How Ted Ray Won and Four Others Lost One of the Most Dramatic Golf Championships Ever Held in Any Land By Grantland Rice

Transcription

1 AUGUST 21, 1920 NEW YORK VOLUME XXIII No. 26 How Ted Ray Won and Four Others Lost One of the Most Dramatic Golf Championships Ever Held in Any Land By Grantland Rice BY the flip of a coin the turn of a card a wink from one of the gods of chance a breath blown from destiny and one man wears the laurel where four men wait in the shadows, beaten by a margin entirely too thin and vague to be pictured by mere words. It is taking no credit from Ted Ray to present the case from this viewpoint. The crown of American golf is his, fairly won and fairly earned by the mightiest hitting and the finest putting ever seen in one of our championships. But it is at least adding a sprig or two to the olive wreaths deserved by Harry Vardon, Leo Diegel, Jock Hutchison and Jack Burke to show by what an infinitely thin wedge victory can be separated from defeat. Only those who were banked around the last fairway at Inverness in the waning summer sunlight verging upon August dusk can understand the thrill of the continued climax as one by one each fighting survivor took his shot at the title, only to miss by a hair's breadth as big Ted Ray emerged triumphant to carry our championship cup on its second long journey to English shores, where the milk white cliffs of the little kingdom await its coming. Memories of former days were raked up with many an attendant story and chuckle, when this quartet got together. They are Ted Ray, George Low, Charlie Mayo and Harry Vardon By the Turn of a Putt The heroic struggles of Hutchison and Diegel, the game come-back of Burke upon the final day, the flawless golf of Vardon until the voice of fifty years called to him upon the gale that suddenly arose to beat back his waning strength, all belong in the sagas of a game whose epics date back four hundred years. What greater drama from sport could any one hope to find than the picture of Vardon, the veritable spirit of golf, playing with all his magnificent early skill, reaching out once more for the title he had won twenty years before, suddenly transformed into a tired, gray-haired old man old at least in competitive sport trying in vain to get just one hole in par to save the glory he had gathered while his strength still held. It is from such scenes as this that the story of The Lost Cup must be told the cup that will soon be three thousand miles from its resting place of twenty years. For it was just twenty years ago, from Wheaton, Chicago, in the possession of Harry Vardon, that the cup started upon the same trip. And if Time, that aged and relentless collector of tolls, had not stepped in with its demand, Harry Vardon again would have repeated his former triumph by the span of many strokes. The enduring skill of the tiring veteran carried him beyond all range up to the peak again with his last sight of the promised land of glory but even this surpassing skill was of no avail when the mocking voice of Time called him back from the heights. To many the feature of the championship was the victory of Ray or the drama built around Leo Diegel, the game young homebred, and Jock Hutchison, the gallant Scot. But to us the feature was the tragedy of Harry Vardon, who, twenty-four years after winning his first championship, stood within easy sight of his possible last, only to collapse and crumble where just one more successful stroke would have carried him safely through. For Vardon, after all, was still the master shot maker of this big field, the greatest that ever fought for an Open Championship of the United States. No one else among the two hundred and seventy entrants was even close to the Old Master, who was beaten not by any human rival, but by age alone,

2 THE AMERICAN GOLFER Many golfers like many ball players are superstitious. Note the four-leaf clover, plucked from the Inverness fairway, which Jim Barnes is carrying in his mouth (N. C. Hauger Photo) and the crushing strain of six rounds that are something more than fifty years can endure. T From the Beginning HE story of this dramatic championship can only be told by starting from the beginning. When the vanguard of the big field began to arrive a day or two before the qualifying rounds were started, they found that every arrangement had been completed. They found a very fine golf course in excellent condition a course well trapped and well bunkered, without a blind hole or a touch The National Championship is always the occasion of much fanning and joshing. Walter