Evening Star Newspaper, June 28, 1931, Page 76

RSIPNES S— THE: SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, e gy —— % JUNE 28, 19031. This Week the Best of All America’s Golfers Gather at the Inverness Country Club in Toledo for the National Open, and for the First Time Since 1920, When Bobby Played His First Open Tournament Over This Very Same Course, He Won’t Be Contending, but Will Watch Others Do Battle for His Throne. Where the world of golf will gather to see Bobby Jones® succe ssor crowned. The club house and eighteenth green at Inver- BY CLAIRE M. BURCKY. O, the winner won't be Bobby Jones. He retired late last Fall and the last word from him in Hollywood a short time ago was that he might appear as a spectator, but certainly not as a competitor. Yet somebody will step out this week with a brand of golf that will dominate the field in the thirty-sixth national open golf championship at Inverness Country Club at Toledo, Ohio. Who? Well— Maybe Macdonald Smith, or young Horton Smith, or Lighthorse Harry Cooper. They all finished close on Bobby's heels at Interlachen last Summer. It might be Leo Diegel, that queer-crouching, hard-hiting pro from Agua Caliente. Leo gained a tie for second place in the 1920 open at Inverness, but could do no better than twelfth last Summer. A good guess would be Gene Sarazen, the squat Eyetalian, or Tommy Armour, the one- eyed Scot, or smiling Johny Farrell, Beau Brummel of golfdom. All of them, when they're right, can shoot the kind of golf it takes to top a championship field over 72 holes. Gene won at Skokie in 1922. Tommy did it in 1927 at Oakmont, beating Cooper in a playoff. Johnny turned the trick a year later at Olympia. It might even be Walter Hagen, but don’t put a second mortgage on the old home to back him. Sir Walter’'s game hasn’t approached championship form for many months. He still retains his master showmanship, but the fact remains that the younger players have stripped the Haig of all of his titles. No, it won't be Bobby Jones. And it won't be Ted Ray, the giant Britisher who scored a 295 for first prize when the Inverness club course was the scene of the open 11 years ago. Ted is far too old to be making quick trips back and forth across the ocean to keep golfing dates. He’s now on the far side of 58, but they say he still is a match for many of England’s most promising young golfers. A GOOD many experts like Mac Smith’s chances to win at Inverness. The reason- ing is that a fellow who has been so consistent- ly good over s0 many years can't always b2 thwarted by tough breaks. Smith ought to win some time, and with Jones out of it this could very well be the year. Twice last Summer Mac gave Emperor Jones some moments of anguish. Once it was at Hoylake in the British open, when Mac scored a 293 right behind Bobby's winning 291. Again it was at Interlachen a month later. Remember how Bobby carded a brilliant 287, one stroke over the record set by Chick Evans at Minikahda in 19167 And remember, too, how he fretted through several minutes of misery before Mac finally ended his assault on ? The venerable Scot started the final round exactly seven strokes behind Bobby—and who is there to spot the Atlanta Emperor seven strokes? Yet that was the handicap Smith assumed. . Mac stuck to his guns. He cut away four strokes on the first nine. He slashed off two more on the second nine and only Bobby’s 40- foot putt for a three on the last hole put the Atlantan’s margin back to two strokes. Smith's closing round of 70 at Interlachen under con- ditlons that actually were cruel was one of the finest golfing efforts the game has wit nessed. ness, T oledo. CARD OF INVERNESS COURSE. OUT. IN Hole Yards Par Hole Yards vewisive SDR 4 348 .. 388 11.. 380 . 146 12. 516 431 13. 146 430 14. 416 350 15. 441 316 16. 398 29. 404 18...... 325 WRIDN R N~ al R R Y 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 35 Total. . 3,155 Total.. 