New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-23
Barnes, Victor
AT Golf, Given
Cup by Harding g
Long Jim of Pelham Wins
Way to Open Champion
ship Over Notable Field
$ by Nine-Stroke Margin
His Goal for Nine Years
Lanky Professionals Skill
Sure Throughout; Hagen
and Mcleod Are Second
By Grantland Rice

COLUMBIA COUNTRY CLUB, Md,
July 22.-Within few yards of the
eighteenth green, surrounded by 10000
people, the President of the United
States has just presented Jim Barnes,
of Pelham, with a silver cup. For the
first time in history the First Citizen,
If not the first golfer, of this enduring
commonwealth has officially presented
trophy to new champion and con-
graduated him upon his skill and
courage and poise.
A roaring cheer went up from the
great gallery as President Harding in
handing over the trophy paid his earn
est respects to man who was brilliant
enough to lead great international
field by the crushing majority of nine
strokes. He might have said, "Your
majority was almost as great as mine. .
but in place of this he was content to
pay tribute to the master of the game
he loved
"By your skill and courage and
poise you have deserved this victory in
every way" the President said, "and I
congratulate both you and the game
upon this triumph. l have played with
you and seen you play and I have
known that you were good enough to
vim
Long Jim, born in Cornwall, Eng
land, thirty-four years ago, but for
many years an American citizen, stood
with smile upon his face as broad as
many of the hazards over which he
had pitched to the green's with such
unending nerve and skill.
Goal of Many Years
Barnes had let both wood and iron
speak for him through three soul stir
ring days, and as the new open cham
pion of the United States he accepted
the cup with heartfelt "thank you"
as the gallery once more paid recogni-
ton to his march up the far heights
to glory he had been working for for
so many years. The cup, the big silver
cup, representing the final word in
American golf, at last was his.
Engraved upon it's shining sides are
the names of nineteen champions, from
Harry Rawlins, in 1895, to Edward Ray,
in 1920. And now below the name of
Ray the engraved letters, James
placed to show that Long Jim, after
knocking at the door for nine long,
fruitless years, has at last taken his
deserved place upon the throne of
American golf.
The tall and willowy Pelham pro
fessional tied the great field into
knots. He brandished wood and iron
as Merlin the Wizard once waved his
magic wand, and the elusive white ball
bowed to his bidding. Far in the rear,
nine strokes behind. came Walter
Hagen and Wee Freddie Mcleod, in tie
for second place. They both fought back
with skill and courage. but the com
bined brilliancy and steadiness of the
new champion were something more
than any man in this great field could
touch. Barnes traversed the rolling.
treacherous terrain of Columbia s
course with its deadly fringe of ra-
vines and trees in 239 strokes, with
Mcleod and Hagen in pursuit at 29a.
This margin of nine strikes ties Alex
Smiths predominant victory back in
1906 at Onwentsia when he, too,
spreadeagled the field. And Alex to-
day, playing brilliantly with bitter
luck, finished in a tie for fifth place
with Emmett French and Bobby Jones,
while Barnes was equaling the crush
ing margin he established fifteen years
ago.
The twenty fifth open championship
of America presented the greatest tai
ent it had ever known. There were
the open champions of Great Britain,
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