Hagen is proclaiming to "Chick" Evans and Gil Nicholls the virtues of his famous mashie-iron (N. C. Hauger Photo) of trickery; smooth, rolling greens that gave one a chance to go for the cup, and a fairway that completely wrecked the ancient alibi of the cuppy lie. They found also that through the untiring efforts of Mr. S. P. Jermain, the Inverness Club officials and the officials of the United States Golf Association that no single detail had been overlooked to handle the banner championship of American golf. So the two hundred and seventy plunged into the qualifying test from which only seventy survived. This list of seventy included practically all who were conceded any chance to win. A boil under his right arm was the main factor in dropping Emmet French, and a break of bad luck eliminated Charlie Hoffner. But when the final returns were posted the favorites were all ready for the bell. Inverness had put on its gala attire for this occasion. Thousands had gathered from the first day, including both the beauty and the chivalry of the midwestern citadel, where, darting back and forth among the shifting crowds alert photographers spent their time in snapping the golfers or photographing some section of the gallery where vari-colored feminine costumes caught and held the eye. And the gallery in the main was wonderfully handled and well behaved. There were stray roamers who got loose here and there to the annoyance of the nervous ones, but this is a feature of championship play that can hardly be eliminated. The stray devotee, darting from back of a tree or crossing back of a tee or a green is always worse than the five thousand who are content to stand still. The course as related above, was in very fine shape and conceded to be a championship test of the highest quality. From among the lot, the first, fourth, fifth, fourteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth were the ones more liable to wreck hopes through any mistakes. The first and the fourth were the Bob MacDonald, the robust Scot from Chicago dislikes to play in a hat, but found the Ohio sun too hot to battle bareheaded. Hence the improvised awning (Levick Photo) ones to cost Hutchison 6's; the fourteenth wrecked Diegel, and the seventeenth broke up the assault of Vardon. As the tourney proceeded along its war the crowds began to increase in number until upon the final day the last hole was played between two human lanes, where, packed and banked around the home green, the big gallery was held in killing suspense by the series of dramatic finishes that came about. Vivid flashes and flames of color through the two long lines where hundreds of women crowded to the fairway's edge with the male observers added immensely to the attractive quality of the scene.

3 AUGUST 21 by flawless golf. He was driving a long bull, playing his mashie or iron to within easy putting distance and holding his balance upon the green. But golf that will net a 69 on the Inverness course is not seen every day in the week, even in the most brilliant of gatherings. Of course, few expected Jock to hold that pace. It was just a question of whether he could approach within three or four strokes of it consistently. Those who qualified were: Jock Hutchison, Chicago Jack Burke, St. Paul Gene Sarazen, Fort Wayne Frank Adams, Winnipeg William Mehlhorn, Tulsa Louis Tellier, Boston Laurie Ayton, Chicago Leo Diegel, Chicago *Charles Evans, Chicago JOCK HUTCHISON The gallant Scot who had the most brilliant round of the tournament and who finished but one stroke out of a tie for the title The Bell Rings S the main story of the championship A was crowded into the final round, we will waste no great amount of time or words over the early matches. Jock Hutchison, the Glenview star, by brilliant golf and by smashing the course record, led the qualifying field with a remarkable total of 11, a followed by a dazzling 69, two below the record. Jack Burke, a young home-bred from St. Paul, who left Philadelphia a few years ago, was in second place with a -71, an overlooked hunch of a big surprise to follow later. It had taken to qualify in the first heart-breaking test. But those who survived were then keen for the bell to ring where the list of favorites included Ted Ray, Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Jim Barnes, Jock Hutchison, Chick Evans, Leo Diegel and Bobby Jones. Already many began to wonder whether Jock Hutchison, who had traveled at such dizzy speed through the qualifying round, could stand the pace. Jock, paired with Hagen, answered this by turning in another record-breaking 