New Britain herald., 1930-09-24
FIRST ROUND OF AMATEUR TOURNEY Match Play Begins Today at
 MeriOn Cricket Club

pion eliminated. a carry-over play off and the list of pairings dotted with five members of the bye fam ily," utter strangers to national golf competition, the S4th annual anna teur championship. reached the match play stage today,
 When darkness settled over the Merion course at the close of the two-day qualifying test only "A of the 16S starters had settled their right beyond dispute to places among the select. A play-off among Il players tied at 155 proved only partially successful. The list of quail if1ers was increased to 27 but six men still remained seeking five places.
 AS a result of this indefinite early evening test the pairings were an nounced with the unidentified bye boys scattered through it, today's play giving the byes identities.
 This was the first time in the 34 years of the championship that . oo llole loldl OL 100 was HoI 6oOu enough to enter the match play con- tests without additional effort.
 A burst of low scores in the late afternoon scrapped the ranking list of the United States Golf association and tossed many we'll known golfers ino the discard so far as this title quest is concerned.
 The leading casualty was Harri son R. Johnston, the defending champion. After a distressing S3 in his first round. Johnston came back with a good 73 in the second for a 36 hote total of 156, just one shot too many to enter the play-off. Not since 1910 when Bob Gardner was the victim, had a champion been unceremoniously removed from the competition before the real firing started
 The U. S. G. A. ranking was cor rect in one particular. It placed Robert T. Jones No. 1 and he justi- fled the faith by winning the medal, no novelty for him, with a score of 142 made up of scores of 69-73. Bob had a chance to make a new qual- flying record but he slipped a stroke over par on the two finishing holes.
 Of the seeded stars in addition to Johnston, Cyril J. H. riley. former British amateur champion, and Don K. Moe. Walker cup player. fell by the wayside, and Jess Sweetser, No. 10, had en enter the playoff. The losses in the seeded "second ten' in cluded Frank Dolp, H. Chandler Egan. Max Marston and Roland Mackenzie with Maurice Mccarthy, Jr., who needed his hole-in one scored Monday, thrust into extra inning play.
 The pairings brought an interna- tional battle at the outset when Bobby Jones drew C. Ross Somer- vile, Canadian amateur champion, as his opponent.
 George Von Elm started with Charles D. Hunter, Jr., and George Voigt drew Lester Bolstad, former big 10 star. John Lehman, western amateur champion, was bracketed with Phil Perkins, former British champion, now a New Yorker. Two far westerners, Dr. o. F. Willing, Portland, Ore, and William Lawson Little, San Francisco, were paired. The veteran Francis Ouimet, former open and amateur champion, drew Charles Kocsis, 1S-year- old Detroit er leading amateur in the western open and brother of the metropoli- tan professional champion.
 Little, Willing, Gus Novotny, Eu- gene Romans. Charles Reckner, J. Wood Platt, Lehman, Perkins, Voigt, Bolstad, Don Armstrong. Charles Seaver, William F. McPhail, Sidney w. Moves, Jr., Kocsis and Ouimet constituted the upper bracket.
 In the incomplete lower bracket were Von Elm, Hunter, Phillips, Fin lay, George T. Dunlap, Jr., the inter- collegiate champion, Jones, Somer- vile, Fred G. Holitzel. Toronto, FL lis Knowles. Fay Coleman and John Goodman, with five names to be added.
 If Jones wins his first two matches and Goodman gets by his first ef- forts. the triples champion and the boy who eliminated him last year will meet in the third round.
 The record breaking play-off, II men trying for eight places. started at o'clock (E. S. ID and was re- cessed an hour later, with Somer- Vile, Finlay and Seaver getting places, Chick Evans and Leonard Martin of New York, eliminated and Jess Sweetser, Eddie Driggs and Maurice Mccarthy of New York David W. Ward, Grand Rapids Mich. Jack Ahearn, Hamburg. N f., and Watts Gum, Pittsburgh carrying on.