Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-26
Wins MANY MONEY
EVENTS THIS YEAR
Plays Brilliantly to Take
P. G. A. Tourney-Star
in st. Louis Meet.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

M minor matter Of settling
' Y on the ranking profess
sional golfer Of the year
based on achievement, 1t seems
to us that tall, lank Scot, who
used to uncork his languid golf
swing at Congressional Country
Club, deserves top ranking among
the gents who say 1t with open
palms, considering that golf Is
their livelihood
BY any count, Tommy Armour.
the "savvy" war veteran who used
to pump machine gun bullets
across trench parapets for the
right to live and now pumps tee
shots and iron shots at distant
pins for the right to win at golf,
must be classed as the leading
professional of the year, although
on two counts his record Is below
that of Macdonald Smith.
Mac Smith finished second to Bobby
Jones in both the American open and
Diegel for second place in the last
named event. But Tommy Armour won
| the Professional Golfers Association
match play championship, the Cana
dian open title, the st. Paul open, the
st. Louis open and finished second in
the North and South. No other pro
approaches this record for consistency,
and on this winning showing Tommy
Armour must be accorded the place or
leading pro of the year on the threshold
| Of the start of the Winter season.
In Big Money Class.
Armour holds down the berth as pro
at the Tam O'Shanter Club of Detroit,
a Summer playground for millionaires,
and he does not fare any worse in the
Winter, for during the cold months he
Is the mentor at the Boca Ration Club,
near Palm Beach, where ample money
| is necessary to enter the portals. Ru-
NOR has It that If Tommy goes on the
way he Is going he will be a millionaire
himself within five years, for he Is
mixed up with the L. A.. Young Co. OF
Detroit and hasn't done 50 badly in
the matter Of picking up cash prizes
| over the past year.
Tommy turned on the heat in two big
| tournaments this past Summer, winning
the Canadian open and the st. Louis
open by such fast golf that none OF his
competitors could stand the pace. In
the st. Louis open he played "a holes
in IL strokes better than par. Hagen
played the distance in 10 better than
par and finished second. Tonmy's
scoring In the Canadian open was al
most as good. II we remember cor
rectly, he had one round over 10.
Up at the P. G. A. championship at
Fresh Meadow, where some folks re-
garded Tommy as an interloper, since
he failed to qualify in the sectional
tests around Detroit, he played ten 10
hole match play rounds over $500
yard course and only once was over 10.
He scored o 76 in one round, but there
after was u or better.
Ed Dudley, the Wilmington pro. who
, Is to be with Tommy at Boca Ration
during the coming Winter, says that
Armour's putting has improved con-
siderably this year. His putting always
has been the weakest point OF his
game, but Tommy Is like Chick Evans
used to be. He knocks them so close
with the iron clubs that most OF MS
puts are for brides or eagles. Even
so, his putting is the weakest part
Of his game. II Tommy couio puts
like Jones no other professional would
be close to him in scoring.
Made Pros Dizzy.
In the open championship Armour
led the field for the FIRST round ana
then faded away under the blazing
heat at Interlachen to fnish SKIN.
He did not play in the British open,
But he went into Canada and won
the open championship Of that prov.
ince by so many strokes the rest OF
the pros were dizzy trying TO follow
him around. And he did the same
thing at st. Louis and st. Paul.
Tommy has thrown his hat IN the
ring so often and has come OUT tne
winner so often that he must be gwen
top place in the ranking among the
pros, His p. q. A. championship aione
might entitle him that place, but, IN
addition. he has proved his superiority
| in the other events. Down at Pine
hurst last March only the width .o1
| q putter blade kept Tommy rom US
| ing with Paul Runyan. Az tne sev. Nv.
short of the sand and kicked at right
angles, where a good kick would have
left him a putt for 2. and the bad
Kick gave him hard-earned 4.
Tommy came to this country IN
| 1919. as secretary of the Westminster"
Biltmore Country Club, at Rye, n. Z.
He played around New xork as S.e an
Shamnionship. with indifferent sue
cess. But he turned pro in the WIN.
ter of 1924, saw TO it that ne mao
nIenty of time for practice ana mas
moved along at such fast pace since
that few of the boys have been
able to keep track of the flying Scot
His rise is q first-rate example OF
golf game with fine foundationa
developed by practice to the poinG
where 1t Is wellnigh perfect. IouaS
he is at the very top of his profession
and he seems to- be getting better.