3,374 Mac's case, it seems, parallels that of Al Simmons, the big slugging Pole of Connie Mack’'s base ball champions. For five straight years Simmons courted the American League batting championship, but each time some- body came along with a bouquet of flowers late in the season and stole Al's love. Mind you, the A's star was batting .386, .343, .392, .351 and .365 during those years, too. But in 1930, Simmons put on his most fervent wooing and stood off the late challenge of Lou Gehrig to win the lady’s nod with an average of .381 as compared with Gehrig's .379. OW isn't that Mac Smith all over? It is, except that the youngest of the famed Smith boys from Carnoustie has been denied his major championship much longer than Simmons was. He has been a championship threat since away back in 1910, the year he tied for the open title of Philadelphia Cricket Club with his brother Aleck and J. J. McDer- mott. Aleck grabbed the title in the three-way ylay-off. But if it's in the cards for Mac Smith to be denied again this year, the golfing fan prob- ably would be glad to see the championship go to Diegel. Why? Because of the five great wolfers who made their debuts in open compe- tition at Inverness in 1920, Leo is the only one who never has gained the championship. He is a great golfer, and he has come close to vic- tory many times, but the championship so far has eluded him. You might say that Inverness initiated Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Tommy Armour, Johnny Farrell and Diegel into the uncertainties of major league golf. True, all had tasted tourna- ment competition before, but this was their first experience at matching strokes with the golfing elite of Great Britain and the United States in the game's foremost -event. Diegel turned in the best card of the five freshmen on that occasion. His 296 gave him a tie for second place with Harry Vardon, Eng- land’s “old master.” Jock Hutchison and Jack Burke, one stroke above Ray. Jones tied for eighth with 299. It's hardly necessary to men- tion that Bobby has since captured the title four times, besides finishing second on four occasions. Sarazen scored a 311 for thirtieth place, but he came on two years later to win at Skokie. Ferrell's 315 was good for forty-fifth place, but Johnny came through a winner in the 1928 event at Olympia. Armour, then playing as an amateur, recorded 317 strokes which netted him forty-eighth place. Tommy later turned pro and won the United States open champion- ship in 1927. They say that Diegel is still looking for the demon whose thoughtless chatter late in the final round sent Leo’s taut nerves askew and ca.u.sed him to blow up. But for that, Diegel might have won the open in his first taste of major competition. HE final round began with Vardon holding a one-stroke lead on Diegel in second place. The young American pitched in and rattled off par after par on the first nine. Word swept back to the club house that Diegel, a rank out- sider, was raging along like wildfire. He had picked up the stroke on Vardon at the turn. Scmewhere on one of those early holes in the second nine a newcomer rushed up to the edge of the gallery surrounding Diegel, now crouch- ing for his tee shot. If you know Diegel's game, you'll know what that crouch looked like. ‘The newcomer spoke: “Ray's home with 295.” A 16-inch gun going off at Leo's elbow could have done no more damage. He topped his tee shot. His second was a wild hook into a trap. His. seventh finally found the bottom of the cup on that easy par 4 hole. He recovered, but his 72-hole score read 296. Diegel had tied for second with Vardon, Hutchison and Burke and Ray had won the championship. While it may be only incidental, it so hap- pens that the impending affair at Inverness will mark the initial performance in national cpen championship play of the new standard golf ball—the 1.68-1.55 ball. If you've played the new pellet you know that it does sit up nicely in the fairway as they wanted it to, but that it also emphasizes slices and hooks and is sus- ceptible to quecer pranks in the wind. It dcesn’t putt as nicely, either. OU can expect them to put the same muscle into each swipe as before. The winner will have to be “right,” just as all previous winners had to be shooting their best. Inverness is not by any means the hardest golf test in the country. Neither is it a “pipe” course. It offers a proud challenge to the game's best shot-makers and you can rest as- sured that there will be few of them to con- quer par figures over the 72-hole route. ‘Three par 3 holes and & pair of par 5s break the monotony of drive-chip, drive-chip. Two one-shotters, Noe. 3 and 13, are 146 yards apiece. The other, No. 8, is 210 yards long which, in the ordinary golf game, offers a full More than 100 sand traps, large and small, are scientifically set down over its length and breadth. Inverness wanders across many of its fairways. Several holes