Evening star., 1931-06-18
SHORT PUTT MIS-.
SHOOK HIS NERVE
tg
Exciting Moments in British
Open RevieWed-Luck is
Needed to Win.
BY BERNARD DARWIN,
Noted English Golf Writer.

I think-in a rather con-
IL fused way-about the recent
British open golf champion
ship, the more I think it just about
the most exciting ever saw.
Never did more people seem to
have a chance at one time or an
other; never were so many unable
to grasp it.
In 1911 we had a championship
-one Of Vardon'S-where four or
five men actually teed up for the
last hole with real hope of win
ming. There had been nothing like
that year until 1881.
In nearly every championship there
Is one obvious man, and he the ultimate
winner, who must be watched getting
nearer and nearer to victory as the
holes are finished one by one in his
last round, till at last he breaks through
the ring Of spectators around the
eighteenth green to play the crowning
putt.
The last day at Carnoustie there were
at least f1ve men one wanted to watch,
and the little corner of the course by
the fir wood, where the seventh, eighth,
twelfth and thirteenth holes almost
converge, was a'whirlpool OF thrills and
rumors.
have one purely selfish ground Of
satisfaction over Tommy Armour's
great win-namely. that from the be-
ginning I bored all my party by telling
them he was the best golfer in the field.
watched him In one Of his practice
rounds and after that always wanted
to be watching him.
Faltered with Putter.
Such iron play. whether for grace or
effectiveness. am sure never saw be-
fore. The only doubtful element was
the quite short putt. Armour never
faced it with confidence. and sometimes
he missed 1t by wide margin.
believe I saw the one that nearly
lost him the championShip-at the
twelfth hole In the fourth round, when
he was going at such a pace that it
seemed as If nothing could stop him.
At the next hole he was so nervous
that he waggled and waggled over q
little pitch till the spectators had to
look the other way in sheer distress
until at long last he mastered himself,
laid the chip dead and went on his way
again rejoicing.
Talking with him afterward, I told
him I had seen those two shots, and he
said nobody could know how the miss
ing Of that short putt had shaken him.
He felt almost broken. and what saved
him, he said, was that his bad tee shot
to the next hole (the short thirteenth)
had avoided the heather and the bunk
ers and lay clear on the grass. II he
had not had the luck then. he thought
he was gone"
Patience Effective.
As It was. while he was trying to set
tie down to the chip. he thought Of
every conceivable thing in the world
and could not get down to thinking
only Of the ball and the hole. All the
more credit to him that he waited till
his too lively Imagination gave him q
little peace, and refused to play the
shot In hurry. Those two holes gave
me one Of the most interesting little
studies In psychology golf has sent my
way, and was lucky in being in the
right place at the right moment.
In the course Of the championship
Gene Sarazen made to me a remark
patiently obvious. but none the less pro-
1oundly true: "Il tell you, you've got to
have the breaks to win q thing like
this" Gene himself emphatically did
not have the breaks; If he had fancy
he would have won, and the same may
Oe SAID OF Johnny Farrel.
1t was ell question Of the wind,
which. by blowing little harder, can
turn at least three of the homecoming
holes at CarnouStie into par SIS. On
the Wednesday Of the championship |
the wind blew hard in the morning and |
dropped considerably In the afternoon: |
Thursday 1t did precisely the opposite. |
Sarazen and Farrell played their first |
round wednesday morning and their |
second Thursday afternoon; Armour
and Jurado did precisely the opposite.
The inference is obvious, though the
advantage to one couple and the dis
advantage to the other cannot be stated
In exact terms Of strokes.
Matter Of Lack.
Armour was wholly candid about Il.
Tor Thursday, with the final two rounds
to come, he said he had had the luck
pr the weather and had missed a chance
Of gaining clear lead. AS long as the
wind blows down the links these things
viii happen and one can only condole |
with those who get the worst of the |
blow.
Jose Jurados tragic seventeenth.
which lost him the prize, has been |
descr1ped at length, and will not go |
over the ground again. The fact that |
",
he almost completely missed the tee |
shot Is at once amazing and entirely |
natural. The strain is terrific, and |
something has to be missed sometime. |
The fortunate ones are those whose |
misses are not too calamitous.
All Of us in the crowd assumed |
Jurado knew what he had to do for |
those last three infinitely trying holes |
10 win. In point of fact I believe he |
lid not know; he had not asked, and, |
tightly enough, nobody volunteered the |
Information. It is easy enough now to |
say that had he known he would not |
nave taken six at the seventeenth, but |
t may be retorted that had he known |
he might have collapsed before.
It Is all question of individual |
temperament, and to my notion a man
bf Jurado's fiery emotions was better |
N ignorance. He is a most indomitable |
little hero, and while everybody was
glad to see Armour win, everybody was |
also sad to see Jurado lose, In the very |
ast lap, q chance that comes to most |
players only once In q lifetime. This |
golf Is . hard, cruel game.
Copyright, 1891, by North American News
paper Alliance, Incl