Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-12
NEW CHAMP KEPT
AWAY FROM SKIES"
Travelled 119 Holes in Open
Before Getting Worse
Than a Five.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

4 ClenC Time mas elapsed 10
permit a calm resume of
the lengthy and torrid struggle
for the open championship at
Inverness, it stands out at one
and the same time as the finest
and most sensational tournament
ever played for the title which
Bobby Jones relinquished after IL
years of work up there in the
front-line trenches.
Several conclusions come to mind
about that tournament, among them
the fact that Billy Burke, with his eff
fortress and unorthodox swing, was a
natural to win the tournament over
such tight" course as Inverness.
The terrors of the Inverness rough
were not exaggerated. 1t was rough
and no mistake. When such golfers as
Farrell and Won Elm lost shot or two
getting out of this tough timothy hay,
the troubles of the average dufTer may
be understood The championship was
mcnt axiom, Keep away from SKIES
and you stand good chance to WIN"
Billy Burke went 1l9 holes before he
kicked up his first six He played 70
holes in the championship proper with
out 6, then played the first 36-hole
play-off without 6 and went on to
the twelfth hole of the first round of
the second play-off before he finally
wrote down figure above on his
ax,i< 81 hox
something to it, after all.
EVEN in the play-off the wise old
~ heads that knew the game of both
players figured Burke to win. He
Is too straight with wood and iron, too
close to the line at all times, for man
like Won Elm to hold on" they said.
Put them on wider course, where
the penalty for shot off the line Is
not so severe and 1t would be a toss
up But on course like Inverness,
where straightness is the real test. Billy
Burke should win" Now, George Won
Elm has a fine swing He is naturally
a long hitter, but he has bit Of body
swing in his full shots, well con-
trolled sway, to be sure, but a sway
nevertheless. And a sway is certain 10
cause trouble along the bunkered path.
just as he found it on the fourteenth
IlOle Oh Tie Iuldl NIIcLc eOl
into the hay and took while Burke
was going into the lead with par 4.
Over such a course Burke should win
every time.
The boys looked as If neither of them
cared a great deal for the champion
ship as the lead vaScillated between
them over those two play-offs for the
title First Burke would get lead,
then Won Elm would pick it up and go
iy,fO 6n Dor
on the hop all along the route. No one
knew when the fireworks would start.
In the first play-off Burke had four
stroke lead going to the sixth hole
of the afternoon round. But his tee
shot hit a tree. he took S, and Won
Elm got birdie 3. and two shots had
been Topped off. Then Won Elm picked
up another birdie on the seventh to
for Burke and they were even. But
Georges hot streak was not yet burned
out. He got down 40-foot putt for a
deuce at the short eighth for his third
straight birdie, while Burke was taking
a 4. and Won Elm led by two shots.
margin which he protected by halving
the long ninth in birdie 4. Then
Burke whitfield steadily away at the
lead and finally led him by shot go
ing to the sixteenth, where the Pole
from Connecticut had the chance to
failed. Here he missed a 4-foot putt
for birdie and Won Elm squared on
the eighteenth with 12-footer for his
birdie 3.
60 it went through both play-offs
- First lone man and then the other
would go into the lead as a pop-eyed
gallery wondered if there ever was to
come an end to the vacillationS in the
score. A tired Billy Burke shot II on
the first round of the second play-off to
let Won Elm lead him by one shot with
18 yet to go. Plainly weary from the
long grind, Billy looked ready to crack.
How he cracked Is shown by the fact
that he played the first four holes of
the afternoon round in two better than
par, and with ordinary putting luck he
might have played them In 3, 3, 2, 3.
which would be four better than par.
On none of these holes was the putt
for a birdie longer than seven feet.
and only two of them dropped. That
start took all the wind out of Won Elm.
but the plucky blonde fought back and
squared the match again and again.
No doubt about it. that play-off was the
biggest thrill in golf this year. One of
the crucial spots came at the short
thirteenth. where Burke. with a one
stroke lead, put his tee shot in a bunker
ana Won ElIIl lelJ IlIIlSGll Only ~
footer for a bird 2. Here the situation
might change in an eye-wink. Won Elm
might hole his bird and Burke might
take S. But Won Elm missed and got
3 and Burke got 4 and the match
was square. And at the fourteenth
George made the excursion into the
tiger country that cost him a stroke
Billy had to hole Sloping saven-footer
on the fifteenth green to protect his
lead. and he holed it. And then George
blew a -half-footer on the
sixteenth to give Burke a two-stroke
lead with two holes to go. How well
Burke protected that lead! He knew
that to put his second shot past the pin
at the sloping seventeenth green might
cause him three puts and he deliber-
ately played it short. His approach
putt left him only two inches from the
hole. But George had an eight-footer
for a 3. He had to go for the hole and
he had to be sure to get down in two
puts To go too strong might lose an
other stroke and toss the championship
out the window. Under the circum-
stances to hole that putt would have
been miraculous, and George had al
ready holed two miracle puts. He
missed and Burke had a two-stroke
margin with one hole to go. He took
three puts on the eighteenth for 5.
but he could afford to do that, after
Won Elm had holed his 4.
A great tournament and a great ex-
hibition of gameness and courage by
both men along the route where a
blow-up CT tense nerves and jumpy
muscles might not have been altogether