The New York herald., 1922-12-25
CALIFORNIA GOLF
FACES HARD TASK
Eastern Stars Again Likely to
Monopolixe Open Tour
ney Honors.
ny KERR n. rnTRIE.

With Gone Sarazen, Walter Hagen,
Jock Hutrhison and joe Kirkweod all
| on the trail Of thelF honors u looks
like another lean season for tho Califor-
MIA golf professionals. Last year
Hutchison and barnes raided the fold,
carrying or tho State and Southern titles.
In view Of this tho native sons cannot
see much moro confronting them than
saclscloth and ashes for the season that
Ia about to burst upon them. SaraEen,
Hagen. Hutchinson and Kirkwood looR'
good enough to run one, two. three, four,
particularly as John Black will not be
sblo to do much to head of the In
| vaders.
| However. one never can tell what Is
going to happen In this old game OF
| golf Black may do the unexpected.
Again there Is Macdonald Smith to be
reckoned with. When Mac is right ne
Is marvel. but the younger member
Of the Smith family has had so many
ups and downs In his time that 1t Is difn-
cult nowadays 70 say what he is likely
to do.
| A year or SO back 1t seems that Mac
donald was laboring under the handicap
Of broken wrist Before that he had
pneumonia. It 10 hard to tell Just where
he is to be at when tournament con-
cludes these days. but II recent photo
graphs OF Mac do not natter or belle
the truth he Is At and ready to battle
this invading team Of Sarazen, Hagen.
"a II rt..lxxr A1 20 4hA In a.
ditch and leave them we'll begged at
that.
| Defeated vardOn ana Ray.
In 1918, when Macdonald Smith was
located in the East, he played against, as
partner to his brother Alex. Vardon and
Ray at Wykagyl and administered to
the celebrated Channel Islanders the only
reverse sustained by them throughout
their tour, with that one exception
in the plAyoff at Brookline for the ma
tlonal open championship. On the
strength of that performance Vardon
declared Smith to be the best golfer in
| America When Macdonald Smith
played in the metropolitan open cham
pionship at Scarsdale he made golf seem
ridiculously easy. Three Of his rounds
were under 20, and he won the title in
walk, with total that at the time
and for long after stood out as world
record.
Had Mac remained i'm the East and set
! his heart upon winning the national
open crown he probably would have
worn the headpiece on more than one
occasion. In 1910 he came on from
California and tied for first place with
his brother Alex and Jack McDermott
| All that young Smith required was a
| little stronger desire to win the national.
He had the championship game. but he
did not make his opportunities. And
this Is probably why the record books
fail to bear out Vardon's opinion that
Macdonald Smith was Americas fore
most golfer.
vardon himself for many years was
Britain's foremost lnksman. Genera
tions of golfers to come who never saw
him play will accept this as a fact, be-
cause Harry has won championships
enough to clinch the proof.
smith-BIack Good Team.
Macdonald Smith and John Black as
a team would be good enough for a
Sarazen-H -Hutchison combination or for
Hagan and Kirkwood together. Black.
however. is practically out of Il this
year both as a teammate In the matches
and as an individual honors man In the
|
the invading four this year will ride
roughshod over their rivals in the Cali
forna tournaments.
| What leads TO this belief is the mar
velous golf that Hagen and Kirkwood
have been showing on their tour. Hagen
has made so many scores in the sixties
since he and Joe set out for the Pacific
coast that he probably considers him.
self TO be out of form when he cards
| ~ L. ii.
| twenty-one rounds the British title
holder averaged slightly over IL. In
twenty-four matches Walter and Joe
lost but one match. Two were tied
Neil Christian and Walter Daleleish were
the pair who lowered the transformers
colors. This happened in an eighteen
| hole round at Tacoma. Wash. So far
a So at Lincoln is Hagen's lowest mark,
but sixty-eights and sixty-nines are
spattered all the way across his record
since the tour opened In the middle
West.
With Hagen playing this sort OF golf
and Sarazen and Hutchison about to
start out on their trip il Is easy to sec
that the California professionals are
rather concerned about the near future
| There will be fresh crop of cards IN
the sixties no doubt when Gene and
Jock arrive. Tho list OF exhibition
matches arranged for sarazen and
Hutchison are:
December 30. public exhibition ut Chicago
lndoorsp: 2s, Denver Country Club; 81. San
Francisco public links exhibition.
January l. Preside Golf Club; 3. Oakland
or Lakesidei 4, ., O. California open cham
| pionship, aan francisco: T. San Jose: 0,
Sacramento; H.. claremont; IL. Burlineame-
Crystal Springs 10, Del Monte: 10. Stock
ton; IL. Fresno; sls. Porterviie; 10. public
links exhibition, Los Angeles 20, wiltshire;
II. Pasadena; 23, Hiilcrest "a. Los Angeles:
q. Hollywood; 2s, Santa Barbara; 80. River
side; 81. San Gabriel.
February z, Brentwood. 3, Annandaie; g.
Chula Vista 8. La Iolla; Z, Midwick: 10,
Tusoon, Arb; ~. Phoenix. Arz.; ~. FL
Paso; 10, Del Rio: IL. San Antonio: rs,
| Houston.
March 3. Baton Rouge; 4. New Orleans.