OCR Text |
Show Golf. It was the writer's good fortune to witness the recent national championship tournament on the fl Glenview links near Chicago, including the re-H re-H raarkable game between former champion W. J. fl Travis and E. M. Byers of Pittsburg, in which the fl latter put Travis out of the running by beating him H . one up in an 18-hole match. Also the final game fl between Byers and Louis James, played under fl vastly different conditions, which resulted in the H victory of the latter. Mr. Travis said after his fl disasterous game with Byers. "It is not what a man H ought to do at golf, but what he does, that counts." H While this undoubtedly holds true, yet I am never-H never-H thelcss of the conclusion that taken day in and day fl out, rain or shine, Mr. Travis was the best golfer H to swing a club during that tournament. Only fl once during the week's play did I see him make fl a really bad stroke. Occasionally he would hook H his drive a trifle, getting into the long grass at fl the side of the fair green, but invariably he re-H re-H covered beautifully, and the slight mistake never H proved expensive. His putting (and on the uneven B Glenview green this is a science in itself) was far B and away the best shown, while his long and short fl approaches were true to a degree that fairly took H the breath away from the lovers of the game who fl followed him. His drives were always low, sel-H sel-H dom more than thirty or forty feet from the H ground, thus ensuring a long roll, and the dis-H dis-H tances secured were rather heart-breaking to one H who is accustomed to congratulate himself on a B drive of 180 or 185 yards. B There is no discounting the ability of Louis B James, the youngster who won the championship B from Mr. Byers, or of Mr. By.ers himself. The B game the latter put up when he defeated Travis' B would have defeated ninteen out of twenty pro-B pro-B fessionals. In the last round of that now cele-B cele-B brated game Mr. Travis made a medal score of 39, B two strokes under bogey. Yet Byers beat him four M up on the round. Who can play golf to beat that? B But (and hero is the great difference between the B two) Travis did not vary more than two or three B strokes from that medal score during the week's R Play, while Byers was woefully off on his putting fl on several occasions. Had he putted in his game fl with James the way he did with Travis he would B have won with two or three up. B James barely qualified with a medal score of 94 fl in the first day's play. After that he played splen-B splen-B did golf. Indeed, I could discover no point of fl Wea' ' in his gamej unless it was a tendency to B bo m, -iy Witn ks drives in the first four or fl flve hoi j a game. His iron work was amazing-B amazing-B iy accurate. This in fact won him the champion-B champion-B ship. James is only 19 years old. Wait two or B tnree years, until the strength of matured man hood thickens his limbs, and the experience of tournament playing steadies his nerves. Then he will be a champion indeed. I GOLFSOME. |