Evening star., 1931-12-25
CAMPAIGN ON LINKS.
Is STUDDED
Pit, Drain, Bones, Armour
band Howell Figure in Local
| High Lights of Season.
BY W. r. McCALLUM.

GIllptSluOuS COURSE VI COiu-
i petitive golf throughout the
year which is drawing to a
close, as some 100000 golfers of
all degrees of skill knocked the
vanishing balloon" ball toward
faraway pins on hundreds of golf
courses scattered throughout the
land.
To travelling golf reporter who fol-
lowed the major championship trail as
1t started back in July at Inverness and
continued through the dog-fght at
Beverly near Chicago, two high spots
stand out over the season. These were
the two lengthy puts made by George
Ven Elm to tie Billy Burke for the Ma
tIonal Open at Inverness. and the gall
liant stand by Francis Ouimct at CHI
CagO which won for h m the amateur
Championship after a lapse of II years.
There were plenty of thrills in the
national field, but local golf supplied
its share, for the year started off right
here in the neighborhood of the Capt.
tai with one of the biggest thrills any
golf gallery ever saw.
Young Jimmy Drain, in the opening
tournament of the season, supplied 1t
when he obtained three brides in
row, starting at the fourteenth hole to
win the final round of the Washington
Golf and Country Club tourney, wind
ing up this startling exhibition with
20-foot putt for his third birdie on
the sixteenth green to win the match.
In many ways that was the finest
exhibition of golf shown throughout the
year, but there were plenty of other
high lights for those gOlf-WiSe galleries
who followed the tournament trail
throughout the season.
Pitt Figures in Two.
For example, who ever will forget the
laSt-ditch stand of Harry G. Pitt against
Gordon F Wood when the Manorite
was down with s to play and won
the second-round match in the Colum-
bia tourney on the second extra hole?
And on the following day how Harry
Pitt and Billy Howell battled f8 holes
in the final, with Pitt l up playing
the eighteenth. and his mighty tee
shot that really settled the argument.
That tee shot was one of the finest
ever hit under any condition. 1t
travelled fully 300 yards and left Pitt
just a short pitch from the green He
won the whole to win the match by
up.
Tommy Bones. the COLUMBIA southpaW.
always cOntrlveS to stick in a thrill or
two each year. Tommys biggest this
year came on the ninth hole at Manor,
the eighteenth Of a match in which he
and Miller B Stevinson were playing
Harry Pitt and Al Treder of Manor.
Here Bones second shot on this par 5
affair came to rest only three feet rom
the hole, and nearly holed for a deuce
1t won the match. l up.
The National Canital omen furnished
some thrills. too. What greater thrill
could be imagined than that of Tommy
Armour playing the first nine twice in
33 strokes. the second time to Gquare
with Willie MacFarlane. with nine holes
to go, only to lose six strokes 10 the
flying MacFarlane over the last nine.
Howell's Fine Iron Shot.
Who that saw the Middle Atlantic
championship this year will ever forget
Billy HoWell's iron shot on the first hole
of the final round at Princess Anne?
The tWo-headed kid from Richmond
stuck a long iron within two feet of the
hole to register an eagle 3 against his
opponents birdie as the opening gun
in his successful campaign to win the
mld-Atlantic two years in a row
Seven thousand people banked around
the eighteenth green at Inverness saw
the blond-thatched Won Elm stroke the
eight-foot putt that gave him birdie
3 to tie with Billy Burke for the ma
tiOnal open. and saw him StS<ger off the
green and lie down under pressure too
great for even his iron nerves to stand.
And almost as many saw him hole n
tenfOoter the next day to tie again.
Those were the greatest golf thrills of a
year Of them.
Not so many saw what regard as the
Shnt Of ho hy pi11,y
Howell on the thirty fifth hole of his
semi-final match in the national anna
teur against Francis Ouimet. One down
with two to go against Ouimet the
Richmond youth pushed his tee shot
into bunker. while Ouimet put his
ball on the green twenty feet from the
hole. Thnn Howell Waded into the
bunker and plaved so magnificent a ghot
that it hit the back of the cup and very
nearlv holed out.
Did YOU try to hole that one?" We
asked Billy. Yes" he said. for I knew
Francis would hole his putt if didn't"
And that is exactly what Francis did
Funniest Spot of Year.
The funniest spot of the year came
In this same amateur championship,
where little Paul jackson of Kansas
City won from big Fred Wright of
bOStOlI III d GLOkJICdl OON WIlPTe
both took three shots to get the ball
in the hole from distance of 10 feet,
and Jackson finally won the par hole
and the match with against
Wright's 8. The green was covered
with moving sheet of water and
10-Inch putt was a real problem
Nor will those who saw Arthur c.
Yates play the eighteenth hole against
Charlie SeaVHr forget Yates approach
shot to the green, which won him the
match. In the middle of the fairway.
$50 yards from the green, and behind
a big bunker, the gigantic Yates played
maShie niblick shot to within feet
of the hole. Yes, a maShie niblick and
it won the match.
Truly. the old year about to pass
into history provided thrills all along
the bunkered pathway. But have you
noticed that no course records have
been broken around Washington this
year with the big ball?
DUDOLPH T. HARRELL. the shep-
IN herd of the flock of Washington
Golf and Country Club members
who make an annual trip to Virginia
Beach over the Washingtons birthday
holiday, has started his campaigning
early this Winter. Harrell has posted
on the club bulletin board a schedule
for the proposed trip in February, 1882.
and is soliciting candidates. Last year
some 25 Washington members made
the trip and enjoyed themselves hugely.