69 for his first match LEO DIEGEL The fighting young home-bred who came within less than an inch of tieing Ted Kay for the title THE INVERNESS BROOK The famous hazard which cost Vardon the championship and added strokes to many scores throughout the play. Taken here going to the 17th hole Bob MacDonald, Chicago Eddie Loos, Chicago E. F. Loeffler, Pittsburgh Wilfrid Reid, Wilmington John Golden, New York *Bobby Jones, Atlanta Tom Kennett, Chicago Fred Bell, Denver Frank Sprogel, Montgomery Charles Rowe, Pittsburgh James Barnes, St. Louis Harry Hampton, Richmond Willie Hunter, Chicago Harry Vardon, England Dan Kenny, Olean Lloyd Gullickson, Chicago *Howard Lee, Detroit William Kidd, Minneapolis J. J. O'Brien, Pittsburgh J. Douglas Edgar, Atlanta C. W. Hackney, Atlantic City..... Tom Kerrigan, New York George Sargent, Columbus Otto Hackbarth, Cincinnati Peter Walsh, Butler, Penn Charles Hall, Birmingham *Harrison Johnston, Toledo Willie MacFarlane, New York Walter Hagen, Detroit D. K. White, Toledo M. J. Brady, Detroit Charles Lorms, Toledo Pat Doyle, New York

4 6 Edward Ray, Oxhey Alex Cunningham, St. Joseph *W. C. Fownes, Jr., Pittsburgh *John G. Anderson, New York *R. E. Knepper, Sioux City Frank McNamara, New York Fred Brand, Pittsburgh Gil Nicholls, New York C. McKenna, Rochester, N. Y Charles Mayo, Chicago Fred McLeod, Washington Alex Ross, Detroit Dave Robertson, Detroit James Carberry, Chicago John Cowen, Boston John Farrell, Cleveland E. K. McCarthy, Jacksonville *T. D. Armour, Scotland Jack Dowling, New York Alex Ayton, Chicago George McLean, New York Jack Gordon, Buffalo Peter O'Hara, New York George Bowden, Boston J. M. Simpson, Indianapolis John Rodgers, Parkersburg *Amateur. At the end of the first thirty-six-hole test, here were the scores of the first twenty who were still within reach of the goal: " C "Class Will Tell" 8 Jock Leo James M. Barnes Harry Vardon Ted Ray Walter C. Hagen Eddie Loos *Charles Evans Bob McDonald Willie MacFarlane *Bobby Jones Willie Melhorn C. W. Hackney Jack Burke Freddie McLeod *R. E. Knepper M. J. Brady Deke White Laurie Ayton Louis Tellier LASS will tell" became the slogan around Inverness, as each one caught sight of the first day's ranking. Hutchison led by a stroke, with Diegel, the home-bred, and Jim Barnes in second place. One stroke back of these came Vardon, Ray and Hagen, still within easy reach of the leading man. Ted Ray, starting wildly in the afternoon round, had held his place by remarkable use of the putter on the first four holes. After he had reached a trap a thirty-foot putt gave him a par on the first hole. After another mistake a twenty-five-foot putt gave him a par on the second hole. Another long putt, a forty-footer, gave him a birdie 2 on the third hole, and a fifteen-footer gave him a par on the fourth hole. He needed each one of these amazing putts later on to win. The one man still overlooked was Jack Burke. With a and a he was in fourteenth place, seven strokes behind the leader. After all, with the leaders so well bunched, the second day was to tell the story. Walter Hagen, defending his title, felt extremely confident. He was closer to the front than usual after the first thirty-six holes, and with his long record as a fine finisher, he was picked by many as the most dangerous man in the field. The first of the favorite pairs to get away for the third round were Barnes and Vardon. Vardon started by hooking his drive to the 'Twould have been a great day for the Scotch had Hutchison or MacDonald come through. Anyway something of a home setting was provided by D. E. MacPherson, a braw Hielander from Toronto with his pipes (N. C. Hauger Photo) rough and then hooking his second shot to the rough, guarding the left of the green. A perfect pitch dropped the ball within ten feet of the cup, where he still had a chance to get his par. But the putt ran over eighteen inches and he then missed coming back, taking his first 6 of the tournament. "That ends Vardon," some one in the big gallery remarked. But the observer evidently did not know Vardon. From that point on the veteran played magnificent golf. Out in 6, despite his starting 6, he came back in, playing the last seventeen holes in sixtyfive strokes, or three better than even 's. That round was enough to bring his total down to 218, which, as it turned out, was low enough to lead the field at noon. Barnes with a had played good, steady golf, but not fast enough to hold Vardon. In the meanwhile other things were happening. Ted CARD OF INVERNESS COURSE OUT Hole Yards ,160 Par 6 IN Hole Yards ,09 Par 6 