Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-09-08
PRIMES FOR FAST
PLAY IN AMATEUR
Champion Is Out to Excel
Great Record for Wins
Set by Jones.
by FRANCIS ]. POWERS.

~LEVELAND, Ohio, September
7.-On the eve of the 1885
United States amateur golf
championship, your CORE
spondent will pick William Lawson
Little to win again and let 1t go at
that.
Lawson Little may not win the
championship, for under the present
system Of play no sports competition
is more uncertain than this same
United States amateur. Among the
other 1874 starters there may be one
player with enough golf and enough
luck on some round to knock the Cali
fornian out of the running.
But until that player is discovered,
Little will be the favorite.
Little is grimly determined to re-
tain the championship ne won at
Brookline last year. For the endeavor
he has trained himself well. In his
practice rounds over the Cleveland
Country Club, the broad-shouldered
champion has been hitting every shot
well.
There may be bit Of slackness in
iron play but the man is driving so
far there is less strain on his irons
than on those Of a player of lesser
length. The country club, with its
gentle rolls and broad fairways, seems
made for Little and the green's are
sufficiently keen and true to respond
to any def putter.
Eager to Get Title.
T TITLE wants this championship
every bit as much as Bob Jones
wanted the final trick in his grand
slam of 1880. Lawson has little
chance Of ever equaling Jones record
of Is national championships but if
he wins here he will be well on his
way to collecting more amateur titles
than ever fell to the Georgian's irons
Jones won six amateur champion
ships, five United States titles and
one British, but if Little can win
here he will have four amateur cham
pionships and those in two Summers
Still in his early twenties and with
a grand game that is improving,
Little should double that number be-
fore he retires, which according &c
his own statement will be many years
in the future.
Who will give Little his hardest
match? If Johnny Goodman were
certain to reach the finals one coulo
name the Omaha star. But Good.
man may be knocked out in an early
round as he was last year by Bobby
jacobson, the New Jersey juvenile
1t might be Willie Turnesa, Gus
Moreland or any one of q dozen
others.
Little Strongest in Field.
I Asst year Little did not meet a
ranking opponent until the quar-
ter = finals, where he defeated Willie
Turnesa. On the other side Of the
draw, specs" Goldman had much
the same experience with Eddie
briggs, his only nationally known
rival until he tackled Little. All Of
the other highly rated stars we're cut
down somewhere along the line. In
this wild scramble a star may be
eliminated in any round and fire.
quently luck Of the draw may bring
two favorites together in an early
match.
Little is the strongest player in the
field and best adapts himself to the
tempo of 1S-hole rounds. For that
reason he is favored to make it four
championships in two years.
This is Clevelands first national
championship since 1907 when Jerry
Travers won his first of four ANA
teur titles at the now-defunct Euclid
Club. The city is a great golf center
and from financial viewpoint, if
nothing more, this championship
should be one of the best since 1880.