Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-08

LUSHING, L. J., September 8.
r. A wide-open battle is
promised in the Professional
Golfers Association cham
pionship, the qualifying rounds of
which began at the Fresh
Meadow Country Club near here
this morning. For the past 10
years the P. G.. A. has been thor
oughly monopoliZed by Walter
Hagen, Gene SaraZen and Leo
Diegel. Hagen failed to qualify
for this championship and the
field shapes up strongly enough
to prevent Sarazen and Diegel
from becoming too outstanding
as favorites.
There are at least 20 players in the
qualifying field of "a who have the
game and fame to go far in the cham
pionship, If they happen to be hot this
week, and there are several others, just
coming to the top of their games, who
may furnish something of surprise
party for the old-line favorites.
Lacey New One.
One of the new stars is Charlie
Lacey Of Pine Valley. Not long over
from England, Lacey gave good dem
onstration of par playing in the early
rounds of the national open and has
done well in subsequent tournaments.
He has good sound game and fine
temperament for the competitive side
of golf and is going to be heard from.
Lacey does most of his practicing at
Pine Valley, and after the New Jersey
layout any course seems easy.
Both SaraZen and Diegel are playing
well and may be the flnalistS unless
they are thrown together along the way.
There Is no seeding in the P. G. A.
pairings and the stars meet all the way
along the line instead of being saved
for the final rounds. Sarazen never
has played particularly well over Fresh
Meadow, his home course, but he Is
hot after victories in the Western open
and Lannin Memorial, and If he puts
well will be hard to down. Diegel has
worked his game into robust condi-
lions and will make a great fight to re-
tain the title he won in 1928 and 1929.
The field was to play SO holes of
medal play today, with 80 to qualify
for the match rounds that will consume
the remainder of the week. Fresh
Meadow is long and demands straight
shots, but, with the ground still hard,
There are some corking good holes at
Fresh Meadow. The sixteenth measures
5S7 yards, and it is going to take two
powerful wooden shots to put the player
In position for a good pitch to the
green. Not only must the players be
long there, but also straight, for there
Is plenty of trouble on both sides. The
NTH is 578 yards and slightly doglegged.
It has trouble along the edges of the
fairway, with water hazard thrown in.
Hook Is Fatal.
The third Is an odd hole. It Is only
S9l yards, but 100 yards of the carry
from the tee Is over an adjoining farm,
and the owner of the farm-so the story
goes-careS nothing for golf and less
for golfers chasing over his land look
ing for stray shots. So a hooked ball
Is just o lost ball and nothing else.
Fresh Meadow greens are in superb
condition, but very tricky, and not all
Of the trouble is past once the player
reaches the carpet. It is doubtful If
anything over 154 will be worth much
when the qualifying scores are checked
In.
The absence of Hagen and several
other top-ranking pros from the field
will lead the p. G. A. to change its
present system Of sectional qualifying or
else give the Metropolitan district great
er number of players. It has been sug-
gested that the first 81 professionals in
the national open, plus the defending
champion, automatically qualify for the
p. G. A. And there have been other
ideas submitted. The P. G. A. will con-
slider all of them at It's annual meeting.
and some sort of change will be made
before the 1881 championship.