Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-02

l|HE course of the Merton Cricket
Club, at Philadelphia, where
the national amateur cham
nionship Is to be played the
week of September "a, will not De
found to be as tough scoring PROPOSE
ton as many Of the layouts over which
the simon pure title event has been
played In recent years, in the opinion
of Miller B. STEVENSON, the Distrlc'
amateur champion, who played there
a few days ago. Albert r. Mackenzie
also holds the same view. He also
nlaved the course recently, In COM
nanv with ]. z. Baines and Hugh II.
Saum.
STEVENSON travels a good deal IN the
territory near washington and when ne
can see a few hours free in Philadelphia
he takes his golf clubs with MIN;
Merton. he says, has been rearrangeo
since the 1924 amateur championship
and is in wonderful condltlon tor Giie
simon pure test, but 1t is not as nara
fest of the game as some OF the otheT
courses on which the championship mas !,
been played in recent years. tnlLA,
stevenson said, you Will see the io"gsC
scoring at Merton you have seen IN Ciie
chamnionship in a good many years;
roth Mackenzie and STEVENSON de-
scrihed the fine condition the course Is
in. even though Philadelphia has naa
few rains and has gone through mucli
the same drought conditions that nave
made local golf courses almost sahara
from tee to green. Their lair"ay
watering system has done wonders III
keeping the fairways in fine condition,
Steyinson said. "And Merton always
has had good greens. Only last week,
when I played the course, Wooden-clun
Shots were getting very little roll ana
the ball stopped within few yaros
of where 1t hit. The fairways nave
been kept plentifully sprinkled WITH
water all Summer long, and the result
has been a fine stand of grass has re-
NAMED. It is a real pleasure to hit
shot through the fairway at Merton
these days after the hard turf OF the
courses around Washington"
Mackenzie also played at Pine VAL
lev, which he said Is In much the same
condition as Merton. Pine Valley also
has a fairway watering system, installed
at a cost of something like S85,OOO,
which keeps those expansive fairways
at Amerlc2S mOSL IaIllous BOlA CoulSS
in apple-pie order.
STEVENSON predicts q score of 1866 or
better will be needed to qualify for the
amateur championship at Merton in
September. He says the course is long
enough, and well trapped, but that
scoring, for some reason, Is not as hard
at Merton as 1t has been at other
courses where the championship has
been played. 1t will be recalled that
Clarke Corkran in 1924 set new rec
ord for the amateur championship
qualifying round when the champion
ship was last played at Merton, regis
| tering 67-75 for a score of 142. Here
1t was that Bob Jones broke into big
| time golf back in 1915, when, as q
youngster of IA years, he surprised the
| golf world, qualifying and going to the
third round In the championship. Here
also, in 1924, Jones won his first anna
teur title, finding that consistent pal
shooting was good enough to win his
way through the fine field that gath
cred at Philadelphia that year. 1t was
at Merton, also, that Roland MacKen-
zie came into national prominence fol
the first time, by carrying George Won
Elm to the thirty-seVenth hole, aftel
having been down to the Detroit
blond at the eighteenth hole. AND
here again next September Bob Jones
will attempt to complete the cycle OF
championships he began winning ir
Britain. He now has won three of the
four major tournaments. Will he find
Merton, which has always been to his
liking, the spot where ne started anc
where he won his first amateur, also