Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-08
The Hardest Shot.

The Hardest Shot.
When 1t comes down to a question
OF the hardest shot to make
1t depends upon conditions
And iphdt there Is at stake.
Most any dub can hit a ball
In tennis, golf or pool,
When there Is nothing up at all
And they are cain, and cool.
It's when the goina's getting rough
That the fen can ledUe the mass,
And the ones who really haze the stu6
Begin to shoU their class.
So Of all the shots. from tee to green,
That GlloD for no mistake,
The hardest one tDe'De eDer seen
Is the one you HAVE to make.
g. N. o.
Tilden, Hagen and Jones.
TILDEN'S record of winning II Davis
i Cup matches out of 20 starts in 1C
years recalls the equally amazing rec
ords run up by Walter Hagen and Bob
by Jones.
From 1928 into the campaign of 1928
Hagen won 40 consecutive matches in
the professional golf championships OF
the P. G. A., against the best profess
SIGNALS in the game.
From 1924 on through the Brae-
burn test Of 1928 Bobby Jones won
"a out of as matches in the amateur
golf championship Of the United
States, losing but one battle in five
years. And within few weeks he
will be on hand at Pebble Beach in
an effort to extend this run by sew
eral other victories.
1t might be argued that Tilden's rec
ORD is the more remarkable to date be-
cause It covers a 10-year span in a
harder physical test, and because each
of these matches was against the picked
golfers of the world-Australia, Japan
and France being the outside chal-
lengerS. There was no chance for any
Davis Cup. Challengers first had to
prove their place by defeating all rivals
1t might be observed that in the 81
battles noted above Tilden, Hagen
and Jones have won 81 and dropped
but 5. In their last 47 golf cham
pionship matches Jones and Hagen
have won As and lost but 2.
1t is over such periods of time that
you locate the peak of class. A good
competitor may win any given year
But 1t takes most Of the championship
~ any 4OL u
period Of five years or longer.
The Best Pair.
TT will be long, long time before any
l. nation can offer such a pair as TIL
den and Johnston were in Davis Cup
tests. Together they won % final
round matches and dropped but g.
There Is almost no chance that Cochet
and Lacoste, as strong as they are, will
ever surpass this count. The two French
stars have won nine out of five to date
Cochet. with five victories and one de-
feat, might move UP on even terms with
Tilden, but he still needs IL more VIC
tories. and that will absorb at least six
or seven more years of championship
tennis. He has his chance to hold the
top that long, but 1t is doubtful that his
physical fiber will stand up under the
grind as Tilden's did. This. however,
seems to be detail that might as we'll
be left to the official checking Of time.
Hagen and Jones.
JONES has picked up only one cham
j pionship defeat in five years, so far
as the amateur title of the United
States is concerned. He still has a
stout chance to increase his present
average at Pebble Beach. Hagen has
also lost but one P. G. A. match in five
years, and he will also resume again
next September, but the odds against
him will be heavier, with such golfers
as Horton and Mac Smith, Armour,