Evening star., 1932-11-27
CAN OBTAIN EVENT
INNEXTF|VE YEARS
Ruling Body Breaks Away
From Policy of Favoring
Big Cities.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

~ ship for washington WITHIN
n five years, preferably the
amateur championship, is
not an idle dream, nor is it a
fancy which never can come true.
1t can be obtained within half a
decade, and could have been had
this year if one of the big local
golf clubs had gone after it
strong enough. For the United
States Golf Association plainly is
opening up in its policy of award
ing championships, as against the
old time custom of sending the
title tournaments only to cities
which are regarded as centers of
the game
Fifteen years ago the championships
had a habit of going only to the larger
cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, De-
troit. But Of late years and particular
ly during the last ten years this Gus
tom has been outmoded. Next year the
amateur championship goes to Gin
cinnati, a town which never has seen
h lldJOA GNG4lJ. 1AlC OPNAA SAAdAAtPNOAAoAAAk
has been played in the last 10 years
at such small places (from the stand
point of populatjon) as Columbus, Ohio,
and Worcester, Mass. The amateur
championship has been played at Balti-
more. city only about twice the size
of Washington.
THE National Capital, hotbed of
i golf by any standard, is ready for
another big championship event,
and if one of the big local clubs like
Chevy Chase, Columbia, Congressional,
or Burning Tree. wants the tourney,
it can get it. The U. S. G. A. is
sympathetic to Washington fo- title
tourney. It's officials have said so in so
many words.
Only twice in golf history has Wash
ington seen a major championship
played on its own doorstep. Back in
1908, when golf was a game of red
blazers and tradition, long before it
became the highly competitive sport
it is today, the women'S championship
was played at Chevy Chase, then one
of the four clubs operating around
Washington. And eleven years ago, in
1921, the national open was played at
Columbia. This tournament marked
the first-and last time-a President of
the United States has taken an active
part in the prize presentation. The
gracious Warren G. Harding, himself an
ardent golfer, presented the prize checks
in that memorable ceremony out there
on the lawn at Columbia.
Since 1908 golf has broadened greatly
around Washington. Even since 1921
the game has moved forward by leaps
and bounds. Back in 1921 such clubs
as Manor, Congressional, Indian Spring,
Beaver Dam and Burning Tree were
only ideas.
TODAY they are actualities, and all
l. of them boast fine golf courses. At
least two Of them have courses good
enough for a national championship,
while a little energetic work on the
part of the others could transform their
courses into championship layouts. But
Burning Tree, according to spokes-
man for the club, is not ready for
national, even though many folks ac-
claim the layout as the best around
Washington. DR.. Walter S. Harlan,
VINO knows golf as few men know it,
says Burning Tree is too easy for a
national, even though most of those
who have played che layout think it far
from a Set-up
OF all the layolIts, from the stand
point of plant equipment, available
space, accessibility and quality of golf,
Columbia, Chevy Chase and Congress
sional stand out as the clubs which
are best fitted for a national cham
pionship. There is no evidence, how
ever, that either Columbia or Chevy
Chase have any thought of bidding for
a national. But Congressional officials,
while they do not say SO in so many
words, have an idea b, ok in their minds
that some day their club may see a
national. They we're approached late
in 1880 for the 1882 national amateur,
but at that time they deemed their
course not in sufficiently good condition
to stage a national tournament. Since
that time various improvements have
been made in the course, and with
changes in line for succeeding years,
Congressional five years hence may ind
itself in a favorable position to bid
for a major title tourney.
THIS business of holding national
l. championships is lot Of bother
and work to the club, and it is
only matter of agreement by the club
members as to whether they are willing
to accuStom themselves to inconvenience
for such a tourney that decides whether
a club will ask for such an event. That,
and the little matter of having golf
course up to championship standard.
which is not SO easy to attain. But
the financial returns will not find the
club in the red" even in these days
when a Bobby jones is lacking to draw
a big crowd at the gate. The Baltl-
more Country Club, which staged this
years national amateur without Jones,
over q course at least II miles from
downtown Baltimore, reached only by
motor. wound up with something like
a surplus of $4,000 over expenditures.
They put on fine show, and deserve
a lot Of credit for the painstaking care
with which they handled all the tourna.
rnent details. A similar tourney could
be put on by any Of three or four OF
the larger local clubs,
Getting down to cases, 1t is not un-
likely that two or three years hence,
when the clouds Of depression lift, ana
improvements in the course are con-
tirued. Congressional may find itself IN
the position of putting in bid for the
rational emateur That is the only
lie tourney which never has been helo
a. a Washington club, and Congresslon-
al. with its elaborate club house, large
locker room and adequate facilities
would seem to be the club to hold II.
Tryz -oa n cbornpio0chin in WASH