Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-26
MIDWINTER GUN
TOURNAMENT IS
ON At PINEHURST
Famous North Carolina
Classic Drawing Sports
men From Every Section
of the United States
BY NEWTON RoMG

After a three months respite
from tournament shooting, the call
Of the elusive clay bird againsets
our blood tlngling as the famous
Midwinter Tournament at Pine
hurst, North Carolina, appears on
the trapshooting horizon to inaug
urate q new season. Outside the
Grand American itself, the Pine
hurst tournaments of the past have
contributed more trapshootng his
tory than any other individual clay
target meet. 1t could hardly be
otherwise in view of the great
fields that have been attracted 10
Pinehurst by the long list of val
liable trophies and cash prizes that
have been put up to be shot for,
down there, during the past fif-
teen years.
When the sixteenth "annual"
opens on Monday morning, Janu-
.ary s, we will again be mingling
with the cream of the trapshOot.
fraternity Of this country. Be it
understood, however. that the
cream of this vast fraternity does
not necessarily mean only the top
notch experts, for the Pinehurst
management has built up a repu-
tation for unbiased classification
and handicapping that has, liberal
ly taken care of the embryo greats
of the game.
A decided change has been no
ticed in the program just come to
| hand. The usual consolation ham
dicap has been dropped and the
tournament program cut down from
six days to five. Knowing and low
ing Pinehurst as / do, ! feel that
| this should be a popular move be-
cause there are many attractions
at this beautiful southern village
| that many shooters miss when the
| tournament covers the entire week.
So Friday, the day of the big mid
winter handicap, will also be get
away day as far as the big meet
| is concerned.
| Again a featureful program Will
be offered the clay target devotees,
for the events are interspersed
with many special contests that
add interest and snap. Not the
least of these will again be an East
and West team. Holding a tourna
Iment as far east as Pinehurst
would suggest an unfair advantage
| in favor of the eastern shooters, y
| being an assured fact that the
eastern shots will predominate by
about five to one. 1t is surprising,
however, how closely these races
are contested, last year furnishing
a splendid example and a great
portion of the thrills during the
| first three days Of the tournament
The west had an unusual array OF
talent at that tournament in Frank
Troeh, Washington; Frank Hughes
South Dakota; Chief Wheeler, Ok
lahoma; Fred King, Colorado, and
the Jenny brothers, Illinois. Pit
ted against these stars were Hank
Pendergast, w. II. Patterson and
Tracy Lewis, New York; c. a. Bo-
CERT, Ohio; Steve Crothers, John
Fshelman, DR.. Aber and Allen
He'll. Pennsylvania, and u. H.
Brooks and Paul Earle from south
Carolina. It proved one of the
closest and most exciting races
ever staged in connection with Q
Pinehurst tournament, the east
nosing out on the last day by five
targets and at no time previous 10
the final day was the margin great
er than three. ,
The handicap distances will TINS
year be from 16 to 20 yards. The
Preliminary is slated for THURSDAY
and the big Midwinter will be the
sole attraction on Friday As be-
fore stated the Consolation mas
been dropped. Last year the Con-
ISOLATION furnished one of the real
excitements of the week, and TINS
feature was not on the program
either. Hank Pendergast and Frank
Troeh, two veteran stars of the
game had tied for top honors ana
the shootoff was one Of the real
old time thrillers, for both We're
extreme backliners. After dead
locking several extra events, Pen
dergast was eventually the winner
bv the narrow margin of a single
bird. The Midwinter was won by
John w. Eshelman, Jr., one or the
dved-in-the-wool enthusiasts OF me
famous Lancaster Red Roses. he
has assured me that he viii De or
hand at the coming tournament