Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-21
APPEARS FIT AGAIN,
| DESPITE COLLAPSE
Spring Play Here Indicated
Return to Winning Form
of 1926 Season.
BY WALTER X. McCALLUM.


/ burst upon Us is the return tC
international and national play
of Jess SweetSer of New York. SweetSel
will compete in the Walker Cup matche:
81 Chicago next week, his appearance
as a member Of the American team
marking his first big tournament tria
in more than two years. He also vii
play early in September in the national
amateur championship at Boston, where
he scored his first national victory back
Sn 1922.
six years have passed since the YALE
junior who had just won the metro
poltsn amateur. brushed aside the best
o. the amateur golfers of the world tC
win at Brookline. III his path Of con-
quest he gave Bobby Jones the worst
drubhine he has ever received at the
hands of Simon Pure. SweetSer win
ring by and :. and then going on &c
victory in the final round over Chick
Evans by and 3.
Persistence. sheer grit and an unCanny
ability to get inside the other fellow
with a spade maShie marked Sweet
Ser'S progress 10 his first championship.
We believe that the shot that told
Evans he couldn't win in the final
round came on the fourteenth hole.
where he had laid a high iron shot
within feet OF the pin. With likely
birdie in sight Sweetser closed the
door by sticking his ball well inside Of
Evans. not more than feet from the
hole. Evans missed and Sweetser holed.
And there was difference Of two holes.
Collapsed in 1926.
SweetSer lost his championship to
Max Marston at Chicago the following
year. when Marston laid him stymies
on three consecutive holes, the laSt--on
the thirty -eighth-an impossible one
to negotiate. SweetSer fell before the
fast march of Watts Gum at Oak
mont in 1925. when the Atlanta young
ster went crazy and shot 26 holes in
four under even As
Then came 1925 and Sweetser's
greatest victory-and his collapse He
went abroad with the American Walker
Cup team, to take part in its Scant
Victory in England and then went up
10 Scotland TO play in the British
amateur championship. He won the
tournament the first victory credited
TO an American in % years, and after
the final round collapsed-physicall
eli in.
He came home in wheel chair. went
b Canada for a few months and then
went to Asheville to wage a greater
fight than all the golf wars in which he
had ever engaged He has achieved this
victory for the SweetSer of today is a
better man physically than in the ro-
bust DAYS Of his college career. But
whether that undying fire under stiff
competition. that endless will to win.
that marked SweetSer's progress prior
to June. 1926, mas left him is something
that big time competition alone can tell
In the interim George Won Elm has
come along. strengthening his game un-
t1l today amateurs and pros alike con-
ceie that the Detroit SHOEMAKER is not
far back Of the acknowledged king OF
them ali-Bobby Jones.
No Index to Form.
II Sweetser has the same fire to win
he may again be the same rampaging.
devastating performer of 1922 and 1928.
He has not competed IN any of the
tournaments around New York this year
and there is no index to tell how far
he has come along the road TO golf
supremacy.
Meanwhile the Voigts, McCarihys, Ho-
mans and Jones have dominated the
sector where Sweetser himself reigned
supreme only a short time ago. If his
appearance here last Spring is any cri-
terion as 20 what he may do in the
Walker Cup matches and in the national
amateur. he should go far for on that
dav. a day Of snow and cold rain, he
shot II in the teeth Of the gale at Co
lunlbia
Just how Sweetser has come along
the comeback trail can only be deter
mined by his play in big time matches,
such as the Walker Cup, and the ma
tional amateur II may be that q new
triumvirate Of golf viii have arisen by
the time OF the amateur. TO take the
place Of Jones. Won Elm and Sweetser.
Chick Evans may again find himself.
But we believe that Sweetser viii again
be one Of the tough nuts TO crack in
match play as he has been since 1921.
Tony Penna. assistant to Tommy Ar
n1our at Congressional, is being congrat-
ulated on a fine round of 68 he had
over Congressional few days ago. He
was playing with Armour and downed
the former national open champion,