Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-05
RATE AT 10 TO |
Z IN OPEN TOURNEY
Of 66 to Remain in Play on
Last Day Only Six Were
Simonpures.
BY WALTER HAGEN,


An opinion is abroad that this is the
professional golfers darkest feur"
1he opinion is based, Of course, on
BohAW Jones' fine victory in the open
championship at Winged Foot, where
he defeated all the professional golfers
of America and raised the banner OF
the amateurs on the flag pole Of the
United States Golf Association.
There seems to be feeling of BROTH
@hood among the amateur golfers
which makes each one feel that VIXEN
Bobby Jones beats the entire lot of pro-
fessionals they. too, can step out and
do it, They regard Jones victory as q
great achievement for amateur golf in
stead of what it really iS--a great and
individual triumph for Bobby.
1t so happens that the greatest golfer
In the world is an amateur, but profess
Sional goherS-who know are now be-
ing fearfully razzed all over America
should take this in good grace and re-
member that even at Winged Foot the
superiority OF professional golf over
amateur golf was overwhelming.
Facts of the Case.
I have no idea of knowing how many
golfers started in the open champion
cluded all of the players in the various
sections, amateurs and professionals,
who considered themselves good enough
to enter such competition.
From these qualifying tests and from
the players excused from qualifying by
the United States Golf Association there
came to Winged Foot 1873 golfers, anG
OF this number 10 were amateurs and
the other 135 were professionals.
After the first two rounds at Winged
Foot Sc golfers remained in the field,
and OF these were amateurs and the
other so were professional golfers.
One OF the six amateurs, Bobby Jones.
finished first: another, George Won Elm
of Detroit, finished in a tie for fifth.
and the next amateur to appear was
George Dawson, who was tied for forty
nth place.
To any fair minded individual this
should be sufficient indication Of the
superiority of professional golf and pre-
vent any club members who might be
considering such move from cancel
ing dates for instruction made with
their local professional. After all, they
cannot get Bobby Jones or George Won
Elm to instruct them, and aside from
these two the evidence is very strong
that the best information on how TO
play the game will come from the pro-
fessionalS, even If they did trail BOBBY
to the wire at Winged Foot.
There Is no reason why the profess
SIGNALS should be discouraged. The
standard of golf as played by profess
SIGNALS in America is very high Tile
American Ryder Cup team this Spring
made what was perhaps the greatest tour
American athletes. amateur or profess
sional, ever made in foreign lands. The
professionals are conducting their games
and themselves better than ever in the
history of golf.
All things considered am inclined
TO think that the fact that the present
genius OF the game happens to be an
amateur is a good thing for the pro-
feSsionals, in that it stimulates interest
in the game among the hundreds of
thousands of amateur players who a1e
served by the professionals.
There is no telling who will be the
next genius Of golf. But it is certain
that that vast army of amateurs on
both sides of the Atlantic, which out
numbers the professionals by about 300
to l, has always produced and always
will produce a few outstanding stars,
although Bobby Jones outshineS them
all.
Perhaps the next genius Of the game
will be professional. But one thing
is certain, the next genius Of the game
will attain his high position not because
OF his being an amateur or professional,
but because he is great golfer.
Calls Attention to Error. /
Owing probably to their enthusiasm
over the playing of Jones, some writer's
have been DIT inaccurate in tEsir
summaries. Merely as a matter Of rec
ord these should be Strengthened out.
For example, 1 read in several reports
that Jones has won nine national cham
pionships, three United States oDenS,
two British opens and four United
States amateurs. I am credited with
six, four British and two United States
opens, but get no credit for i've United
States professional championships.
It also should be noted that If the
open championships had served as q
qualifying test for 80 places in a match
play championship, 80 professionals aid
2 amateurs would have made the grade
and furnished the competition. There
were at least 10 amateurs prominent in
the match play rounds of the natioral
amateur championships in recent years
who started at Winged Foot and failed
to be among the IS to qualify for the
final two rounds of play.
(Copyright, 1929 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance.)