Evening star., 1924-03-22
THE MAKING OF Il GOLF CHAMPION

very popular everywhere they went.
Ray is a big slashing player with a
drive that has tremendous force be-
hind il. l think he is one of the long
Nardon made an ideal partner for
Ray. He is regarded as the worlds
supreme stylist and. with his easy
stance and graceful stroking. Ger
tainly lives up to his reputation. AS
six times winner of the British open,
he impresses one as amply deserving
his titles.
Only One vnrdon.
played lot Of golf with Vardon
in 1920. One cannot help but hold so
fine a golfer in the greatest respect. l
am afraid there will never be an
other as great to take his place.
The links at Toledo where the open
championship was played is a very
difficult course. 1t happened TO be,
incidentally, the first time in the his
tory of American golf that a cham
pionship was held in that city.
American golfers were keen to stop
Vardon and Ray, as they had proved
themselves formida BILE com bination,
and experts thought that they had an
excellent chance 1t is true that they
had not figured very extensively in
the British open, but neither had l,
and yet | managed TO come back and
win the French open and, shortly
after my arrival here, took the Me
tropolitan event which was played al
Greenwich
Repeats in Met. Event.
All of which goes to show that the
thing which bothers a golfer in one
tournament he may find of no conSe-
querce in the next. In winning the
Metropolitan open ] annexed this
championship for the third time in
succession. With two years out for
the war l thus held the Met. title for
five straight years. 1t is interesting
to note that Jim Barnes and ] tied
again in this event as we did the
year previous, but luck, if you like.
was with me and l won out both
times in the play-off.
Vardon and Ray had been playing
exhibitions right up until the open at
Inverness. AS the tournament was IN
August, the weather was anything
but appropriate. Under the scorching
sun we did not think that Fardon. or
Ray either, would hold out.
The former started off like world
beater, however, and at the beginning
of the last round he appeared to have
the championship SeWed up. But
championships are never sewed UP. L
find, until they are completely nm
iShed. Along came an unforeseen ele-
ment of chance in the form OF ter Io
rifle wind which completely upset the
veterans game on the last few holes
and his lead was dissipated.
CIose-Fought Game a Classic.
There followed one of the greatest
fights | ever saw for championship
honorS. ] had wasted few too many
strokes on the last eighteen holes and
was out of the running, but l was
playing with Jock Hutchison. VINO
had a chance, and / paced him IN.
Strangely enough, Jock had been IN
a position to do this same thing LOT
me the year before at Brae Burn. |
was not destined to be as successful
in this role of pacemaker as Jock had
been, as the best i could do was TO
see him finish second. ! set hlm
good example on the last green when
sank a long putt for a olrdle q.
Jock had a harder one TO negotiate
but failed to get it down:
In the meantime Ray had come IN
with what was later to prove the
winning score, but three others were
close on his trail. One OF these later
Leo Diegel, very good player, seem
ed to have an excellent chance to WIN
as he arrived at the twelfth hole with
a score that looked unbeatable.
big gallery began gathering arounu
the new star, and 1 think probably
the tenseness of the moment made
Diegel a little nervous. for he failed
to hold his game together COUPE
of bad shots sent him behind again;
Vardon came sailing along then and
finished lust one stroke back of Ray,
and was followed by Burke, Dlegei
and Hutchison. 1t was grand bat
tie.
Bobby Jones. last year winner, was
one of the sensations of the tourna-
ment, not only because of his e&-
treme youth, but also on account or
his remarkable playing. On one
round he was paired with the vet
eran Vardon, who praised him hlghly
for his excellent showing-which
meant something, coming from a SIX
times British champion.
Clubs Send Delegation.
That fall and winter golf seemed to
take a leap forward in America.
With the new sourses there sprang
up a new generation of competent
players, many of whom have already
figured in cha mpionShip events. so
much interest was manifested in the
international aspect of the game that
a. wholesale assault was planned on
the British open, which was to be
played the next summer at the Ia
nous old st. Andrews links
Various clubs got up subscriptions
to send players over. / think the
team of ten that sailed to play In
that championship was as fine a lot
of boys as one would care to know.
i was glad to get another oppor-
tunity to play overseas, but / had
intended going, whether any one else
went or not, as l felt another chance
was due me. I liked St. Andrews
better than Deal and was almost GER
tain, if the breaks were with me,
that / would come pretty close to
taking the title.
Tomorrow-sSt Andrews Sits Up.