Total distance, 6,69 yards. Total par,. Ray, playing steadily, had turned in another, leaving him with 220, and Leo Diegel, sticking grimly to his job, was only a stroke back of Vardon with 219 sandwiched in between the two British invaders, but in no sense daunted. The big gallery then switched to Hagen and Hutchison, the last pair to start, and still two of the favored stars. Immediately afterwards it became evident that Hagen was playing far below his usual finishing standard. He no longer looked to be the same confident, cool, aggressive type. Lacking the proper touch on the greens, he was struggling early, leading the forlorn hope of the golfer who knows that his game is badly off and that neither his irons nor his putter are working. When Hagen got out in 1 his day as a champion was over. He fought gamely coming back, but the rally came too late. He no longer had one man to catch, but four or five veterans, who evidently intended to go the route. One of these was Jock Hutchison, who, after a good chance for a at the fourth hole, overran his putt and needed a 6. In spite of this costly mistake Jock got around in, tieing with Diegel at 219, and just one stroke back of Vardon. At the end of the third round the leaders stood as follows: Vardon Ray Barnes Jones McDonald Loos Evans Burke THE AMERICAN GOLFER And still no one gave Burke a tumble, six strokes back of Vardon, who was at his best. Burke, with a, might easily hare had a 70. Playing fine golf, he struck off one of his longest drives at the three hundred and twenty yard seventh hole. The ball cleared the trees and came to rest within twenty yards of the green. With a single chip shot ahead he elected to go straight for the pin which had been placed at the top of a dip in the green, only a few feet from a trap. The chip rolled by the cup, trickled slowly over and finally flopped into the trap, costing a 6 in place of a or a. It was by the margin of this shot that Burke lost the championship. In spite of this mistake be finished with a. The Tragedy of Vardon HERE was now but one round left, T eighteen holes in which to settle a championship that was rapidly getting upon several thousand nerves and developing all the aspects of drama in its most gripping form. Jack Burke, starting out, finished with a. He was unaccompanied and overlooked. Yet by playing superb golf he gave par an even fight around the course, finishing with 296. In behalf of Burke it should be stated that he played thirty of the last thirty-six holes in par or under, by all odds the best golf of the final day. His rounds of 7 7 show the combined brilliancy and steadiness of his march. Thirty out of thirty-six holes in the decisive test at par or under is close to a record. It deserved to win, for it was all the result of very fine golf where the breaks were certainly not in Burke's favor. Here is his card for that last day's march: (Continued on page 17)

5 AUGUST By the Turn of a Putt Out In Out In MORNING 2 (Continued from page 6) 6 7 AFTERNOON But the big crowd had no thought of Burke around 2 P. M. in the afternoon. It was following Harry Vardon, and after the first few holes messages were dispatched around the course to come and see the great veteran win his last championship. The weather was warm with but little wind, and while Vardon looked a trifle worn his serenity and stoicism remained unchanged. Puffing upon a pipe which he had exchanged for the cigarettes of the early rounds, he settled at once to his top pace. Making practically no mistakes, par soon became a simple matter. Starting, he was upon even terms with par. At the fifth hole with another he beat par by a stroke. Par golf of the flawless variety continued to result until he reached the short eighth, some two hundred and ten yards in length. This distance had bothered him all through the tournament. His iron had left him short and he feared that his spoon would take him in trouble beyond. Once again he took out his iron, fell short into a trap, but still got another. At the four hundred and ninety-two yard ninth his tee shot, after a bad kick, bounded in back of a tree. Here he played one of the finest shots of the tournament. Starting his ball in the direction of a trap far to the left of the course, his sliced brassie shot traveled straight for the bunker and then broke directly to the pin, leaving him only a few yards short. He pitched to within two feet of the cup, but missed his putt to beat par, taking a. He was still out in 6. With a good at the par tenth and a fine at the three hundred and fifty-two yard eleventh Vardon had