Evening star., 1938-12-04
April Start Planned
By Fed Linksmen
To Avoid Heat
Title Apt to Be Sought
By 36 Teams in Meet
Lasting 2 Months
By WALTER McCALLJJM.


Months IN advance of the open
Ing of the 1889 tournament for Gov
ernment golfers-staged for the
first time this year by The Star
Uncle Sans boys are firing the
forges for record team turnout
in the affair that will get under
way earlier and finish earlier next
year, even though the team entries
may run far above the "a which en-
tered this years match play title
race.
Rod Thomas of The Star, caught
in huddle with Chuck Red
ick, sparkplug of the 1888 tourna-
melt, tossed aside lot of basket
ball entry blanks, glanced lovingly
at mountainous mound of bowling
prizes to be passed out to the guys
and gals who get fiat feet on the
towns drives and said in that mod
est manner characteristic of pro-
noting gents:
"Yep, it looks as if this tourna-
ment will be the biggest thing in
golf next year. Chuck tells me
the boys are knocking down the
chandeliers at home now, getting
their warclubs hot for next year"
Mr.. Thomas is nothing if not en-
thusiastic. Give him the mere germ
of an idea and he blows it up to the
dimensions of blimp in Is Sec
onds fiat.
Golders Make Sacrifices.
This years Federal golf tourney
was his brainchild. He has had
others-among them the national
marathon running championship,
f1ocks of bowling tournaments, bas-
ket ball Journeys, horseshoe pitch
ing affairs and what not. Don't
sell Mr. Thomas short. He's as
full of ideas as a flea is OF hops.
Good ones, too.
Nor is Mr.. Redick bad second
to our Mr.. Thomas. Chuck's task
1t was this year to Straighten out
the tangle of team schedule that
ran for two months: to coax a flock
OF golfers in Uncle Sans temples of
toll to give up their spare moments
to participate in match-play golf
tournament. in which they paid
greens fees and took time off fsome
OF them outside of annual leave,
which meant they cut themselves
from the pay roll for the moments
they spent on the golf course.
But they did it-willingly. Mr..
Redick is a convincing person with
persuasive ways. He happens to be
one OF the men who tell Wall street
what to do, up there in the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission.
Belshe Looks for Victory.
Then there was Mr.. Tom Belshe.
the gray-halred eagle OF Indian
Spring, who happens to be the bell
wether OF the War Department
team. That outfit, if you recall the
narrowing statistics, was billed as
the coming Federal League cham
pionship quartet. But it topped be-
fore a steady and indomitable Com
merce Department team which lat
ter outfit dropped q decision IN the
final to tall Bill Harvey and his Ac-
counts and Deposits aggregation
from the Treasury Department..
Intercepted as he mounted
nasty-looking nag (Tom goes in for
horseback riding in winter) he said.
"Wish our golf affairs are as easy to
handle as this hoss Look here
shes gentle" And Tom bent back
her nose. She took a mouthful of
tweed out of his sleeve.
yeah, she's easier to handle than
to keep good golf team together.
NOW looka here. If Buchanan had
been able to play in all our matches?
And then there was Rodgers. We
Mad a pretty good team at the start
of the season and then they had to
leave town. And that isn't some
thing that happened once and won't
happen again.
War Needs Steady Team.
i've got to find some way to get
these new officers steamed up about
golf as they come here. We have
quite turnover, you know, in our
available group of golfers here in the
officer personnel of the War Depart
ment."
Belshe was the lone civilian player
on an outfit that stormed through
the first few matches in the 1888
tourney. looked a winner and then
dropped play-off decision.
Next year, when the golfers of the
town take their clubs from the moth
balls and take aim at the first robin,
the Federal match-play champion
ship, again to be sponsored by The
Star, will line up likethis: Probably
SO teams instead of mere "a, which
means there will be nearly 200 men
competingi schedule to start in
April and wind up in June. to avoid
the hot golf of July and August.
1t looks as if therell be good
year for gents like Mr.. Thomas and
Mr.. Redick. Already they bat
thousand in the promotion league.
But I wish we had some place to
put our trophies walled Mr.. Belshe.
When we knock off those other
boys in the 1889 tournament we'll
have to have special trophy case.