Evening star., 1936-12-07
l"HE toughest golf champion
ship in the world to win?
Why that's q pipe. I'm
Il slrprfsed YOU even brought


Il surprised you even brought
1t up. It's the P. G. A. championship,
of course. No other tournament in
the world takes so much good golf,
and so thorough a combination Of
medal and match play as the p. G. A."
Fred Mcleod, Columbia Country
Club pro, should know. For q good
many years Freddie was one of the
better competitors in the title tour
ney, where he got to the final round
back in 1920 and was bumped OF by
Jim Barnes, the lanky one from Eng
land.
"VOU can take your American anna
teur and your British amateur
and lump 'em together and you
wouldn't have as tough q champion
ship as the P. G. A. to win," says
Freddie.
"Of course, the average Of
skill in the professional cham
pionship is much above that in
either amateur tournament, and
In my judgment Is the highest
In the world.
But over and above the skill re-
quired you have the combination of
two qualifying rounds, and then six
match rounds. four Of them at SO
holes. In the first place you have to
qualify for the P. G. A. in your own
section, and that isn't so easy. It re-
suits in bringing only the best players
to the scene of the championship.
And then. after they get there the boys
have to qualify again-64 of EN-
over the 36-hole medal play route.
That's bad enough, where q missed
putt may knock you smack out of the
tournament. But then you have to
win six matches in a row to win the
championship. Tough? Why, laddie,
it's just like Georgetown licking the
Chicago Bears and the New York
Giants at pro foot ball on the same
day. Any guy who wins that cham
pionship can just about claim to be
the best golfer in the world at the time
of winning.
Now take your United States ANA
teur tournament. First you have to
qualify sectionally, but there are
plenty of places open for any golfer
with chance to win. Then you have
to win eight matches, which Is two
more than the P. G. A. tourney has
But there again the question of class
comes up. In the amateur you won't
| flnd more than four or five stand
out golfers. But in the P. G. A. YOU
haven't standout. Any guy in the
field is likely to bump of a headliner
any time. Take that recent one at
Pinehurst, for example, where Sara
zen, Runyan and Revolta were
knocked off on the first day. Tommy
Armour, too.
A SITUATION like that in the ANA
= teur championship would corre-
spond to John Goodman, John
Fischer, George Voigt and Scotty
Campbell all losing in a single day.
The class in the P. G. A. is so scat
tered and there are so many good
ones in there pitching that anything
is likely to happen.
yep, it's the toughest tour.
narnent In the world TO win.
I've played in a good many Of
'em, and I found it out. Wish
could have licked Jim Barnes
that day back in 1920, but Jim
was too hot for me that day."
How about that qualifying of "a
men and the fact that Leo Diegel and
Walter Hagen didn't make it at Pine
hurst?" We asked Freddie. well, you'll
find some star fails to qualify in every
championship" he said But guess
Walter and Leo didn't deserve to
qualify, if they weren't good enough
to score 156. But don't ask these funny
questions. Any golfer should know
that the P. G. A. is the big champion
ship Of the world. It's a golfers tour
nament. and only a real golfer can
win"