Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-16
RECOGNITION IS DUE
AS A GOLF|NC STAR
Governing Body May Be
Forced to Include Him on
Next Walker Cup Team.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

Walker Cup SSiectlonS CUTIE oue
two years hence it will be eX-
1 tremely interesting. not only 10
Washington but to other clues
as well. to note Just what position the
United States Golf Association takes IN
regard to George Voigt The trans
olanted Washingtonian. who learned
his game on the old course OF the 20
lun1bia Country Club and developed IL
on the wind-Swept reaches OF East po-
tomac Park is in peculiar spot Win
the national golf governing BODY FOR
two years now he has been one OF the
admitted ranking stars of the country
and for the past year ne mas certalniS
rated a place in the first 10. some
of the men who have watched MN
play place him as high as third IN the
ranking list. only a shade below Jones
and Won Elm. A.,
Now Voigt's performances here in the
staid old CITY of Boston, which isn't
exactly used to upheavals have knocked
the moeuls back on their heels. Ihey
don't want him, particularly, ior In
their Judgment he doesn't eXactly De,
long YET he is such a good golfer, ana
eoeS about proying that he is such
good golfer. they SIMPLY can't deny MN
much longer and still save their faces.
Of course. the fact that George was
investigated" a year and more ago
isn't taken into consideration now. hc
was whitewashed, and that is all there
Is to it, But the memory still ranKles.
One Boston go.i writer went so lar as
tn saw the other Cay that Volgt ISM
very popular with the washington noyS
"because he beat them too frequently:
Naturally such statement as tIlaI y
ridiculous, on the face OF II. anu nm, ,l 10
the man who says it ridiculous by us
inference. a,,,+;,,,
himself in a maner detrimental TO ths
hest interests of the game OF goiI. anu
WAS barred by the District Coll ASso-
citation from its amateur championships
:srhen the u. s. C. A. more or less oou
sble crossed the local organization, ana
there was virtually nothing lett LOT lns
local body but to withdraw Its pan on
iVoipt and restore him to good stano-
ing It hardly would do for a man 10
sbe outlawed in his own community any
vet be entitled TO play amateur goh
ksnvwhere else in the bunkered lara.
yoiot has heen whitewashed by the
golf authorities, but there still remains
3 feeling that he doesn't quite belong
5n the golfing elite, even though ne is
conceded to be very great golf player
Probably the u. S. G. A. will flnd some
reason to keep him off the Walker Cup
r. m in 1880, exactly as Clarke Cork
ran has failed to make the team al
though the former Baltimore star has
been one of the outstanding amateurs
for years and was the medalist back IN
1924
Voigt won the medal here with two
Of the finest rounds OF golf we ever
have seen. But this course is typlcai
Voist golf course 1t demands extreme
lHn1Gn
from the tee. and there never was
man more accurate with his wooden
club shots than Dutch" Voigt. His
chinping was excellence itself and his
putting the same smooth article that
Won him so many matches around
Washington.
Surely by. his performances here
Voigt rates a place on tbs walker Cup
team.
Roland Mackenzie was heartbroken
hv his failure to qualify. The Column
bia lad and Walker Cup team star never
made an alibi, nor kicked about the
fate that thrust him so rudely out OF
the tournament in which he reached
the semi-final last year. 1t Is true,
however, that Roland is working, and
working hard He hasn't averaged two
rounds month for the past 10 months,
and golfers don't live who can find the
top of their game without constant
practice Roland never got started.
He never looked like the wonder worker
of Minikhada nor the medalist OF Oak
mont.
Harry Pitts failure to qualify was one
of those minor tragedies of the amateur
show that occur every year to some one
or two in the field. We have no m
tention to criticize Pitts judgment on
that trying eighteenth hole where he
needed to tie, but we firmly believe
that if he had taken a driver and
socked that ball as far as 1t would go.
his chance would have been better. OF
course that Immediately puts us in the
second guesser class, and we brave the
allegation.
For here was Pitt. driving with a
spoon all day, and none too we'll push
ing his tee shots all over the course,
hooking them occasionally and running
I'D gobs of shots he wouldn't have used
had his wooden shots been accurate.
Yet he retained that spoon on the
eighteenth tee, knowing he had to carry
208 yards to get over the artificial bar
rier that raised it's head across the fair
way The result was that he pushed
the shot far to the right, and then the
ball took a bad kick.
Those shots that followed over
again the tennis course, where he
found an unplayable lie, came as an
unfortunate sequence, but we contend
that Harry. with the great fighting
heart that is his, should have used his
big driver and poked one far out from
that last tee If he missed, we'll and
good. A five wouldn't have done him
any good anyway. But a four would,
and ne might have smote one so Tar
he could get home with mashie the
others were doing it. and certainly
Harry Pitt hits a golf ball as far as
any one of the amateurs who gathered
here at Brae Burn Then if he had hit
one there was always the chance of
canning. a putt for 3, which would
have put him in without playoff. Per-
haps we are right and perhaps Harry
was right At any rate Pitt has done
very well in this, his first champion
ship and undoubtedly he will make the
grade in some subsequent title event.
He is too good a golfer to be denied
much longer.
Brae Burn. by the way. is peculiar
golf course which takes good deal OF
Knowing. In the first place lengthy
tee shot. unless it is particularly
straight, is worse than useless RecoV-
cry shots OIL extreme lellStii Juoe W.
not being done here. Woods and deep
traps combined with heavy rougn to
reduce the possibility of those spectac-
i,lar recovery shots which have featured
other championships. Out over the
last nine. where the course is more
open, there were a few of those shots
made. but on the whole the straight
end narrow path was the only one FOL
lowed by those who qualified. The wldt
open space of Congressional and Indian
Spring as not noticeable at Brae Burn
where the course wrlthes ana twisCS
Through valleys and up steep nils tt
greens sunk in hollows or raised or
Nigh plateaus. Brae Burn, in oul
sr,Sn,,on,t lie a ha rder test of the game