The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-07-24
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Open chasapionshlps

Championship golf Is on the eve of becoming for tens of thousands of enthusiasts what the great uni- versity football games and the worlds series of baseball are. once each year. for the lovers of those sportA
 believe that very. soon we shall have. each year, two great golf championships, held at fixed places each year. to which thousands of golfers from all parts of this coun- try and Canada will so. Plainly. the sport has outgrown it's present methods of conducting champion ships. The public interest has in- creased to such an extent during the last few years that the champion ship has become as much a spectacle ag it Is test of the players.
 The first thought of those in charge, In levying an admission fee of one dollar for this years cham pionship. just concluded over the links of the Skokie Country club course near Chicago, was to try to keep down the size of the crowds. The fee did not do that. The thought was that if the galleries could be made smaller there would be less wear and tear on the course, on which thousands of dollars had been spent. The playing of a champion ship nearly wrecks course anyhow because the skilled players scoop out such divots with their irons. When you comprehend what takes place on a course with over 300 players n ac- ton every day for week, the read CT can grasp what the effect Is on the links. Add to this daily galler- ies of ten to fifteen thousand people, as was the case at Skokie. and there is little wonder that golfing officials sought some way by which the vol ume of the gallery crowds could be held down.
 Golf Is Popular
 However. the Skokie championship revealed more than ever before to the officials in charge that golf has attained a hold on this country that will never be lessened and which has every likelihood of being in tensified as the sport continues to grow In public favor. This turns the minds of those who have the direction of the game In charge to the idea of a championship which would be on something of the stadi- um order, only the golf meeting can
 
 confine.
 It Is plain that the public is more than willing to pay to see fine golf playing and this is not surprising because the play of golf stars gives the spectator more thrills in an aft ernoon than can be had from any other sport. In view of the certain ty of the income 1t is easily DO :ible that two great championship courses may be developed in the fu- ture, one in the west near Chicago, the other east. in the New York district.
 The two big championship meet ings, the United States national open and the amateur championship of America. then could alternate annu- ally between these great champion ship courses. thus giving the de- voices of the sport championship each season. The courses. If built. would be especially constructed for the handling of great crowds. for with such matches we would have galleries much larger than those gathered at Skokie this year.
 HaBdsomer Prizes
 Another advantage of this would be that the officials in charge could offer handsomer prizes for the win ners in the open championships. When l reflect that upward of 10,- 900 people were willing to pay sl each to see such players as Abe Mitchell. George Duncan, Jim Barnes, Jock Hutchinson, Bobby Jones. Walter Hagen, Jesse Gull ford. and others in action--plainly the competition among these men Is the factor that drew the crowds lit seems to me that something Is wrong about the size of the purses the professionals receive out of their annual championship. These men are in golf what Babe Ruth is in base ball. They have devoted their whole lives to acquiring skill in the sport. And when players like Mitch ell and Duncan come over here from England and receive $1oo as prize out of great meeting 1t seems to me 1t is almost laughable. Jock Hutchfa noa for fnntanc wot f7E na