Evening star., 1934-02-03
STARS MEETPLAy
|. IS TOO |MPETUOUS
Armour Sees Title Chance
for Cincinnati Boy if He
Slows Game.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.
Johnny FISCHER, the long,

BY w. r. McCALLUM.
OHNNY FISCHER, the long,
lean lad from Cincinnati,
home folks last Summer
and set a new qualifying record
for the national amateur cham
pionship, may win the simon
pure title some day, but not
until he slows down his game
and begins to think more about
his shots, in the judgment of
Tommy Armour, a man well
qualified to pass on the ability
of any golfer, new or old.
Fischer seems to be better at medal
play than at the man-to-man business
of match play, for he has won two
consecutive championship qualifying
round medals. the first time tieing the
all-time record at 142, and the next
time-in l933-shattering the mark
held jointly by himself, Bob Jones and
D. Clarke Corkran.
Both times the fourth round in the
championship found the young man
missing, for he lost in the third round
of the 1882 title chase at Five Farms
to Francis Ouimet, and he was drop
ped out in the second round last year
by Sidney Noyes.
Lacks Concentration.
A RMOUR has great admiration fo4
~ Fischer as a SHOEMAKER and a
a mccall player, but the Chicago
Scot holds that Lanky John never wi
win the amateur championship until
he begins to study his shots and slows
down his play to the point where ha
can figure out what may happen.
Fischer is one of the four outstand-
ing youngsters of the season of 1888,
the lads who really went places in
golf last year. The others are George
T. Dunlap, the national amateu:
champion; Johnny Goodman, the ma
tional open king from Omaha, and w
Lawson Little, the rugged, tearing
scrapper from California.
All of them won places on the
Walker Cup team by the excellence OF
their play in the 1888 championship
Tommy Armour stuck around that
1888 championship until the tourney
was almost over and he got an eye
full of the way Fischer achieves his
results. He even got a look at the 3
iron shot which Fischer holed for an
eagle deuce on the ninth hole at Ken
Wood-the shot which eventually won
him the medal.
Tommy came away from Cincinnati
convinced that Fischer has a great
future as a golfer. possibly the finest
future of any lad playing the amateur.
game today. but he also is convinced
that unless Fischer studies his shots
longer and more carefully he'll be a
long time winning the simon pure
crown.
Must Think Over Shots.
"COLF as it is being played today
NJ by the best amateurs is too
highly competitive. too fast to
miss even single bit of strategy any
where along the route" Armour said.
You've got to think out your shots
before you hit EN-: think what will
happen to the ball in the air, and
after it lands. If you don't you'll find
some kid who does think slipping up
and handing you the ether.
There are dozen men. all equally
good at shot-making, all with the
ability to play any course in par. and
all able to putt A careless shot or a
slip-shod hole played anywhere in an
lS-hole match may cost the contest.
Johnny Fischer is a great shot
maker. He hits the ball far and he
hits it we'll but he hits it too fast.
To me it appears that he does not
think sufficiently about what may
happen. which may or may not be
the reason he hasn't gone farther in
the championship. With his natural
equipment and his shotmaking ability
he should go very far, possibly as far
as any man ever has gone, but 1
dent think he will until he slows
down his game.
Requires Seasoning.
90 FAR as the actual hitting of
y the ball is converned, he is Just
shade too fast. He pulls the
club back a little quickly. But I
don't mean that. I mean that he
strokes the ball so fast that he doesn't
consider all angles of what may hap
pen. No man. no matter how good
he is. can hit the ball truly and ac-
curately all the time, even Fischer, as
good as he is.
He still is youngster around 90
and he has all the impetuosity of
youth. Another year or two, a little
more seasoning, and he will come to
realize that you've go to think out
every shot you hit nowadays in such a
highly competitive game as golf where
any error may throw you out, par
tlcularly an error in judgment"
Fischer, in our opinion, Is due to be
an outstanding leader in the amateur
game for many years to come. The
lad has everything but time ex.
per1ence. He hits the ball as far ai
any living golfer He will be quit,
a surprise to the British in the cominj
Walker Cup matches and may turn
out to be the sensation of the inter.
national golf affair next Spring.
But If Armour's estimate of him il
correct. Johnny needs more seasoning.
Even now the kid is good enough.
Who knows but that he will become
another Jones? Meanwhile his quail
tying record for the amateur cham
pionship is safe. There won't be anv
qualifying round this year, and il
looks as If there won't be any fer
many years to come.