The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-06-18
BY Innis Brown

Among, the $50 players VINO
Are expected to shoot at the
most highly valued honor in
American golf, starting at the
Olympia Fields Club, Chicago,
bon Thursday, there are at least
20 entries who are good enough
TO win.
And that doesn't include another
battalion of those who can hit all
the shots well enough to bring home
q total score of ~ holes. as low as
the winning mark there will be.
1t refers only to players who have
from time to time demonstrated. in
the face of good hard competition,
, that they can deliver. But there
viii be one lone figure at the front
of the procession when the final
gun. has been fired, who will he be?
Suppose NE look EN- over briefly
one at q time.
When ii comes to the matter of
this most important eff all links
championships over here. at the
present time two names Immediately
snap into the ina gination Of one
and alt-Walter Hagen and Bobby
Jones. Opinion is divided concern.
. ing their relative places in the rank
ing OF golfers Since Hagen,
through his recent winning of the
British championship, has been
more in the limeIight lately, lets
set him in the van as the boys pass
In review.
u Hagen has won about every
thing there Is to win III golf
that Is. for those who are barred
from amateur competitions.
The United States championship
twice. the British three times. the
! Western and Metropolitan three
each, the Professional Golfers five,
four times In row for the last
four years, and numberIess other
lesser titles. Beyond doubt he has
won more tournaments OF impor-
lance than any other active competi-
tor in the golf field at present.
But 1t has been nine years since
Walter won the United States Open.
He. won it at Brae Burn, Mass, in
1919, but has never been able to
break through since. in spite of
the fact that he has crossed over
and won the British championship
three times.
Hagen would rather win the
open championship this year than
any other prize the game has to
offer. And he'll be a tough one
ITO trim at Olympia Fields. make
no mistake about that.
There are several reasons to
support such a prophecy. First is
his grim determination, and he has
. been denied for several years now.
Also he knows that championship
layout at Olympia Fields. He won
the Western open there last year
and literally burned up the course.
Furthermore, Hagen's game
I'm winning the British open
recently is significant In this
respect. He played less bad
> golf I'm that tournament than
he has in any big event for
long time. He was never over
5 on any of the ~ holes played,
and only three times i'm the
) four rounds was he off the
fairways.
lie was Is under even IS per
green in his putting. In other
words, as the boys say, he was
right for that tournament. And
HEN be right for Olympic Fields.
: He's seeing to that detail right
now. He came back from abroad
bin plenty of time to rest Up. take
a, little lay-off and then play him
self back into condition. Hagen
will be among the first three in
this years open.
: Bobby Jones
Last year, at Oakmont, Bobby
Jones finished the furthest back he
ever has In the open mpionship
since he started in his first one at
Toledo in 1920. He tied for eleventh
place. The explanation of Eobby's
fall from grace is easy All during
he spring he was sparring with
the professors in the law school at
y Emory College. working for a de.
gree. He got the degree. but he
had mighty little time for golf, and
when he showed up at Pittsburgh
he needed lot of practice under
, his belt, but there was no time to
get IT.
This year IL will be different.
Bobby has been playing quite a lot
of golf. He has taken part in 10
or q dozen exhibition matches for
the United States Olympic Team
Fund. and, what is more. he has
been playing quite a lot of golf In
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