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Show Crack Golfer To Enter Play wm m m !&! fx ei Waiter Hagen Is A-l Player WALTER HAGEN, AMERICAN OWN Hagen heads the American contingent of golfero who sailed away on the Darmanla to compete In the British open aolf tournament. ; By TOM THORP. (Written for the International News Service) NEW YORK, May 20. Uncle Sam is going to be well represented in the British open golf championship this summer. In Walter Hagen, national open titleholder, tho United States Is sending to Great Britain the moso expert ex-pert linksman developed in this country coun-try In years. Some critics go so far in their description of the Rochester professional pro-fessional as to proclaim him tho greatest great-est golfer ever developed on this side of tho Atlantic. Accompanied by sew eral other American golfers Hagen is on the. Atlantic, bound, for Europe. Besides Be-sides taking part in the British open series,: tho American golfers will tour Europe. The selection of Walter Hagen as standard bearer of the team on the present invasion of European links has tho indorsement of the golf followers in all sections of the United States. A more popular golfer than tho clean-cut, clean-cut, cool-playing Rochester star cannot can-not bo found. In all of his matches this season, Hagen has shown superor-lty superor-lty over rivals with a consistency that leaves no doubt of tho wisdom of his selection as team leader. Great Britain Brit-ain will have to send her best sons against the youthful American oi suffer suf-fer tho loss of her open title. Tho only disadvantage that Hagen will encounter is the one that all invaders in-vaders must put up with, which is un-famUiarlty un-famUiarlty with Uio links. If tho American player were able to get a few weeks' practice on the course upon which the tournament is to be held wo would be inclined to pick him as a suro winner. Anyone knowing of the difficulties that a player can get himself Into playing over the Royal St. George course or the sand dunes of Deal, can appreciate what a little practice prac-tice would mean to Hagen- Walter Hagen's jump into tho spotlight spot-light of golfing publicity was made in face of many difficulties. Born at Rochester, Ro-chester, N. Y., twenty-eight years ago, Hagen learned to play golf while, acting act-ing as a caddie on tho logal links, Until Un-til tho Fall of 1913. he was not widely known. It was tho sensational gamo that he played In tying for fourth placo at Brookllne In 1913 with Macdonald Smith, Tellier and Barnes, with a total of only three strokes more than Oul-linet, Oul-linet, Vardon and Ray made In the tlo .for the title that caused the golfing I world to realize that ho was In line for high honors. The following season found him playing against the leading stars in the sport It was at the Midlothian Country Coun-try club links, Chicago, that ho showed his real class against the most formidable for-midable opponents. In that memorable contest he won his forst national open championship, succeeding as champion Frances Ouimet. Strange as it may seem, it was Charles "Chick" Evans, Jr., that Ha-gen Ha-gen defeated for the titular honor. The Rochester lad was then but 22 years of age. While his score was but one stroke In front of Evans, it was enough to prove to all that so far as nerves I were concerned, Hagen was the coolest proposition ever seen on the links. Since that win Hagen has been Improving Im-proving his game. His sensational win from "Long Jim" Barnes at the New Orleans Country club links this spring, strengthened the confidence of his followers fol-lowers In his ability to beat any rival in this country. Hagen's nerve and gameness are his chief assets. As a long driver, he is the equal of Barnes, Hutchinson, McDonald Mc-Donald or Bob Gardner. Hagen, like, most other professionals, is a wizard with tho Irons, especially with a short mashie pitch that has won him many matches. On the green, the Rochester player is consistently good. He is a putter of the Jerome Travers and' Frank Ouimet' type. Hagen has a wonderful faculty for playing at his best whon tho competition competi-tion Is keenest. Any golfer above the average knows how to play his shots well, but the man who can perform at his best under trying circumstances is j tho one that always tops the list. Such ;a man is Walter Hagen, whose fighting fight-ing spirit Is commendable. That is jwhy all American exponents of the .game are confident that John Bull's best golfers are going to find Uncle Sam's representative a difficult onpon-ent onpon-ent to defeat. |