The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-18
Country's Best Amateurs
 Meeting for Highest Honor in American GoIfing World. ]. J. 0sbun, Local Golfer, Survives Elimination Round

St. Louis, September 17. Four
 men who have won the national
 amateur golf champion today proved their ability again by finishing aI-
 most at the top in the elimination
 round of the contest for the same
 honor at the St. Louis Country club, but the 132 starters were led by R. E. Knepper, of Sioux City, la, cham pion, who scored S4-36-70, one under | par, equaling the course record set | yesterday by Bobby Jones of At | lanta. Chick Evans, Chicago, de- lending the title, tied for third place With 73, as did Robert A. Gard
 ner, while H. Chandler Egan of Port
 land, Ore, had "A and Francis Oui-
 met 75.
 Britishcr Survives
 l The British champion, Willie I.
 Hunter, survived with score of 7s. | four strokes fewer than necessary to I compete with the 64 best players of | today, on Monday at 36 holes for ] qualification, but s. Davidson Her ron, of Chicago, champion two years
 ago, failed by one stroke to continue
 in the competition. He was cratic
 all day. an almost continuous
 string of lives spelling his doom.
 short holes taking as many strokes as the long oE-G.
 | Knepper has shown before in medal play, tying with Harrison Johnston | recently in the western amateur meet 1 for low score at 70, but the winner | of second honors today, Robert Stein, | of Seattle, public links player, has
 never competed in the east. His score
 of 35-37-72. just one over par on the second nine, was one stroke better than that returned by the title hold ! er Evans, Gardner. T. D. Armour of 1 Scotland and Robert Jones of At lanta. Evans would have had 72 l if he hadsnot carefully tried to tap
 in a four inch putt on the fourth green with the back of his butter and | failed to hole the ball.
 Pacific Players In Meet | Stein's splendid score was only one of several turned in by the con- l tingent from the Pacific northwest, Egan's "A, tying for seventh place with Max Marston of New York, who led the eastern players. Two other | customers were only one stroke 1 worse, however, Francis Ouimet and IJess Guilford of Boston monopolizing 1 the mark of 75.
 Only three players scored 76, Ru- | dolph Wilhelm of Portland, Ore; John | Gammons of Providence, R. l., and | Edward Held, leader of the St. Louis l players. Likewise, a bare trio made I77, George Won Elm of Salt Lake, l transmissssippi champion; J. M. | Wells of Wheeling, W. Va, and Jesse 1 Sweetser of New York.
 l H. R. Johnston, of St. Paul, Minn., 1 Minnesota champion, found his long ri on the St. Louis links, and he took not only 3S to get out, but 40 to | get home.
 l Breeze a Handicap
 | A stiff breeze that swept the course l in the early hours of play made scor- ling two or three strokes more dtffi- l cult on the second half than on the l first, penalizing the scores of the early starters. This condition made lit appear, until the close of play, that 1 S4 to S5 would allow a player to l compete on Monday, but more even | scores began to fill the chart as the evening put the wind to sleep. | Just as the S4 scores were all but | counted safe, l.. F. Running of Chi- cago came in with an unexpected 1o l and filled the last of the 64 places of survivors of the battle, crowding out 1S men with tallies of S4, includ- 1 ing Heron.
 Kneppers performance today was
 a steadier one than the 70 made yes terday by Jones, the latter's bril- liance on certain holes counterpai- ancing two sixes. Stein was one of several players brought east by Chandler Egan, who was king of golf for several sea sons when he lived in Chicago. Stein Starts Poorly
 | Stein learned his game on the pub Ilic links at Seattle, and eventually won the city title. He did not start l propitiously today, going one over par on the 390-yard first hole and above perfect figures on the 225-yard second, where he got in trouble. He was even with par on the third hole and potted birdie on the 492-yard fifth, and made it a brace with pretty three on the S40yard sixth. He slipped stroke on the short sew enth. but finished the nine with pair of pars.
 Turning two over par, the coast player made only one mistake on tne way home, taking an excusaple six OF the 569-yard thirteenth, put eo' 1 a birdie three on the 35o-yaro tentn, and did something the prophets nau nredicted to be impossible by scoring 1 three on the 412-yard eighteenth,
 which is so severely trapped as to gain the name trick hole. HIS caro l follows: ., Stein out .......55S 44o ffo-Se ,
 Stai, in 343 645 343-35-72
 Evans. Armour and Gardner made i their 73's with even an easy goli
 by playing their shots we'll. but Jones
 started for record score by chalk
 ing up 34 for the first half, one
 under par. He had two birdies on
 ttis half and started home with two