the championship won by at least four strokes as he stood on the twelfth tee. But here Time and Fate beckoned him together. As he stood upon the twelfth tee facing the green five hundred and twenty-two yards away a heavy wind storm arose, blowing directly against his drive. Facing this wind it was easy to see that he looked extremely weary. But no one believed that he could break bad enough to ever lose after the miraculously perfect golf he had played. From the first hole in the morning through the eleventh hole in the afternoon he had played twenty-eight consecutive holes in one hundred and eight strokes against a par of one hundred and eleven. He had played these twentyeight holes in an average of four under 's one of the greatest finishing marches in the history of golf. Lose? How could he? But the wind by now had turned into a heavy, blustery sort of blow just where he needed distance. It caught his straight, tired tee shot and held it back, leaving him too long a carry to make the guarding brook. Playing his second safe, he was unable to get home against the gale on his third and so took a 6. At the short thirteenth he missed a two-foot putt for his, taking a. Utter weariness by now had settled heavily upon him. The long strain of daily exhibition matches and the championship test at fifty years had gotten in its work. Two fine shots with the wind put him on the next green in two, but again he took three putts. Three putts at the fifteenth and again three putts at the sixteenth left him with two 's to win, where he should have had the field distanced beyond doubt. The seventeenth brought him once more against the roistering wind with a brook to carry on his second shot. His drive was short. Here we will let Vardon describe his second shot as he did to us that night: "I was very tired. When I came to my ball I knew I had a hard shot to carry the brook, about two hundred yard's away, and reach the green. But I had wasted so many shots on my bad putting that I did not believe I could waste any more. I knew my only chance to get home was to put my body into the swing, something I never like to do. But here it was necessary. I failed to time the swing of my club and the sway of my body properly, and while I got a fair stroke it was not quite good enough. It just caught the brook on the carry and I knew then, even as the ball left the club head, that my bid for the championship had failed. Even as tired as I was, I can't see yet how I broke so badly. Why, I am sure I could go out now and do better by kicking the ball around those last few holes with my boot. I can't understand it. On the other hand, I can't understand how I was so close, only one stroke out, after missing all those short, simple putts that any other man could have holed with ease." That second shot to the brook was one of the great tragedies of sport. For by then the big crowd was no longer pulling for Diegel the homebred or Hutchison the Scot. It had forgotten the dividing line of nationality between British and American in the deeper human sympathy for a great veteran, the greatest master of the game, struggling against the inevitable those two unbeatable monarchs of destiny Time and Fate. And he had fought his fight with such superb skill and such fine bravery that his collapse came as a personal loss. It was no longer an Englishman against an American, but age battling against the inevitable. It was no longer a drama of sport the crowd was watching, but one of the great and eternal tragedies of human life. On his way to the brook the veteran, still showing no sign of emotion, looked ten years older, hoping possibly against hope that the ball had carried the guarding hazard. The hole cost him a 6 and the championship. After playing twenty-eight consecutive holes in three under par he had played the last six holes in seven over par. Of the other sixty-six holes in the championship he played but eight of them over par, losing almost as many strokes here in this short stretch of thirty minutes as he had lost through the entire two days. So Vardon passed out as the crowd charged back up the slopes to find Ray, Diegel and Hutchison. R Ray Comes Through AY, starting in just back of Vardon and Barnes in the final test, got away brilliantly. He was off with a, swinging lustily and driving the ball far down or up the course with an amazing carry. The fourth hole brought him the championship as things turned out later. His second shot here was just short of the green, forty feet from the cup. The fourth

