Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-04
X-WASHINGTONIAN
NOW HIGH RANKER
George Given Three Years
to Win Amateur Before
Age Slows Him.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

1 Y placed themselves outside
the pale of amateur golf
competition, who will be the out
standing figure in simon-pure
golf in 1882 viii ever another
figure like Jones come along to
dominate the amateur golf world
like a colossus? And is it possible
that a former Washington boy,
who learned the game on the pub
lie courses of the National Capt.
tai, will become the 1881 amateur
champion?
The tip-off on these possibilities is
contained in glance back at the 1880
ranking list, published by the United
States Golf Association in the form of
the names used in seeding the draw for
the 1880 amateur championship. This
seeded list virtually is a ranking list of
amateurs. Jones was seeded first, Won
Elm second end Harrison r. Johnston
third, with George Voigt seeded fourth.
Then came DIR. 0. F.. Willing. John
Goodman, Francis Ouimet, Don Moe
and Jess Sweetser. It is beside the
point that only Jones and Sweetser sur
vived the first day Of match play in
the fracaS at Merton, which went to
show that ranking lists are more or less
guessing contests. But 1t is important
that on the 1880 ranking list, made
before the amateur championship was
played, George Voigt was placed fourth
and that on that list as 1t stands to-
day, amended by the retirement of the
top pair, he must stand second. And
II Is also important that most critics
Of the game, who have seen them all
come and go, would place Voigt at the
top this year.
AnybOdy's Guess Goes.
So many things have happened since
the Merton championship that one
mans guess is as good as another. But
here is how we would rank the first six
golfers for 1881, based on their 1880
showings: No. l, Eugene Romans,
runner-up to Jones last year; No. 2,
Charlie Seaver, semi-finalist; No. 3, Jess
w. Sweetser, Semi-f1nalist; No. 4, Maui
rice J. Mccarthy, conqueror of Won
Elm in q 28-hole match; No. 5, George
j. Voigt, who lost in the second round,
and No. 6, Francis Ouimet, who also
lost on the first day of play. With
Jones and Won Elm out, every mans
guess Is as good as his brothers, but
certainly George Voigt is as good q
golfer as any man in this group. Re-
member that Johnston beat him on the
thirty-ninth hole in the semi-final of
the 1929 championship and that Jones
went to the final hole to beat him at
st. Andrews in the semi-flnal of the
British amateur last year. BY any
count George Voigt is in the first six.
and, according to many Of the sports
writers who have watched him over the
last three or four years, he is today the
outstanding golfer among the men who
enter in tournaments with the prefix
"Mr." Whether he will win his anna
teur championship this year, or any
other year, is an open question, for
Voigt Is not q Jones, no matter what
the optimistS say. There has been only
one master, and Voigt and the rest are
far from him in everything that goes
to make up the great one that is Jones.
Fatigue Hit Mccarthy.
Romans beat Seaver in the semi
final last year after Seaver, the blonde
giant from California, had the match
In the bag, and should have won COM
fortably on the thirty-fourth green.
Mccarthy lost to a fighting Jess
Sweetser, but it was a tired Irishman
who dropped the decision to the former
national champion. Maurice Mccarthy
was just plain tagged out from the
strain of that overtime battle against
ouSly beaten Voigt, holding the taciturn
ex-Washington caddie safely at all
stages of the match. But we are in
clined to believe that Voigt took the
coast boy too lightly and that if he
had started earlier he might have won
that match.
George Voigt is somewhere In the
neighborhood of SO years old. He must
win the championship soon, if he is
To univ At al -
pleneSS and snap out of trained muscles
quickly after the IS mark is passed.
Doc" Willing to the contrary. And
Voigt never has been what one might
call the most robust entry in the field
At guess it might be safely pre-
dicted that George Voigt will win the
amateur championship sometime within
the next three years and that he will
De given formidable opposition by the
Seavers, the Romans, the Noes and the
McCarthyS, even If Jones does not
return to the fold Certainly Voigt
Is as good performer as any Of
the other top notchers. 1t is only
question OF whether, at his age, he
can stand the grind and keep his
keen edge for six days. He used to be
able to do it when he was winning
golf tournaments around washington
so fast. but time may have taken its
ClAdAlDlOllSIlIIJ
were held in the Spring George Voiet
would be very likely to win it, for he
plays his best golf in the Spring. But
If he doesn't win soon he won't win
at all.
Maurice Mccarthy is not far from
the top. The F1atbush Irishman needs
only to overcome those fraying nerves
to go far along the road that leads
to a national title I remember last
year after that Won Elm match how
Maurice told me he hadn't slept wink
the night before. He played the last
20 holes Of that match on his nerve,
and Won A more philosophic atti-
tude toward the game might bring him
through, although Just at present he
seems to lack the fnesse of Voigt.
SWeetser may win again, but he also
is aging. Ouimet, the grand old vet
eran and certainly the most popular
golfer among the amateurs today, seems
to lose his stamina and keenness after
the second day of play. Seaver and
Romans. Moe and Mccarthy. Voigt
and Fay Coleman seem to be the boys
who will do the winning in 1881. And