Evening star., 1924-03-15

NA nth the pan-American and
wv national open champion
ship titles in my posses
sion | was all set for the campaign
of 1915. | guess | was a little cocky
over my success, for / had tumble
coming to me. the national open
that year was scheduled for Baltus-
rol, New Jersey course that has
seen many championship matches,
and it was up TO me to defend my
title
You must remember that 1 was only
twenty-five years OF age at that time.
and the idea Of possible defeat had
never entered my head. l suppose I
took il for granted that as long as 1
mad wen the open once L could repeat
the performance as many times as nee
eSsary---an illusion long since exploded.
IL all championships were like the pam
American it Wou be different. AS far
as I know / still hold that title, and
probab always will, us it will never
be played for again.
Holes His C1eek Shot.
Early that spring I came down to
New York to pay in A small event at
Greenwich in which four amateurs and
four pros took part. There were just
two foursomes hut quite large gallery
was on hand to witness the perform
ance.
1t was a close contest all around,
and up to the thirteenth hole looked
like anybody's match. On that hole.
however, ! managed to pull off one Of
those freak stunts that happen about
, once in d season. The hoe measured
$50 yards. and my drive was long and
straight and covered approximately ESQ
yards. The hole was slightly concealed
from view 10y the undulationS of the
fairway. | took out my cleek and hit
the shot straight for the pin. 1t looked
pretty good. but I must confess 1 was
dumbfounded at what happened.
No sooner was my stroke completed
than fellow i'll the gallery near the
green began jumping up and down and
shouting something that couldn't
make out l thought at first that he
over the green or that the ball had
stopped dead to the hole. On the con-
trary 1 found that he was trying to in
form me that I had holed out in 2 on
a par 4 hole.
Herd Has II Aces.
Speaking of freak strokes. holding out
a long midiron shot is as close as ever
came to making a hole in !. / have
done this three or four times, but the
long ng-looked-for ace is yet to come. Most
good players have made them. Sandy
Herd has a collection of seventeen. Alex
Smith has eleven or twelve. Mike Brady
has almost as many. but / have never
even started on my collection. They say
that a hoe in 1 is due once in every
10000 shots, but if this is the case l
must be long overdue. I have played
a great deal of golf, in this country
and abroad, but the ace is still in the
future. Perhaps will average up be-
fore finish with the game.
Soon after my freak, the clan be-
gan gathering for the open at
Baltusrol and i was among them.
There was good field of players
with few entries from the other
side of the Atlantic. Among the
latter was little Benny Sayers, who
added considerable interest to the
tournament. Benny is well known
the smallest pros in the game, but
an excellent shot maker. 1t was
Benny who invented the famous
dreadnought driver and later on gave
us the ribbed mashie.
Nichols Is the FavoFite.
Before the tournament started some
one remarked that if / won again 1t
would be fine achievement, as 1t
was a most diNcult thing to do.
Johnnie McDermott had accomplished
a double victory in 1911 and 1919,
but the field was not so good then.
Neither was it so formidable. few
years earlier when Willie Anderson.
q grand little golfer of his day. won
three big open titles in a row. Willie
j won four championships in his time.
but his career was cut short by an
untimely death.
/ found that Gil Nichols, who was
just then at the top of his game,
was the favorite to win, and I made
up my mind to watch him closely;
in fact, / played with Gil on several
occasions prior to the start of the
match and his work was uncanny.
He did not seem human, for round