Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-13
MASH|E MASTERS
IN LOCAL MATCHES
Taylor, Duncan and Ouimet
Rated Among Worlds Great
est With That Club
AT PHILMONT AND MERTON

OF the six stars who VIII appear
in the two big foursomes on the cards
today at Philmont, and on Friday at
Merton. three are rated by expert
critics as the greatest handlers OF the
mashie the golfng game has ever seen.
Now, the mashie, as every linksman
knows, is Just about the hardest cluo
in the bag to handle consistently. lt
has lost more championships for the
man who failed with it than anything
else in the golting deck. -
John II. Taylor, the dean Of all
professionals, is placed by j. ). Worth
inrton. one of the best known students
Of golf in America. as the finest master
of the mashie that ever lived.
Says Worthington :.
II have seen Taylor play n mashie
on to green almost as hard as q
board, and with such an amount OF
spin on the ball that, If you were close
enough. you could hear the ball biting
and sizzling, and see it pull up ms If
suddenly jerked by an invisible piece,
of string. Taylor's skill Is all
the more remarkable since we are now
speaking of the time when rib or deeply
scored mashics and mashie- niblicks
we're unknown. All his work was done
with plain or slightly stippled club
George Duncan's Mastery
George Duncan, who Is paired with
Abe Mitchell against Taylor and Hero
In today's sc hole match at Philmont'
is probably second only to tn" ol!t mas
ter as the exponent of mashie play,
The stunts he can pull with mat
difficult implement are remarkable.
80 ,n ho ok Snin nrpffV
70 sec. for often he lays n mnshie shot
On tho green within two feet Of the
min. and the backspin keeps 1t from
humping more than foot further
along. 80, NJ,
Narston, will seek to defeat the Taylor
Herd combination on Friday over the
philmont fairways, need to bow to only
Cb;ck Evans and Bobby Jones among
The amateurs In the handling of the
,nosbie. The Massachusetts youth,
who won the American Open nine
yeors ago from Vardon and Ray in the
most thrilling duel in golting history is
master of this iron club.
So both exhibition. matches will
hiring out splendid pointers for the stu
dent of golf in the matter Of handling
tbe mashie. For that matter, though
Abe Mitchell and Max Marston are not
roted with the ten great masters of this
weapon, they are experts in handling
1t, too.
Mitchell. OF course. is famous par
t,culorly for his terrific driving, and
r. is understood that he ranks as one OF
the two or three longest drivers in the
game today.
Max Marston's position in Philadel-
nhia golf Is too we'll known to enlarge
unon. lie is generally regarded as the
peer of local linksmen. Two years ago
Norston and Chick Evans played Harry
Wardon and Ted Ray. and were beaten
On thc thirty sixth hole. Last July
Warston and Jerry Travers defeated
Duncan and Mitchell on the Merton
links.
This will be in the nature OF rub
bor contest between the Americans and
Enplisbmcn on the Merton courses, and
that in itself will be an added attrac.
tion for the gallery
Gallery Sizes
When Jules Mastbaum, chairman of
tbo Greens committee at the Philmont
Country Club, arranged the Hagen
Sorazen Kirkwood Iloffner match It
attracted a gallery of at least 5000
neonle, There is only one other CON
test within memory that drew so many
neonle on a Philadelphia links.
That was the match at Merton be-
tween Vardon, Ray, Evans and Mars
ron at Merton two years ago.
Large galleries do not, as n general
thing, bother the hardened golfer, All
The Contestants at Merton and Philmont
have been followed by large and en-
thusiastic audiences-by galleries that