6 18 THE AMERICAN GOLFER green was the only one on the course that still needed grooming and so had cost many extra putts. It had cost Hutchison three putts from within twelve feet that same day. In place of chipping the approach, the big Briton decided to risk his fate upon his putter and the ball went straight and true to the bottom of the cup for a birdie. A at the next hole left Ray moving at a fast clip. He slipped a stroke at the next, but came back by again getting his at the three hundred and twenty yard seventh for the fourth consecutive time. If any one hole won the championship for the Oxhey giant it was this seventh hole, calling for a long carry over a cluster of trees. Against a par, Ray got four 's. Ray took hut twelve strokes in playing this hole four times where Vardon and Hutchison took fifteen. Diegel took sixteen and Burke took eighteen. In other words, Burke played the other seventyone holes in five strokes better than Ray did, but they all happen to count. After getting his here, Ray should have been out in. He missed a four-foot putt at the short eighth and something less than a two-footer at the ninth, where the ball went in and then popped out. Out in and starting back with a, he then took a on the eleventh hole. At this point he was three strokes behind Vardon with only seven holes left. At the long twelfth Ray took his first 6 of the championship test. He was trapped on his third and after getting out needed two putts. The fifteenth came near to costing him the championship. His second shot was sliced over the road which runs to the right of the green. His recovery was bad, the ball traveling less than fifteen feet and still remaining in the rough. His chip shot was ten feet short but again his magic putter came to his assistance and he dropped the tap for a. Over approaching on the seventeenth, he took another and by these mistakes he left both Diegel and Hutchison fine chances to get there. Back in 0, Ray turned in a for a total of 29 strokes. It was now up to Diegel and Hutchison. Diegel's Game Battle ITH rounds of Diegel Wstarted his last hike with a fine chance to win. He was off with a, always a satisfactory beginning. Three putts did not help him at the fourth, but after that he settled down to par, going out in 7. Here he stood two strokes back of Vardon and one stroke back of Ray with nine holes left. At this point Chick Evans, pulling for the home-bred to win, supplanted Diegel's caddie, taking the bag himself. Swapping horses in mid-stream is always a dangerous undertaking. Diegel had been used to one caddie for a week and this was no time to change from the old routine. He belongs to the nervous, bustling, highstrung type who should play his own game. Going to the tenth hole, Diegel pounded out a terrific drive, down to the flat, a good two hundred and ninety yards. He followed by one of his low pitch shots to the green, a shot that rarely travels higher than ten or twelve feet, and yet carries an immense amount of back-spin. He played his low approach perfectly, the ball striking three feet short of the pin and stopping only four feet beyond. Normally the young home-bred may be a fine putter, but his putting stroke is the one unsound thing about his game. He missed his putt and took a par. Two fine shots gave him a par at the eleventh and at the five hundred and twenty-two yard twelfth he dropped his third shot within seven feet of the cup for another try at one under par. Once again the putt failed, but he had picked up a stroke on both Ray and Vardon here. A par at the thirteenth left him on easy street, but, known only to fate, also on the rim of impending disaster. The next hole, the fourteenth, was a tragedy for home-bred hopes. Diegel, nervous and fidgety, but game and fighting hard, started his back swing amidst intense silence. Just as he started his down swing a spectator standing close by coughed violently. In the stillness it had a disastrous effect. Leo looked up, half-topped his drive and the ball ran up the plateau to the fairway but far short of the green. In place of an easy mashie home he now needed a full brassie. At this point Elmer Loving, another homebred, rushed up just as Diegel was addressing the ball to announce that Ray had just taken a 6. Badly upset, the home-bred hope threw down his club and asked that he be let alone to play golf. "I don't care what Ray took," he said. "I'm playing my own game." The combination was a trifle too much for the highly keyed young home-bred. If he had been left alone to make his own tight he might have had a far better chance. As it was he hooked his second shot to a trap, barely got out