Evening star., 1928-09-10
PRACTICE ROUNDS
GIVE LITTLE HOPE
Even Mackenzie, Who Is
Used to Such Competition,
Is Uncertain.
BY WALTER II. McCALLUM.

= @RAE BURN CLUB, BOSTON
- Mass, September 10.-None toe
sanguine of their chances tC
IL qualify in this championship
which finds $50 of the worlds
q finest amateur golfers gathered here to
attempt to knock the simon pure crown
from the head of Bob Jones, six WASH
ineton players. who have more or less
4, standing in the minor league compe-
tition about the Capital moved out over
the stiff Brae Burn course today in
the first half of the 36-hole qualifying
FOUND for the national amateur cham
pionship.
Two of them are newcomers to ajor
league golf competition. one is veteran
Campaigner and an almost sure quail
f1er. although a youngSter in years.
Another has qualified once before, while
two more have made Intellectual bids
to enter the charmed circle.
Course Is Tricky.
Not one of the Washington entrants
Is any too sure of himself as the medal
round starts today. Their practice
rounds have revealed the hidden dan
gers that abound over the fiat stretches
of Brae Burns rugged length. For
the course, even though it has not the
great length that has characterized
other championship tests, is tricky in
every sense of the word Well trapped,
keenly rolled putting greens vie with
closely guarded fairways and deceptive
ly placed water bitches to catch the
ball off the line to the hole.
Unlike Oakmont which has both
length and nyriads of traps this Brae
Burn course has deception as to dis
tance, rugged carries and tricky second
shots. One good example is the carry
needed on the eighteenth hole, mild
looking affair of 437 yards, which be-
comes a fearSome thing when the
player steps up on the tee. All it de-
mands is carry Of 208 yards to get
over a brook which biSects the fairway.
Some of the other holes are much like
this, although on the whole they de-
mand accuracy from the tee rather than
extreme length.
Irons Set Low Score.
Phillips Finlay, noted long hitter,
played the first nine holes yester-
Gay driving with an iron and scored
bag on the second nine and scored
40.
Harry G. Pitt of Manor has been
kroubled with fearsome hook which
has been carrying him into all sorts of
trouble.
Page Hufty of Congressional has Just
the opposite fault, for he has developed
O. slice
AL Houghton's putting has been none
Goo good, while Roland Mackenzie looks
to US to be overgolfed, drawn bit too
fine by the plentitude of golf he has
had in Chicago and at Newport. where
he played in the gold mashie tourna-
ment.
Miller B. Stevinson of Columbia is
playing well. but is none too sure of
qualifying. He and Mackenzie are the
only men from the Capital who have
sQualified in this championship in recent
years.
Mackenzie has not failed to qualify
since 1928. while Stevinson qualified and
beat Mackenzie in 1926.
Pitt and Reid W. Digges of Bannock-
burn are newcomers to this champion
ship, while Houghton and Hufty have
each had two tries before and failed.
voigt Going Strong.
George Voigt, formerly of Bannock-
burn. is scoring as well as anyone here.
Voigt was credited with round of II,
the lowest score made by any of the
competitors in practice. All the news
papermen and some of the competitors
agree that If Voigt gets over his hardest
hurdle. the medal round, he will go far
in match play. All of which may or
may not be true.
When the proposition gets down to
brass tacks. all agree that the cham
pionship lies between Bob Jones and
George Won Elm, the first two seeded
PLAYERS who are very likely to meet in
q final round which will burn up Brae
Burn and rock the sacred cod in its
cradle in the State house.