt a battle between
Evans and Ouimet would be the star
card of the season.
To have these two men hooked up
in thirty six hoie championship clash
would be the final word in golf thrills.
This may easily happen, for there
are only limited few at Oakmont
who have chance to cudgel either out
of the tournament before they meet.
If they should meet at OakmOnt,
who would win? Evans so far has
beaten Ouimet three times in medal
play tournaments-in three open
CHAMPIONSHIPS at Midlothian in 1914,
at Baltusrol in 1915 and at Braeburn
in 1915.
SO far as we recall the intimate de-
tails, they have met in match play
1915 in the preliminary East West
series.
In this match Evans was something
like 3 up and 3 to play, only to have
Ouimet rally. cut away the lead and
finally win on the first extra hole.
As Golfers
Evans undoubtedly has souuder
golfng style than Ouimet has. Chick
isn't quite as long of the tee. but a
trihe surer in direction. He is also
surer with his irons. from the long
iron to the mashie niblick pitch.
In a given round. taken on the aver.
age, Ouimet will wander off the course
into trouble much oftener than Evans
will. To offset this, Ouimet has Sc
cured better results at match play,
largely through his far better putting
On the green there is no comparison.
Ouimet is one Of the best putters in
the country, Evans, among the leaders,
is one of the worst. Certainly IL Evans
were putting poorly he would have only
an outside chance to win, but he has
putted much better than usual in many
of his matches this summer and in this
respect he seems to have more conf
dence than he normally carries around
the green. If Evans could hold his own
with the putter he would, have the
better chance.
Ouimet has played brilliant golf this
summer, but he has also been erratic
at times. while Evans has maintained
brilliant pace all the way through
His scoring since Braeburn over va
rinus ITnited States and Canadian
courses has been uncanny-an average
somewhere around seventy two over an
extended stretch.
The Metropolitan Chance
The metropolitan golfng district,
which embraces 100 clubs around New