The New York herald., 1921-09-18
HERON shut OUT
OF TITULAR GOLF
Thompson, Canadian Cham
pion, Also Fails to Quail
ify in National.
PRINCETON MAN LEADS
knepper's 20 Is Backed by
Splendid Play at st.
Louis C. C.
PRINCETON MAN LEADS
By KERR n. PETRIE.

/
the old campaigners were saving them
selves and in a manner of speaking
l playing It safe, the voice OF the West
was unmistakable to-day in the pre-
liminary qualifying round OF the an.
nual national amateur golf champion
ship tournament on the links of the
st. Louis Country Club.
More than that, youth was having
| its inning. and out there on the super
heated hills and dales Of this Missouri
\ links serving notice that it is to be a
4 very important factor in the more se-
I rious play which will come next week.
4 In this round it was merely a canter
for some and for others a race that
proved that al! the parts of the ma
chinery had not been sufficiently oiled
| and adjusted by the preliminary prac-
| tice. There were not many upsets,
and yet in an event Of the kind it was
impossible to avoid a few OF these.
For instance. 1t was something Of a
| tragedy. viewing the championship in
its international aspect. to find among
the failures the young Canadian title
holder, Frank Thompson. who only a
week or so ago routed the best of the
players in the Dominion In their annual
title tourney.
Thompson Takes 81 Strokes.
Thompson required 81 TO get around
and that was four strokes too many. as
1t required an SO to get the contestant a
| tr.ta lrx4 4ta f..f
be held on Monday to determine which
thirty-two of the 1872 original starters
are TO become eligible for the match
play draw.
Thompson's trouble was all on the
greens. Otherwise his game was salts
factory. But when II came to putting
he Just could not do a thing right The
champion had made the mistake OF sat
isfying himself that card OF s5 would
be good enough to qualify. Psychology
did the rest. evidently. for when Frank,
with three holes to play. began to an
alyze the situation he found that he
wanted something like par on the last
three holes for an IS. AS II turned out.
however even that would have been OF
no earthly use TO him.
The young Canadian champion took
his misfortune philosophically. well, IL
can't be helped now." was his comment
That Is golf"
But while 1t was sad enough to think
that Canada's only representative, and
her champion at that, had slipped down
TO the group above which is written the
lcngend. Did not qualify the gallery
at the finish OF the day found still
more tragic circumstance right in its
own family circle.
Almost up to the last putt II seemed
that scores OF 81 would qualify. s. Dav-
idson Heron of Oakmont Country Club.
for whom two years az the whole world
of golf was singing Paeons OF praise.
struggled home In this total almost
at the tail OF the field. Davys
eighty-third shot lay on the green.
quite q distance from the cup, but he
eoled this ono as the crowd broke out
in a wild cHurrah! Heron, the cham
MON of 1919, was safe.
Upsets the Applicant.
However, right on the heels OF Her
, | ron there was a chap by the name OF
: L. e. Burning OF Edgewood. to whom
, no one was paying the least attention.
!, Burning was an added starter. but this
,nconspicuous individual IL was who up
set the whole applicant Fourteen play
ers had gone around in 81 UP TO the time
he made his appearance coming over
l the crest OF the hill TO the home green.
S There were sixty-three at So or better. I
/
$ had been treading on thin ice for part
I OF the afternoon. they now were be-
A ginning 70 come IN for CONGRATULATIONS.
I In tho national championship pre-
liminary qualifying II has been Gus
2 tomary to allow ties to start on
! Monday. Heron was standing wipins
4 his perspiring brow and the thirteen
e s4s were busy telling their friends
? what would have happened to them
2 II they had missed such and such
mutt when some one broke the news
that this Bunning persons had spoiled
: a perfect day with round of Is.
! Burning exactly filled up the gap.
completed the sixty-four called for by
. the qualifying committees ana lett
fourteen golfers standing dazed and un-
believing with Heron to the discard
. went Harold Weber Of Toledo. Sherill
3 Sherman OF Utica one-time semi-final-
[ ist. and w. w. Patten of Mohawk Club
Q Schenectady.
Knepper "shoots'' = 20.
b From the scoring standpoint the hero
q OF the day was Rudy Knepper. Of Sioux
a City. who. while the day was still
l. Young, reeled of record. tying 10 by
n way of giving his rivals a mark to shoot
q at AS they say in Missouri. Rude
e was shooting a good stick" That be-
ing interpreted means that his card did
: not belle his play.
All over Il was highly polished cx-
! hibiton. and II there was an outstand-
!. ing feature, that was the manner In
! which the young westerner, now
. student at Princeton, stuck tho ball up
! 20 the hole. On the first kneppcr laio
one close for 81 on the eighth and
!, twelfth no repeated the trick. Al the
!. fifteenth, a 4s5 yard hole. he was short
I, or the green with his second. but laid
! his net on nicely and holed the putt for
|. a birdie
n Rneprer was running up to Chick
| Evans IN the Western championship
a this year, and in that event he also tied
r Tor the qualifying medal Kneppers
i card
r out ......s4 50 :.
4 III ,....4 . 5-3G-sn
o After Knepper on the score sheet came
|. another dark horse In the person OF Ben
a stein OF the waveriy club of Seattle
: stein, a graduate from the public links
OF Seattle and only 20 years old. played
the course In 70, going out In 81 and