and had to take a 6, losing two strokes to par. This one hole cost him the title. A short approach at the sixteenth and a second to the trap at the sixteenth left him only an outside chance. He then needed one under par to tie Ray. His second shot to the four hundred and thirty yard seventeenth hole left him an eight-foot putt for his. If this putt went down he was almost sure to finish in a tie with Ray. Evans helped him to sight the line, but the combination didn't work out. The putt was missed by a scant margin and now only a at the three hundred and thirty-two yard eighteenth hole would suffice. The cup here was placed to the left near a deep trap, and after a fine tee shot Diegel elected to play safe and depend upon a twenty-five foot putt. It was fairly close, but it failed to come off and the youngster was heartbroken. But he had done his part. In the final test he had played fourteen of the last eighteen holes in par, which is far above the average even for championship play. He had drawn putts ranging from four to eight feet at the tenth, twelfth and seventeenth holes, but none of them dropped. But in defeat he had proved both his skill as a golfer and his nerve under fire. His one break at the fourteenth, coming from outside interference, was excusable. Fate had merely decreed that it was not his time to win. Hutchison's Final Bid ITH rounds of -- Diegel W Hutchison alone remained with a chance. Jock had already earned his share of fame. He had led the field by five strokes in the qualifying round. Played under the rules of 1919 he would have been Open Champion with the phenomenal score of 286. For in 1919 at Brae-Burn the qualifying scores also counted in the championship test. He had turned in two successive rounds of 69 against a course record of 71. His golf had easily been the most brilliant of the entire field. It had been too brilliant in the early stages, for no man could hope to maintain that dizzy pace. Starting the final round Hutchison,

7 AUGUST born and bred at St. Andrews but playing from the Glenview Club of Chicago, was in second place, one stroke back of Vardon. He had registered 219 strokes for his first three rounds, 69, and. Another would tie Ray. A would win. But Jock began badly with a 6 at the first hole where his hooked tee shot just caught the top of the last trap. Out in 9, he needed a fast incoming trip to win. But although as nervous as a fish just hooked, he fought like a tiger to get there. He played the tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth holes in even par. The fourteenth cost him a. At the fifteenth he had a threefoot putt for a, but the try, after rimming the cup, refused to drop. Right there Jock sensed the disaster that had overtaken him. "That shot cost me the championship," he remarked. But for all that he stuck to the guns. A good at the sixteenth left him where Diegel had been with seven strokes to tie. At the seventeenth he was just off the green but chipped boldly for the cup. The ball ran to within two inches of the pin, wavered a brief moment and then slid by, stopping just an inch beyond. Only a now at the final eighteenth hole would help. Hutchison's tee shot sailed to the left of the course, leaving a hard approach to the pin. He had no choice but to play safety for the Middle of the green. Hagen, who was on in two, holed a thirty-footer, but after that effort there were none others left. Jock tried gamely but failed by a finger nail to drop the ball, and as this last effort stayed out Ted Ray became Open Champion of America, the first British golfer to take the cup home in twenty years. A fuller dissection of the play shows these facts: Ray had forty holes in par, twenty holes over par and twelve holes under par. Vardon had fortyeight holes in par, fourteen holes over par and ten holes under par. Diegel had forty-two holes in par, seventeen holes over par and thirteen holes under par. Hutchison had forty-seven holes in par, fifteen over par and ten under par. Ray had the fewest holes in par, the largest number over par and, next to Diegel, the greatest number under par. Hutchison had a 69, Vardon a 71, Diegel and Burke 's. Ray had nothing below a and nothing above a. Vardon had three 6's in his card, Hutchison three 6's and Diegel one 7 and one G. Ray had but one 6. On his third round he had a side-hill putt of forty feet to escape another 6 at the long twelfth, but he holed it. The big Englishman won through two factors. His mighty tee shots gave him a big advantage at many holes and his putter did better work than that of any other man in the