Evening star., 1940-05-05
Goodman Last Since
Jones 10 Win Open
;As Simon-Pure
~
:. Seven Out of II Champs
: From 1918 to 1880
;. Were Unpoids
BY WALTER McCALLUM.


pro would be-, but along with lot
aof other people he thinks amateur
golf today is far from the whirl-
wind it used to be. The amateurs,
barring possibly Marvin Ward, are
q pretty sorry lot when you compare
sem with the giants of other years,
when no one knew whether an anna
teur or a pro would win the Open
championship said Freddie.
I'VE just don't have good anna
.teurs any more. BY good mean
good enough to hold their own with
the best pros. It's been seven years
now since an amateur won the Open
and don't see any around capable
of doing it nowadays. Ward may
be good enough. I wouldn't know
about that. He looked good enough
last year at Philadelphia, but he
hasn't proved yet that he is Bobby
Jones.
THE dope is that the pros have
speeded up the game so much that
the amateurs simply can't keep up
with them
McLead Obviously Right.
How near right is Freddie?
On the record he's just about 100
per cent right. From the time
Francis Ouimet won the first Open
championship grabbed by an anna
teur-back in 1913-until Bob Jones
retired in 1890, the simon pures
accounted for seven Open cham
pionships in a stretch of II years.
Jones won four of them. Ouimet,
Jerry Travers and Chick Evans won
the others. During the later years
of the Jones era Bob was the big,
bad bogey man of the pros. Look
ing back over their shoulders as If
at a ghost they quavered: Whats
Jones doing?" 1t was strictly Jones
against the field for the last four
years of Bobby's reign.
But since Bob retired in 1890 only
one amateur has been good enough
to win. John Goodman turned the
trick in 1888 The only amateur who
has been close since was Ward last
year, when the Spokane amateur
finished one shot behind the first
place tie at Philadelphia. The pros
have grabbed the show and the
amateurs aren't in it any more. But
between 1917 and 1880 you couldn't
tell whether an amateur or a pro
would win.
Jones, for example, finished sec
ond four times between 1920 and
1880. Evans finished second twice,
only shot away. It isn't that way
nowadays.
Amateurs Lack Incentive.
"Heres the way it looks to me-"
unused Mcleod. "The pros, playing
for heavy money all the time, on a
schedule that keeps them going II
months a year, work hard at the
game. The amateurs point their
game for few tournaments year.
They don't have the incentive to
keep at it all the time, and they
don't practice as the top pros prac-
tice. Pro golf today is so far ahead
of the best amateur brand you
can't even see the amateurs for
dust.
"They just don't have what it
takes to keep up the pace. But
they could. I believe if a few really
good amateurs-like Ward-went on
the winter tour, and played in a lot
OF the pro tournaments, we might
find the amateurs putting up some
competition again. But as it is now
they don't have it. Competition
makes golfers and there's no substi-
tute for it. The pros have the COM
petition, and not in one tourna-
ment, but in a stretch of tourna-
ments that run from June to Sep
tember, and from November to
April. They have to be good to
make expenses. The amateurs
don't"
Chip Shots.
Ray Flaherty, Redskin coach, is a
pretty good southpaw golfer, who
can crack 30 once in while and
always socks long ball. But he has
q long way to go to catch up to
Charley Malone, the end on his
football team, who is very good
and can become very fine player
with more experience and competi-
ton.
Walter Hagen plans to return to
Washington in June. He wants
another whirl at the bass in the
pond at Congressional, where he
caught AZ lz-pounder last year and
kidded Witty Cox about it, Cox
hasn't caught one in two years.
Ernest J. Mccarthy, formerly
manager at Congressional, is the
new manager at Indian Spring.
His appointment was announced by
Club Owner A. S. Kay. Indian
Spring is making many improve
ments in the clubhouse and the
locker room.
Government golfers have no
matches scheduled this week in the
championship division, but class B
teams will see action in six matches.
Ed Sullivan, Hollywood columnist,
who used to be a golf reporter and
q good one, played at Congressional
the other day with Witty Cox. Ed
covered the National Open at Co.
lumbia in 1921.
Two weeks from today Washing
ton Club members will play in a
caddie benefit tourney, with all the
dough in entry fees going to the
boys. These things should be held
at all the local clubs. Nothing
builds up good caddie register
more than to let the boys know the
golfers think of them once In q
while-with cash instead of curses.
There's talk of a private match
between Middle Atlantic P. G. A.
Champ Cliff Spencer and Chandler
Harper, storm center of the recent
p. G. A. fiasco. A purse of $500 is
mentioned, but who will put it up?
HoII, Morgan, Wynkoop
NkIs