The New York herald., 1922-10-20
G. E. VAN VLECK, JR.,
TAKES GOLF MEDAL
Leads Qualifying Field in
Piping Rock Club Tourney
With Card of rs.
By KERR n. PETRIE.

ny hEAth ~. fEIAAFss
There was frost on the pumpkin and
the first wind blown intimaton that II
viii not be long before King Winter once
again ascends the throne of his bunkered
domains when the golfers teed up yes
terday in the qualifying round of the
annual invitation tournament OF the
Pipipg Rock Club. The icy snap In the
air turned the thoughts either toward
the sunny Southland. where the palm
fringed course that awaits or to where
the Arctic peak rears it's head. 1t was
difficult to keep the mind strictly on the
business of sinking puts and working
up to the side of the cup with mashies
and midirons, but despite all the diff
culties which. after all, may have been
more imagined than real, it is a fact
that the concentration in this tourna-
ment was quite convincing In it's re-
suits.
There is something wrong with the
tournament that does not see c. Il. Van
Week, Jr., of Lido, break through to
spoil the reverie of the man who boasts
the lower handicap. This year success
has been long delayed. but the inspira-
ton arrived on the nipping breeze in
this particular event and the Lido man
galloped away with the medal with a
fine card of 49,
Before Van Weeks arrival at the
spot where the cards are signed, sealed
and delivered John N. Stearns. Jr., OF
Piping Rock, and Howard w. Maxwell,
Jr.. Of Nassau. the Long Island cham
pion, had come in neck and neck at 7S
each. Playing together the pair had
made magnificent struggle Of 1t. Max
we'll led by single shot at the turn
with total of 80, but by the time the
= ID,
Stearns was leading by three strokes.
Picks UP Three Strokes.
To equalize matters Maxwell had to
score 2 on the seventeenth and a on
the home hole. Stearns. with his and
for these two completed the second nine
in 3s. Maxwell had SO. Where the
latter lost his hold temporarily was at
the tenth, eleventh and twelfth, which
he played in 6, 4 and 5, as against the
4. 3 and of his partner.
From the back tees Of Piping Rock
when the wind Is blowing ever so slightly
a card Of IS represents no mean per-
formance. There appeared every reason
to believe that the tie would stand. but
early I'm the afternoon Van Week came
home reporting 76. The Lido man
had Stearns and Maxwell we'll beaten,
too, for he even finished with where
the other two had taken and 5. When
he had holed out on the fifteenth 1t
looked as IL Van Week would complete
the round in 73 or "a. Out in 3S he was
even fours for the first six holes home-
ward. but he lost stroke to par at the
fifteenth and another one at the eigh-
teenth. His card:
Out ..........4 ) 3 45 4-3s
In .. 5 3 4 5 s 6---3S-76
Van Weeks Lido training stood him In
good stead In this round. His score
was never even assailed. Gardiner
White, 1t was thought. would give the
leader the hardest battle Of those who
had to go out knowing what was re-
quired Of them. But when the former
Metropolitan champion proceeded to take
AZ for the first nine it was felt that
only miracle could remove Van Week
from his proud post so far at least as
White was concerned.
Holes Many Long Puts.
Coming back the Nassau star did his
best to change the complexion of the
case, but while he holed puts on the
tenth. fourteenth, sixteenth and seven
teenth from distances of forty. fifteen.
ten and thirty-five feet respectively he
had to rest satisfied with 81 for the
last nine. Tie Idu tWO GS III tHt last
nine, one of them at the eleventh, the
other at the seventeenth, but on at least
two other greens he missed the second
putt from a short distance. To oust Van
Week White would have required single
puts on these green's, so there was little
cause for repining.
Inability to get his chip shots any
where near the cup caused Reginald M.
Lewis to exert himself on the inward
half by way Of balancing a 46 for the
first nine. Lewis had at each of the
fourth and seventh. However he played
the last nine well. 80 giving him total
Of S5.
Dwight Partridge. who, like Lewis,
had temporarily fallen from his high
estate the week before at the Nassau
Country Club. came through safely this
time with an 81, taking fifth placa.
He was just one stroke ahead of Richard
Lounsbery Of Oakland and E. Mortimer
Barnes of Piping Rock. who played "a
singularly sympathetic game for Ais
each way.
The scores: