Evening star., 1933-03-03
SEEN AS bALLYHOO
TRICK FOR SARAzEN
U. S. G. A. Pays No Attention
21-2-Inch Can Suggested
by Mcleod.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

I for making golf safe for
~ the buffers Of the land
by substituting an 8-inch
cup for the 414-inch cup now in
use is as dead as the old 1.55x1 .68
golf ball. It caused a furry Of
excitement throughout the land
for a month or so, and raised
high hopes in the breasts Of
countless buffers that they might
some day, with the aid Of larger
cup, achieve a respectable score,
but 1t failed to achieve its osten-
sible purpose of being accepted by
the golf powers-that-be.
It did, however, realize what I sus-
pect to have been its real purpose,
which was nothing more nor less than
q bit Of favorable ballyhoo for Gene
in a year when even world champion
needs plenty of that good old American
product familiarly known as hokum.
Gene is in the hands Of an astute and
keen publicity nan-none other than
Ray Mccarthy of New York, whose
other job is doing the publicity for
Florida's East Coast and In particular
o chain Of hotels which runs up and
down the coast from Jacksonville to
Miami. Those in the know suspect that
Ray saw a spot for Gene to get lot
Of favorable publicity with the 8-inch
cup idea and gave the little Italian
American the well known works.
Gene himself has gracefully sponsored
the scheme.
DUT 1t has collapsed like July toy
- balloon. Today the 8-inch cup is
dead. The corpse has been buried
under a soaring flame Of official scorn
and ofncial reputation. Like the sand
wedge Of 1880 the 8-inch cup has gone
exactly nowhere. 1t was tried out al
most everywhere golf is played, and
particularly in Florida, where Gene and
the rest Of the pros played with the
bigger cup. AL along the line the
consensus Of opinion was that 1t makes
the game too easy. places no premium
on skill and would add nothing to the
attractiveness Of the game Of golf. So
why change?
Through all the ballyhoo the United
States Golf Association has taken no
oficial cogniZance Of the proposed
change. So far as the U. s.. G. A. Is
concerned, 1t knows nothing Of any cup
larger than the standard cup now in
use. Even the Professional Golfers As
sociation has come out in the open and
repudiated the plan in so many woros.
HERE is the way the P. G. A. looks
i i at the 8-inch cup: "OmcialS OF
the Professional Golfers Associa-
ton fatty denounce the 8-tnch cup
idea in any of the tournaments it
sponsors, believing its stand Is IN the
best interests of the game Of golf. Using
the results Of its Winter tournaments
in determining the standings OF play
ers, the 8-inch cup Is banned. Many
reasons are given for this stand, such
as costs of changing to the larger cups;
all past records would be OF no value /;
par on the courses would have to be
changed to meet the larger cup-which
would put the game of golf In con-
fused state for several years.
"The large cup idea would work TO
the disadvantage of all international
matches, as the players would have to
readjust themselves to the smaller cup
In playing in foreign tournaments. In
other words, as Bobby Jones has said:
at might make an interesting game,
but it would not be golf" :,
For the matter of mere size. most
of the pros around Washington take a
scornful view Of the 8-inch cup. why
not make 1t the size OF a barrel?"
asks Davie Thomson Of the Washing
ton Golf and Country Club. Then
we might hope to hole few Of our long
pitches and all our chip shots. Why
not make every green one-putt propo--
sition. Think Of the strokes that would
take of our scores"
Freddie Mcleod leans the other way.
1.-THE way the boys score these days
with the present size cup is bad enough.
II they increased the size Of the cup
all our standards of scoring would
reach q new low. Instead Of q larger
cup, why not make it smaller. Then
We would have real golf instead Of
tiddle-winks Try a az Inch cup and
see what would happen"
FRIENDS of Tommy Armour, former
i American and British open cham
pion and formerly pro at Congress
sional, will be glad to learn that Tom
has licked the minor illness which has
given him trouble over the last two or
three years. We saw Tom at Miami
in the final Of the international four
ball, where he and Olin Dutra were
licked by Horton Smith and Paul
Runyan. Armour looks great and feels
better. "I weigh nearly 180 pounds, 1"
said Tom, land I feel better than
have felt in years."
Tommy, incidentally, is playing a
beautiful brand Of golf, as fine game
as any man in the world. The failure
of the Armour-Dutra team in the four
ball came through no fault of Tom. for
the Black Scot was around the course
in 10, while Smith and Runyan teamed
perfectly. scoring five brides in six
holes. Dutra was the weak spot of
the side, and Tom was the strong
man. But he couldn't, single
stop the other team. Dutra's weakest
spot was on the putting green, where
he missed too many short ones to be
of much use.