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Show AGE OR YOUTH TiO URIERIO GOLFER Men o f All A ges Have ' Won Honors on the ' Links. i ! j , j Golf is the ageless sport, the one game ; where extreme age or extreme youth do I not act as a handicap. Two years or so ago Francis Ouimet, just out of knickerbockers, entered the national open championship and won. He beat all the crack players in America: Ameri-ca: lie triumphed over Vardon and Ray, the great Lnglish linkists. And Ouimet then was still In his teens! A short time later Walter Travis, far along in the fifties, competed against the best players in the metropolitan district and Travis won the championship! j Harry Vardon was 26 when he won his I first title; he won his sixth at the age I of 41. Jimmy Braid, also of England, wasn't a champion until lie became 31 years of age. Since then he has won five championships t he last at 4!b And Braid's playing at -i'-K an age considered far beyond athletic prime, was more brilliant bril-liant than he displayed at Ml. ,1. I. Taylor, another Kngllsh wizard, was only 'M when he firs.t took unto himself him-self a title. He was Hi when he won his fifth. Tom Morris, ranked as one of the grea t est golfers Kngland ever produced, pro-duced, was 17 years old when lie became champion, while, on the other hand, "Old Tom" Morris was t" before he annexes his (first crown in lsi'.l. And so it has gone throughout golfing history, stories of championships that show that age has not bing whatever to do with the ultimate, outcome; t hat an old man has as much chance for victory as the callow youth; that age doesn't figure fig-ure at all in the playing of the game. Dives in Pond. Frank H. Hoyt of the Siwanov Coun-trv Coun-trv club (New York), paid a golfing bet the other day by diving into the little pond that ads as a hazard on the course. Hoyt, a crack, played a round with Sumner R. Hollander, who frankly admits ad-mits that he isn't anything remarkable as a linkist. Hoyt "spotted" Hollander a liberal number of strokes, whereupon Hollander, in glee, said: "With such a handicap I think I can beat von."' "If you do, VII well, I'll do a little Annette Kellerman into the pond at the seven teen tli hole." "You're on." answered Hollander. Hollander played beyond himself in that match, beat Hoyt and then gently remarked that a certain pond was yearning yearn-ing to hold Hoyt in its liquid embrace. "I'm on my way there now," answered the losing, but game, Hoyt. "Summon the gallery." A nd while a tittering crowd lined the banks. Hoyt. fully clothed, poised gracefully grace-fully on a rock near deep water in the pond and then he look a Urodie. Ili sing to the surface, Hoyt decided that, as lone; as he was in lie might just as well linger for a while. So he Tier-formed Tier-formed a. few aquatic feats for the edification edifi-cation of t he crowd, such as floating, treading water and spouting like a whale. At last he clambered out, hi pongee suit, his silk shirt and the rest of his toggery soaked with the muddy water of the pond. "Hollander may have something on you as a golfer, but Annette isn't in your class as a sea nymph," the crowd told t lie dripping Hoyt. who grinned and sprinted for the clubhouse. The wax has reduced the number of golfers in Croat I-iritain, but it hasn't lessened the quality of the game by any means. Fortunately, the call to arms hasn't taken from active participation the greatest link stars. Vardon, Tayloi, Braid and the others, who have made golf history, are immune from military service. All of them are too old for military mili-tary usefulness ami so they are still playing play-ing the game in the same wonderful way. Most of the golf matches involving stars are now played for the purpose of raising war relief funds. Just recently 10 00 persons witnessed a match between 1 he Yard on -Taylor combination from Kngland and the Braid-Herd team, representing repre-senting Scotland. Practically everyone in the "gallery" donated a considerable sum. Afterward some of the favorite cl id's of the players were auctioned off, bringing in a tidy amount. |