Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06

M of the five Washingto-
mans who are to compete
in the national open golf
championship at Minneapolis the
last three days of this Week?' Have
any of them a chance to win, or,
if not to win, have any of them
look-in to finish in the first 10?
The national open golf championship
Is the toughest, toughest golf scramble
known to the bunkered globe. The
British open title chase IS tough tour
nament to win, but the American open
is 20 per cent harder to cop. Out OF
the five Washingtonians-three OF tnem
professionals-who are IN Minneapolis
today practicing for the tourney, prob
ably none of them will finish in the
money positions, although golf is such
an odd game that the gent who hazaros
q prediction as to the winner in medal
play Cunless he guesses Bobby jones' Is
putting himself far out on a limb.
George Voigt. a Washlngton-oreo
amateur, who now is living In New
York, is our personal dark horse choice
to show well in the national open. Not
that George has packed lot OF open
championship experience into the !our
wears he has been q topnotch gol1er,
but because ne has that GOODNESS ana
precision under fire that carries gooo
nevous golfers of as good stroking aplI-
ity are apt to falter and flop.
L, Houghton, another Washington
hired lad. who has been the professional
at the Harper Country Club Tor nearly
two wears, should do well in his hrst
attempt at the national open. Houghton
is another lad who is able to control
his game in the crucial spots, but he
will be playing up in the big time Tor
the first time in his career, and the I'M
portance of the occasion may over
whelm him.
Better at Match Play.
Roland r. Mackenzie, Columbia
amateur star, may do well in the open,
hut medal play is not Roland'S strong
est point He revels in the man-to-
man. shot-for-shot contests at matcn
NAV but with the single exception OF
his victory in the qualifying. rouno OF
the national amateur championship OF
1925. Roland has not been at his best
IN the medal plav tests. He will do well
To qualify for the final day OF play,
where only the first so and ties VIII
make the grade for the 36-nole nome
stretch, where Bobby Jones knocks EN-
dead with mechanical accuracy anu
putting skill. -.
Woodnont and East Potomac Park'
respectively, also will be playing IN their
first national open championship, al.
though both are capable OF fine gol1
over their own bailiwicks. Thorn ana
Shorev qualified at Richmond a rev
weeks ago in the sectional tests Which
found Houghton leading the telo. 10
both it will be trip worth taxing
only for the experience.
Houchton has been up in the Dig
time before. With Fred Mcleod OF
Columbia, he qualified for the Profess
sional Golfers Association champion
shin at Los Angeles last Fall. Both ne
and Mcleod failed to make the grace
in the later qualifying round held In
California, in which the field OF 81 was
reduced to 80 for the match play
rounds Houghton went down to Pine.
hurst two Winters ago and shot 90
IN the North and South open, which
convinced him that he might keep up
a squirt of that kind and go somewhere
in the big time If we keep Roland
Hancocks 1928 stunt in mind, 1t Is not
outside the bounds of possibility that
lad like Houghton, who has the game
and the nerve to go the route, might
win. But it is a very remote prooaplI-
ity, to say the least. Thorn and
Shorey hardly have the scoring an4lty
to remain up there for four rounds OF
golf under the pressure that the open
championship exacts on those who play
in it. They may shoot good round
or two, but neither has proven himself
capable Of a sustained squirt over
72-hole route.
Voigt Probably Best.
vofgt, on the other hand. probably is
the best of the native WaShlngtonlans
who will play in the tourney, in so lar
as medal play is concerned. At match
plav he and Roland Mackenzie would
have a merry tussel, with the margin
going to the man who has his putting
Stroke In hand that day. But at medal
play Voigt has accomplished some stunts
the other Washingtonians have not
done. For example, two years ago ne
outstrinped a fine field Of amateurs and
professionals to win the Long Island
open. That same year he won the
qualifying round in the national anna
teur at Brae-Burn with mark OF l4S,
and he has won numerous medal play
tests in the South. Three years ago at
Oakmont Jimmie Johnston, the present
amateur champion, led the field in the
national open for the first two rounds
of play. It might be that either Roland
Mackenzie or George Voigt will md
his game at Interlachen this week and
do as we'll, or better.
In the long run Of 70 holes, however,
the gent with the soundest style and
the best nerve control Will win. Ana
who, Of all the men who will play in
the tournament this week, has demon
strated these two factors better than
Bobby Jones? Where, in all the history
of golf, has an entrant in a national
open been rated as good as 1-to-4
shot against the field? Yet that is
where Jones stands with the gamblers
any time he starts. Sound style, fine
nerve control and that Jones ability to
Nhin and INIT u.haY1 faIIf n1iHhf
lose a half dozen strokes around the
putting green's, pull him through where
the others falter.
Getting back to the washingtonians,
any Of them will do well to qualify for
the final day Of play and If one of them
finishes In the first 10 he will have
done exceptionally well.