Evening star., 1932-12-06
TITLE HUNT FUTILE
DESPITE FINE PLAY
One Time D. C. Star Baked
by Freaks of Game
in Major Meets.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

A GRlM and unrelentlng tate
" has dogged the heels OF
1 NJ George j. Voigt, since this
most famous of amateur
golfers produced in Washington
became ready for big-time golf
back in 1926 and 1927.
A winner of most of the minor
titles along the Atlantic sea-
board, member of two Walker
Cup teams, admittedly one of the
six finest amateur players in the
Nation, Voigt still has his first
major championship to win.
With the many fine young players
now coming up, fit and ready to de-
throne the champions of today, it Is
doubtful that the one-time GEAR" of
Washington amateur golf ever will win
the United States amateur title. The
former Brightwood "Dutchman" stands
today one Of the best of the amateur
golfers of the country, but If his record
In the past three amateur champion-
ships is to be taken as a yardstick, he
never will win the title he has sought
since 1926.
Twice in the American amateur
championship and once in the British
Simon-pure title chase Voigt has reached
the heights only to find some stronger
opponent barring the way. His strong
est bid for major championship came
In the British amateur of 1880. where
he was wiped out by Bobby Jones in
the relentless dash of the then pudgy
Georgian to four major titles In one
year.
Voigt has once reached the semi-final
in the American championship and
once has reached the third round.
XOIGT'S quest of the title started
v back in 1926 at Baltusrol and
ended, for the time being, with the
most phenomenal burst of golf ever
seen at major championship last Sep
tember at the Baltimore Country Club,
where the unlucky Voigt played the
first nine holes in two better than par
and found himself down to q 80 shot
by Francis Ouimet.
1t Is Of these unusual incidents of
championships that voigt's supporters
wall. And it does seem that George
has been singled out by the golfing
fates as the object of unusual solicitude.
Back in 1928 at Brae- Burn, this
straight-shooting product Of the WASH
ington public links won the medal In
the championship with q card of I43,
outstripping a star field of the worlds
finest Simon-pures. He advanced to
the semi-flnal, where Phil Perkins,
making his first start in the United
States title chase, overcame him.
A great blow came the following year
at Pebble Beach, where Voigt held the
inside track at all times in his third
round match against Harrison r. john
ston, only to lose on the thirty ninth
hole. In this match the turning point
was a shot hit by Johnston on one Of
the late holes which struck a tree be-
hind the green and came back onto
the putting surface.
Had Johnston lost that hole Voigt
probably would have gone on to win
the title, for Jones-greatest Of them
all-had been licked IN the first round
by Johnny Goodman.
THE following year voigt went up to
i Merton, after his last-hole beating
by Jones in the British amateur,
one OF the favorites to win. But up
there near Philadelphia, on that great
golf course, Charlie Seaver began to
show why the Pacific Coast ranked him
as a coming star. He caught Voigt OF
stride and walloped him by 2 and /.
Out at Beverly. near Chicago, In 1891,
win, particularly in q field which. for
the first time in many years. lacked the
dominance OF Bobby Jones. But George
again caught a comparative unknown
at the crest OF his game and went out
In the first round at the hands of an
inspired youngSter who never before
nor since has done anything worth
while in major championship.
Dick Martin, tow-headed kid from
Illinois. then big Ten" champion,
thew birdie after birdie at the imper-
turbable Voigt until the erstwhile
Washingtonian capitulated on the
seventeenth green
But the crowning blow of fate came
this year over the Five Farms course
OF the Baltimore County Club. Frances
Ouimet, the defending champion. had
barely qualified for the defense of his
title. Voigt had gotten in with strokes
70 spare. They met in the first round,
ana Ou1met. holing puts all over the
place, played the first nine holes in so
strokes.
When the match ended on the thir-
teenth green. Francis was seven under
par; Voigt himself was two under par.
Both probably would have broken a
course record had they kept on. But
IL was Vo1gt's fate again to catch a
competitor in an uncanny mood. No
man in the world could have stopped
Ou1met that day. Certainly Voigt could
not although he was under par when
the match ended.
GO the end Of the trail Is not vet In
~ sight for the former Columbia
Country Club caddie. He still has
his eye on a major championship.
Critics agree he has the game, the
temperament. everything 1t takes to win.
ana yet major title has eluded him.
The trail which began at Baltusroi
In 1925 has not yet ended with a title
for the 'Dutchman." With SO many
great youngsters coming up to the
championship. kids like Johnny Fischer,
John Goodman, Seaver. Blaney and
Moreland. the former Washingtonian
NAV never achieve his goal But he
would have been a champion-perhaps
more than once-if a relentless fate
had not camped on his trail.