The Washington times., 1937-11-15
Montague Still a Mystery
After Riot Cuts Play Short
Exhibition
Halted on
Ninth Tee
DIDRIKSON STAR
BY DAVIS J. WALSH

~N@"-SAShoA SNO"H CoENACo OPOAsb A1NAtOA
NEW YORK, Nov. 15.-On the
first hole. they stood in the fair
way yesterday not much below the
tee and faced the line Of fire, as
guilelesS children might who know
too little of sudden death. On the
second, they banked themselves
20 deep on the surrounding rise Of
ground, openly roofing, almost in
a chant, as each played took his
position to putt, and from a dis
tance, it might have been the
Sullivan Kilrain bare knuckle
fight all over again.
There was more of this, much
more, much worse. Then, at the
ninth, cops and customers and
frantic club officials put on mob
scene-and toward the sanctuary
Of the Fresh Meadow clubhouse
fastened John Montague, as much
OF a mystery as before. He and
his partner, Sylvia Annenberg,
were behind when the end came
in their charity match with Babe
Ruth and Mildred "Babe" Didrik-
son, 2 down. He hadn't played
good golf. Nobody had, nobody
could.
But professional promoters, not
ing the 10000 gallery and its
deliriouS antics, were not con-
cerned with the score. Very
thoughtfully, they counted the
proceeds and then began talking
about taking Montague and Ruth
on tour, with Miss Didrikson a
possible third-one-day stands
through the south and southwest,
maybe winding up in California.
Today they were beginning to
sound out prospects.
A FREAK SHOW
For beyond a doubt they had
something here. a spectacle with
something Of the old freak-show
glamour the like of which no golf
course ever before had known.
In fact, no golf course in
America ever before had seen. a
crowd so great or so diSorderly.
One galleryite was almost be-
headed by Montague drive at the
third hole. Another got so close
to the great human curio at the
sixth that he was struck by the
players backswing, with the result
that Montague picked up on the
hole. They carried Ruth off his
feet at the fourth, injuring his
wrist.
They romped and rampaged in
front Of shots, they beloved and
fought among themselves and,
finally, at the short ninth, they
put on a sophomore rush with
the idea of seizing the balls as
souvenirs. MarShals and uni
formed police stemmed the ad-
vance for a half-minute, then were
carried away before the human
tide.
FOUGHT OFF CROWD
Montague, standing over his
ball, arched his squat back in
the approved manner Of a de-
fensive tackle and tried to fight
them off with his hands. Then
he, too, was swept aside and very
sensibly he took himself away
from there, not to return. 1t was
a poetic commentary on the power
of the ballyhoo, as perSistently
prosecuted by series of legends
which had Montague never taking
more than Sc - except playing
back-handed and using q ping
pong ball into the wind.
In the midst of all the violence
yesterday, few noticed that Mont
ague hadn't won a hole for his
side. Individually, he finished 2
down to Ruth. He even finished 2 !
down to Miss Didrikson, each of
the winning pair being given con-
ceded 38's, three over par. He
was outdriven by Miss Didrikson
on the first two holes, as, indeed, |
was everybody else. He got a
par on the short fourth, but had
to yield to his partner, who al
most holed out for an ace. This
was the only winning hole for
that team.
So, if you get the impression
that the ladies came very near
to stealing this show, you won't be
far wrong. Ruth didn't do any.
thing spectacular, but seemed i'm
mune to the caperings of the mob.
He's used to mobs. Montague isn't.
CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE
He was made visibly nervous by
the circus atmosphere at the start |
but saved himself a par at the
first hole by almost holing out |
with spectacular chip snot. Out
driven by Miss Didrikson at the
second, he played his approach |
over the heads of the crowd 10 |
feet from the flag. But Miss Did
rikSon ran down a 35 focter for
the first of two successive brides
by the ladies.
Montague, almost hitting an
over-curiouS witness at the third, /
played badly thereafter. It was
said, though, that he was pur-
poSely aiming his tee shots for
the rough, where the congestion
was less than that of the fair
ways. However, he got his fourth |
par at the long fifth; then hit a
spectator with his back swing on
the sixth, an incident that so
disturbed his composure he
abandoned the hole and three
putted the next two.
Still, there were times during
the middle holes where the old /
Montague-who so charmed and |