field. He holed many a putt between twenty and forty feet. If Harry Vardon had putted as well as Ted Ray he would have won the championship by at least ten strokes. Vardon missed an abnormal number of putts from two to four feet where Ray was holing the long ones. A nervous affliction in the back of his right hand makes him jab the short ones. On one two-foot putt at the short thirteenth, where the ball hit the back of the cup and jumped out, he would have gone six feet over if the tin hadn't intervened. Vardon, holing his share of the short ones, would have been around 28, ten strokes in front of the next man. The wonder is that he stayed so close to the top. Three putts to many greens also cost Chick Evans his chance. Outside of his putting the Western Amateur Champion was at the top of his game. As it was, he was only three strokes away. Concerning Some Others IM BARNES was never able to Jreach top speed after his fine second round of 70. The deadly accuracy of Vardon between the first and the twenty-eighth holes on the final day helped to kill off his last chance. Vardon, with twenty-eight consecutive holes in four under 's, set a killing pace that no man could follow. The others only heard about it. Barnes had to stand and see it done and then try to match it with the best he had. Hagen lasted one day and even then he was struggling. His game was no longer breaking with its old certainty and dash. He was no longer the confident champion of Even in those first rounds we saw him lift his head nervously on two strokes in succession. On the last day his putts were not dropping and he was working hard for every par he got. The old touch was not there. When he went out in 1 starting his third round it was understood that a new champion was coming on. Hutchison was outdriving him many yards from the tee and playing better golf all the way. There were many who thought that Hagen would kill off Jock, but if anything it was Jock's early speed that killed off Hagen. This time, too, he had more than one man to catch. It was no longer a matter of overtaking Mike Brady or Jim Barnes. It was a matter of overtaking Ray, Vardon, Barnes, Hutchison, Burke and Diegel. Bobby Jones lost his chance in his first round. There he needed a. From that point he worked his way down to a and then to a very fine 70, the best round of the last day. But that 70 took out all he had left in the way of sensations. As it was he finished in a tie for eighth place, one stroke back of Chick Evans, who led the amateurs, a fine showing for his first Open start. Bob McDonald, the far hitter with the easy swing, had two fine rounds of and 71, but two ordinary rounds of killed his chance. Freddie Mc- Leod was again in the money for something like the twelfth time in fourteen years. The Wee One is not to be kept back from the select circle. Neither Fate nor Time can throw him out. These figures show the battle between Ray, Vardon, Diegel and Hutchison, who were battling for the lead all the way: FIRST ROUND Out: Ray Vardon Hutchison In: Ray Vardon Hutchison Out : Ray Vardon In Ray Vardon Out: Ray Vardon In: Ray Vardon Out : Ray Vardon In : Ray Vardon SECOND ROUND THIRD ROUND FOURTH ROUND

8 20 THE AMERICAN GOLFER Here's how they finished, with those who won prizes grouped at the top: Edward Ray, England..... Harry Vardon, England.. Leo Diegel, Chicago Jack Burke, St. Paul Jack Hutchison, Chi *Chick Evans, Chicago... James Barnes, St. Louis... *Bobby Jones, Atlanta... Willie MacFarlane, N. Y... Bob McDonald, Chicago.. Walter Hagen, Detroit C. W. Hackney, Atl. City. Fred McLeod, Washington M. J. Brand, Detroit.... Frank, McNamara, N. Y.. Charles Rowe, Pittsburgh Score of their contestants: Totals for second day's thirty-six holes and for seventy-two holes: John Golden, New York Eddie Loos, Chicago Laurle Ayton, Chicago Douglas Edgar, Atlanta Harry Hampton, Richmond Gil Nichols, New York J. J. O'Brien, Pittsburgh D. K. White, Toledo Fred Bell, Denver Jack Gordon, Buffalo Jack Bowling, New York Willie Hunter, Chicago Otto Hackbarth, Cincinnati John Fardell, Cleveland R. E. Knepper, Sioux City Harrison Johnston, Toledo T. D. Armour, Scotland Alex Cunningham, St. Joseph Fred Brind, Pittsburgh J. M. Simpson, Indianapolis Dave Robertson, Detroit Frank Adams, Winnipeg Alex Ayton, Chicago Charles Lormes, Toledo Wilfred Reid, Wilmington Charles Mayo, Chicago Frank Sprogell, Montgomery Dan Kenney, Olean John Cowen, Boston James Carberry, Chicago Lloyd Gullickson, Chicago Howard Lee, Detroit John Rodgers, Parkersburg Peter Walsh, Butler, Pa E. K. McCarthy, Jacksonville *Amateur