Evening star., 1932-12-30
MANY MORE TITLES.
SEEN FOR CANADIAN
u. S. Amateur Ruler Rivals
Jones as a StyIist and
Can Slug Pill.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

TOR the first time in 81 years
r the amateur golf champion
/ ship has gone outside the
United States. From that
day back in 1911 at Apawamis,
when Harold Hilton bounced a
miss-hit approach shot off rock
TO win the 37th hole from Fred
HerreShof. until September II,
1882, the amateur golf champion
ship Of the United States re-
mained within the borders of this
country.
But c. Ross somerville, taciturn,
phlegmatic, stubby Canadian from the
little town Of London, Ontario, holds
the gold Havemeyer Trophy, marking
the first visit of the gold cup outside
the United States The original silver
Havemeyer Trophy travelled with Hill
ton to Britain in 1911, but the new
gold cup, presented to the United
States Golf Association in 1929 to re-
place the original trophy, destroyed by
fire, has gone outside the United States
1or the first time.
IT Is held by one of the finest strokers
i Of q golf ball. and one Of the finest
shotmakers among the amateurs OF
the world man who will win many
more championships in years to come
II YOU can believe the professionals who
have watched Sandy Somerville per-
form over the last dozen years. Fred
Mcleod Of Columbia and Sandy"
Armour Of Congressional both are par
Etcularly sweet on Somerville. These
tvo masters OF the game see In the
victory Of this sturdy Canadian the
rightful possession Of a championship
which should go to the man with the
best golfing style. And, furthermore,
Freddie backed his opinion with real
money, He didn't do badly at Five
Farms last September. where he backed
Somerville all the way to win. Nor
did A. McCook Dunlop of Chevy Chase,
for Cookie" bought Somerville In q
club house pool at IS to / against the
taciturn Canuck
Ross Somerville undoubtedly is one
OF the finest strokers of the golf ball
who ever has held the amateur cham
pionship. About his work the golf
course there Is none of the slopplneSS
and wild hitting that has marked a
few OF our champions over the past 20
years.
LIE plays more like professional
i i than any winner in recent years
with the exception Of Jones. There
Is no wasted effort, no wasted time in
Somerville's game He simply steps up
and hits that ball with one of the
sweetest golfing swings you ever have
seen AS a Stylist Ross Somerville, in
our judgment, comes as close to the
Jones ideal as any competitor in the
amateur championship over the past
two decades He swings at golf ball
very much like Tommy Armour, and
Tommy Is conceded to be as great a
st2list as Jones. Feet close together,
arms held close to body particularly
the right ARM, Somerville takes a COM
Portable stance with the ball well for
ward toward the left heel He pre-
serves that position during the swing
itself. carefully keeping that right elbow
tucked In closely against his ribs. No
danger of Someryille ever becoming a
wild hooker. His swing Is too compact
for that He was the Smoothest swinger
of all the men who played in the cham
pionship at Five Farms. His iron work
bears all the earmarks that showed in
the criSpness of the George Won Elm
of 1924, 1925 and 1926, when Won Elm
WAS LIle 1lIlcSG II O4l pldyCl AIMING hAiiSi
lean amateurs. But Somerville has
something on Won Elm. for the Cali
fornian had the suggestion Of a sway
In all his long shots.
~OU could search for days and not
L find a sway anywhere in the Som
erVille swing. From the tee Ross
eomerville Is not spectacular hitter.
He is plenty long enough, but he does
not cut loose with the spectacular wal
lops of Guilford or Fischer. Just
the same he moved down the gargan-
tuan Guilford in the semi-finals by
2 and 6, knocking the ball with mo-
potonous regularity straight down the
center for distances up to $50 yards.
Somerville might have won the cham
pionship before 1882 had Jones not been
in the field blocking his path as he
has blocked the path of SO many hopeful
youngsters. You can't deny golf form,
and Somerville has it il ever a cham
pion had 1t. He first qualified for the
amateur championship at Brae Burn
IN 1928. where he licked Frank Dolp in
the first round and lost to John B.
Beck Of the British Walker Cup team
In the second round We recall his
performance in 1890, the year of the
Jones grand slam in golf, where Somer-
vile played the first nine holes at
Merton in IS and was down to Jones,
who beat him by and 4, with par
left at the fourteenth for 81. And
in the very next round Jones had that
Srst round in 43. Suppose he had put
on that game against Somerv1lle'S 35?
COMERVILLE qualified for the cham
- pionship again at Chicago last year.
beat Gene Homans in the first round
And then fell to Fay Coleman of Cali
fornia in the second round. In other
words, before winning this year, he
never had gone past the second round.
But in between he won four or five
Canadian amateur championships, q
North and South championship, at
Pinehurst, and multitude OF other
tournaments. Somerville comes through
Washington every Winter and OCCASION
ally stops over and plays at Chevy Chase
and Washington. Probably he will do
it this year. If he does, those Capital
golf bugs who are fortunate enough to
see him will witness one Of the smooth
est swings In existence. A long hitter
when he needs to be? Yes, he is. We
watched him pole one over the trees
to the green at the seventeenth at
washington three or four years back,
sinking the putt for an eagle deuce
against Maurice McCarthy's 5. This
United States amateur champion is no
flash In the pan. He Is real golfer
with all the Shots and he'll be hard
man to beat from now on.