are bordered by “no man’s land,” which is distinctly out of bounds. Its rough is tough. Still, Inverness is only 6,529 yards long. Par is 71, and there will be some who will eclipse that figure, although it will take some grade A golf to do it. Several features distinguish Inverness from other championship layouts. Although it is generously sprinkled with traps, yet there is one hole which does not have a single trap. It's No. 5, a par 4 of 430 yards. Golfdom long has recognized this spot as one of the best on any course in the world. No. 7 is the famous “dogleg.” History made on this hole in the open of 1920 has kept it in the spotlight ever since. It is the hole on which Ted Ray actually blasted out his cham- pionship 11 years ago. No. 7 swerves sharply to the left. The jour- ney by the fairway exacts a tough penalty on a topped tee shot. The approach also must be properly hit to the green. Of course, one may drive straight for the green—and that is how Ray won the championship. The conqueror and the crown some one else will wear this year. Bobby Jones, shown holding the National Open Championship Cup which he won at Interlachen last vear. OUR times the big Britisher Jammed his ball across that spacious rough, disdaining the fairway. Four times his ball plopped on the green. Four times he sunk his second putt for four birdie 3s. Yet he won the title by only one stroke from Diegel, Vardon, Hutchison and Burke. Is it any wonder that No. 7 is famous? Ray also was responsible for putting No. 9 in the limelight. It offered him another chance to “cut corners” in his drive to the champione ship. Some~of the present-day players who hit a ball with Ruthian strength may elect to duplicate Ray's feat of 11 years ago. Ted chose to cut the distance from 492 yards to 460. To reach the fairway beyond the bend to the right, he walloped his ball 260 yards over the out-of-bounds section and back into bounds. For his second to the green he used a heavy mashie niblick, his favorite second shot. He was down in two putts. Indeed, there was nothing of the piker in Ted Ray. The green at No. 10 is the “mother” of every green at Inverness and hundreds of other courses throughout the country. One might search for years and not find a golf green of such fine natural location and protection. Two things distinguish No. 12. First, it is the longest hole on the course, being 516 yards from tee to cup. It's a great place for the fellows who like to wallop ’em, but par de- mands more than a wallop. Those who can set their ball down 250 to 260 yards straight down th- fairway from the tee will receive an inspiration to go for the green on their second. However, this will take more than just the ordi- nary hefty punch; it must be accurate, too. ECONDLY, Ted Ray left his mark at No. 12, too. Ray was wild with his drive, the ball dropping into the heavy rough at the right. However, the giant Englishman never was one to be fazed by either bad lie or distance, so he selected his heavy spoon and plastered the ball up against a tree beyond and the left of the green. Only the big, powerful hands of a Ted Ray could have made such an amazing Tecovery. No. 15 used to be No. 6 of the old nine-hole course of 1903, and the fact that it exists today practically the same as then, while others have undergone extensions and frequent remodeling, is proof of its worthiness. It is perhaps the most beautiful home at Iverness. From tee to green it is downhill all the way. The drama of championship play also has painted a picture on No. 17. It was the scene of Harry Vardon's “last great chance” in the 1920 open. Vardon enjoyed a commanding lead of five strokes at the eleventh. En route to No. 12 the “Old Master” somewhere lost his famed putting touch as a violent wind blew across the course. He recovered when the squall passed and came to the seventeenth tee needing only a pair of par 4s to regain the title which he held just 20 years before. After a good drive, Harry needed a long second to reach the green at No. 17. The “Old Master” stepped up to his ball and—of all things—topped it. Bounding along like a frightened rabbit, the ball plopped into Inner- Ness, then an open stream and a recognized water hazard. Harry picked it out and dropped back, accepted the stroke penalty and then had to write down a poisonous 6, which, with his par on the eighteenth, gave him one more stroke than Ray and landed him in a tie for second place.