Evening star., 1928-06-21
COURSE NOT BUILT
FOR BOBBY JONES
Tom Armour Seen as Having
Better Chance to Win
Than Albanian.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

dered course today. as lac of the Ma
lions leading amateur and profeSSiona
golfers started out to compete not alon,
against the menacing hazards of tn,
lengthy Olympia Fields layout, bu
against that more potent enemy Of tn,
championship golfer-the score care
and pencil.
The practice rounds are over, theiI
great shots only memory and the rea
test started today, as Tommy Armour
OF Congressional. holder of the title, lee
the pack over the rolling fairways o,
the great course in defense of his cham.
pionShip.
Although the course is not generally
conceded 20 be as hard a test as Oak
monts rugged stretch, 1t has hazards
lar more troublesome than the iSS
bunkers that infest Oakmonts fairways
This trouble lies in the depths of bitches
crossing the fairways at all angles. tow
ering oak trees bordering the narrow
3airways and worse than all the trick
lest putting greens that have been seen
In many years Of open championship
competition.
We played the championship course
yesterday afternoon with Sandy Ar
q member Of Congressional's board of
governors, and watched Sandy try TO
set 30-foct putt for a birdie dead at
the eighteenth. He had to allow fully
Q feet for the roll of the green and his
bali was not of at one side either.
2s2 May Win Event.
Fred Mcleod believes a score of 292
win win the competition. So does Sandy
Armour. Monro Hunter of Indian
Spring thinks the winning score will be
below 290. having in mind Hagen's mar
yelous 2S5 in winning the Western open
here last Summer. Tommy Armour
thinks lot about it, but keeps his
peace. He has q deft mark to shoot at,
however, even fours for the layout,
which is 2Ss for the 72-hole event.
IF he scores 28S for four rounds Of
this rugged golf course, We predict he
viii win with q couple Of strokes to
spare. for even the hardihood of Sarazen
and Compston cannot drive golf bah
through the trunk of an 1S-inch oak
tree And that is what they may have
to try IL they are far OF the line.
Tommy started at 1885, Chicago day
light time, which Is the same as Eastern
standard time. paired with Archie
Compston, the towering Britisher, who,
tight little isle. Harry Vardon and Ted
Ray, both Of whom have won the Amer
lean open, withdrew from the tourna-
ment yesterday. But CompSton, play
ing with Bob Jones, Leo Diegel and Har-
rison r. Johnston, Oakmont's two-round
sensation last year, knocked the ball
around the course yesterday IN So
strokes, the lowest score recorded in
practice before the opening OF the tour
nament.
Three or four rounds like that and
Compston will only be seen through Q
dust cloud. Jones was both good and
bad. He was out In 80 and back in "a.
even with brace Of SKIES.
Mcleod In Form.
Fred Mcleod was the shining star OF
The washington delegation when the
uractsce rounds closed yesterday. The
diminutiye Columbia pro. apparently
Sust coming to the crest of his game,
was around In 70. ! under par, tying
with Waiter Hagen and Craig Wood for
second low scoring honors for the day.
Mcleod had o brace Of 35's.
Wood declared that never before has
be felt that he had as good chance to
grfra any important championship as he
xeeis he has here at Olympia Fields. He
has something 70 back up his feeling,
too. for he played "a holes yesterday II
exactly even Is. quitting on the six
tenth green in the face Of threaten
tng thunderstorm.
sandy Armour, who has not been
hitting the ball particularly well here.
declares he has Just found out his
trouble. and started OF today with Ed
Dudley. an unattached Chicago player.
Hunter was paired with Prank Walsh
Of Appleton. Wis, while Fred Mcleod
went out with another wee bit OF man
willie Hunter Of California. former
post ONCE clerk, who won the British
hmateur back in 1890.
Easy to Lose Strokes.
Championships and writing about
champions are both rather involved
things. We've seen all the champion
ship courses for many years back, but
we've never seen a course on which 80
many strokes could be absolutely lost,
nor at the same time course where
some may 60 crazy and get around In
unbelievable figures. 1t amounts 70
gust this. II golfer Of the caliber Of
Jones, Armour, Farrell, Cooper, Klein,
or any one Of dozen others, gets his
tee shots down the middle with little
better than moderate distance, and
finds himself putting exceptionally
well, he viii win with strokes to spare.
This championship literally resolves
Itself into 3 question Of driving and
The second shots are not so I'm
portant, for there are few really testing
awo-shotters with the exception Of the
third and fourteenth. and on those
anything may happen. On the third
for example, 240-yard drive leaves
q carry Of something more than 100
yards 70 wee bit OF a green tucked
A.. IL 49, A<..a
a high bank. ANY way of the line lies
trouble innmeasurable and 10 be short
means 70 be in water ditch.
The fifth fairway is exactly IS yards
IN width. Try that some time On youl
favorft2 driver and see what is wronE
with the picture. And 1t narrOws down
when il gets out about 200 yards. The
only consolation Is that the trees or
both sides are not big ones and the i1ole
Is only $50 yards long. But that's
enough. MoEro Hunter says he saw
two fine players take on 1t In tbs
Western last year.
Two Good Ones Needed.
The fourteenth takes a Tee shot Of 23t
wards ard 200-yaYd iron shot To greer
On top Of hill amply guarded by fear
some trees The fifteenth is a real 3
gi1otteY, one Of the few in the land tina
cannnt be reached In under fayorabli
ground conditions. II is SIS yards II
length.
The course, according 10 the oficia
score card, measures e,T56 yards ioni
and it's a whale OF q layout 10 Ecor
on. Putting greens Of razor keennes
combine 10 tnNaFt the man who hope
10 gobbIe q lengthy putt for a birdie
The green's simply cannot be trifie'
az a
love. but as full of unduiations ant
tYickiness as q king cobra.
Truly, IL Is a battle Of putteF AM
driver that started today And we stan
on our prediction that 292 win win, an
that Jones won't shoot IT,
Tommy Armour lis far more likely I
do II than Bobby, for the Jones bo