The Washington herald., 1922-07-13

cracked. If not by Paddock. by
some one else. Competitive sport
has improved immensely in the last
twenty years-and yet, Is the i'm
provement as great as we think 1t
is?
We have Leonard and Tender.
for example, stirring up passionate
debates in line with their approach
ing jubilee. They are the great
lightweights of the time. But who
is willing to say they are better
than kid" Lavigne. Frank Erne or
Joe Cans? Who is willing to bet
that either would have whipped the
Bat" Nelson of fifteen years ago
in a finish night? What would the
betting be today il Leonard were
facing Lavigne or Cans, with either
OF the latter in his prime?
There are quite a number of
robust persons tossing heavy
weights about. But how many have
outpegged Ralph Rose with the 16-
pound shot? How many have run
100 yards faster than Bernie
Wefers and Arthur Duffy ran 1t over
tracks perhaps not as fast nor as
well manicured as those of today?
How many catchers in baseball
have been developed better than
Buck" Ewing? How many modern
pitchers better than Radbourne,
Rusie and ICY" Young? How
many hitters better than Anson and
Delehanty? How many smarter
thinkers than king" Kelly and
John Ward?
Yet, looking at the scores now
being made at Skokie in the open
golf championship. the old days,
even with the CUTIE ball, seem
| ridiculous. w. G. Lawrence won
the first amateur championship be-
fore the u. 8. G. A. was organized.
at Newport. Here were his scores
for the thirty-six-hole test: 47-46.
total SO: 49-46, total 95: 1SS for
the thirty-six holes, hardly good
enough for the fourth fight in a
minor tournament now. And James
Wright finished eighth with a total
of 246 for the thirty-six holes-an
| average of 123 strokes to the round,
enough to drive even a struggling
duffer to suicide.
Those were the grand and glori-
Gus feeling days for Colonel Boyle.
When Horace Rawlings won the
| first open championship in 1905 at
thirty-six holes an S7-s6 for 173
was fancy enough to get there. The
first seventy-two-hole test came at
Myopia in 1898. Fred Herd led the
parade with 32s, an average of four
SIS. Myopia is a big grade battle
field, but four SIS would not be very
close today. wherein no small part
of the Improvement has been due
to the vastly changed golf ball. Per-
haps If our present stars were
forced to wallop the CUTIE back
and forth. a round in eighty strokes
would be considered fair enough.
The first golfer to crack 800 in
an open championship was George
Sargen at EngIewood, in 1919. when
he romped around in 2so. The low
est open championship scores ever
made come in this order:
Chick" Evans-Minikahda, 1916
-2S6.
Jock Hutchison-Minikahd 1916
-28S
Jim Barnes-columbia. 1s21-2ss.
Walter Decentralization 1871
sso
George Sargent-Englewood. 1909
$50.
The best way to train for a fight
is to step out and fight. AS Leonard
and Tender have both been busy
enough in the last six months they
should be about as right as they
know how to be. Leonard especial
ly, with his two matches against
Britton and Kansas. has come to
the proper edge for his best display.
Tender is much more dangerous
than either Dundee or Kansas, for he
is stronger and heavier than the
first and faster than the second. He
looks to be one of the stoutest
looking challengers since "Ad" VOL
CAST opened fre on Bat" Nelson's
crown, the same leading up TO one
of the greatest lightweight battles
ever fought. But that happened to
be an old-fashioned finish affair, a
trifie different from the sawed-off
engagements Of modern pugflism.
When you speak of iron men in
sport" remarks Jack Doyle. the
noted Sportfye fmnrasario vhosa