The Washington herald., 1922-12-25

Past performances plus present
ability to make good are what
| stand the acid test, and when it
comes to the final analysis Charles
Evans. jr.. is regarded. as first
| choice. Playing a sound game from
start to finish, the man from Edge
water is there" under practically
all conditions.
When he won the Western title
last summer for the seventh time
Chick again sounded his warn
ing, a warning to be remembered
clear to the closing hours of that
final between him and Jess Sweet
| ser at Brookline. To be sure on
that day, in fact throughout that
entire championship week, Sweetser
played as one inspired. and he un-
questionahly earned his title. For
all that Evans remains the master
! golfer, the finished artist.
JONES A CLOSE SECOND.
| For more than a decade Chick"
has been factor in championship
golf, twice winner of the title. be-
sides on numerous other occasions
either being runner-up or a semi
finalist. Evans is az mas,erful a
golfer today as at any time in his
career and in the writer's opinion
mas an edge on Bobby Jones. the
redoutable Atlanta lad. regarded by
many as probably the greatest of
all amateur golfers despite his re-
peated failures to come through in
| national events.
bobby is deserving Of second place,
| ard like Evans. he possesses the
al to
at medal or match play. His feat of
| getting into a tie for second place
in the national open at Stoke was an
achievement hard to duplicate.
Steadiness rather than brilliance
| characterized the game of Jones last
season, yet there is nothing more
| impressive from a golfers point of
view than the way he goes after"
the ball. especially on the tee. A
| year ago Bobby seemed about ready
to grasp the uppermost rung on the
ladder. Possibly a year hence, but
| that's another story.
SWEETSER'S RISE.
Few golfers have in a single year
made more rapid strides than Sweet
ser. the New York lad who began so
ausplclously in the early summer by
winning the metropolitan title at
Lakewood. A shorter back swing
| improved his direction without any
| appreciate sacrifice in length 1t
was the same at Brookline, where
his long straight game backed by
deadly putting withstood the best
that Hunter. Guilford, Jones and
Evans could produce
Prior to that week Sweetser fig
ured in losing international match,
with {. V. Hooman on the national
links. and Jess also had disappoint-
ing lapse in the Victory Cup tourna-
ment at Grassy Sprain, only a few
| miles from his home in Westchester
county. But taking it all in all, he
has done wonderfully we'll to climb
from twelfth position a year ago to
No. 3.
OUIMET AND GUILFORD.
Although displaying occasional
flashes of former greatness Francis
Ouimet is certainly not the consist
ent performer of a few years ago
Golf is not parlor game. 1t re-
qures stamina as well as skill to
stand the tournament strain, which
Ouimet has found more trying
than formerly, but for all that
the erstwhile national and Massa.
chusetts champion seems entitled to
fourth place, just a step higher
than his Woodland clubmate, Gull
ford. The latter continues to hit
EN- as far as any one and ap-
proaches accurately enough, though
his putting the last year lacked
the deadliness so disconcerting to
his opponents in the 1921 amateur
meeting at st. Louis.
| In according him fifth place
Guilford is given position ahead of
two more former national cham
pions. Robert Gardner and s. David
son Heron, sixth and seventh
respectively. Gardner, always for
midable. competed less frequently
last season than has been his Gus
tom, and the same may be said of
Heron. They're placed where they
are for what they have done and
are capable of doing rather than
for what they accomplished this
year.
IN OTHER SECTIONS.
Over Philadelphia way Max Mars
ton and J. Wood Platt continue to
stand out prominently The first.
named won the Pennsylvania cham.
pionship, while the other annexed
the Philadelphia title. Both play
the difficult Pine Valley course in
low figures, and let it not be for.