The World of Sport

(J'roui Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 22. A NEW GOLF STAR. 'A new golfer lias arisen in Charles A. Whitconibe. By his *unerb play in winning the £1000 tournament on the Deal links, he established himself in the front rank of the new generation of professional golfers. Twenty-eight years of age, Whitcombe is one of three brothers, all of whom are golL.professionals. Their home was at Burnliam, Somerset, and it was here they learnt the game. They were little boys at the time J. H. Taylor was professional to the Burnliam Club, and there is no doubt they were influenced by the latter's play. Charles Whiteombe had a club when he was four years of age, and he lias been swinging one ever since, save during the time he was in the Army. His performance at Deal was perhaps the finest that has been accomplished on a championship course. He began by breaking the record in his first round with a return of 70, and, in his fourth round, lie knocked a stroke off this score. Altogether lie played 72 holes in au average of one over fours, this aggregate of 259 being the lowest recorded on a championship links. As might be expected. Whitcombe had luck on his side. In his first round lie holed out from off the jrreen three times with chip shots, and he ; repeated the feat in his fourth- round. These shots represented a clear gain of at least four strokes. But his golf was Very fine, and he deserved his brilliant success. ■ ■ 'Whitcombe won tiic first prize of £300 by the astonishing margin of nine strokes, Len Holland being second with a return of 298. Before play began Abe Mitchell was a strong favourite, and he reinained bo until he broke down in his third round. His troubles began at the long third hole. He was in the rough from his drive, and taking his spoon to I play from a bad lie, be was trapped in a bunker. Taking two to recover from the hazard, the hole cost him seven. This disaster upset him, and his game went sadly wrong, with the result that he. took eighty for the round. He made a gallant recovery in the final round. Hα required only a four at the last hole for a sixty-nine to equal Whitconibe's record, but a two yards putt slipped past the hole, and he finished in seventy. This enabled him to win the third prize. MISS HELEN WILLS. Miss Helen Wills, America's girl lawn tennis champion, is the first of the overseas challengers to arrive. Accompanied by her mother, she is the advance guard of a team of women who are first to play their British rivals a match, then to compete in "the championships at Wimbled6n, and later to travel on to Paris to take part in the Olympic Games. Eghteen years of age, Miss Wills is a Brunette, tall and slim, with something of the athletic grace of the inimitable Mile. Suzanne Lenglen. Her. home is-at Berkeley, California, and her father is' * doctor. He is a lawn tennis enthusiast, and he began to teach his daughter ■when she was thirteen. "Dad taught mc all my tennis," said Miss Wills, "but ■when I was seventeen I began to beat I. lim, and now he looks on." .'!• Last season the American girl not only Jj°. n the championship, but she defeated ; v;Mies Kitty McKane, the leading English '. -M.*!*y er - How she will play in this coun-;.-.ijly remains to be seen. She is not v »ally new to grass courts, but for the -" most part her play has been confined to lard courts. Her game is notable for tho severity of her strokes. "She will hit the women in this country off the court," is i s said, jj^ e a man> j, er a ; m is'to get to the net as quickly as posBible, and kill the return with a deftly placed volley. The chief hope, of course, Jβ that she will meet Mile. "Lenglen, who rather curiously is also the daughter of a doctor who has been her coach. Mrs. Wightman is the captain of the -American women's team, and they are duo to arrive in a fortnight. Lawn tennis continues to gain in popularity, and the championship will bo a bigger attraction than ever. In order to attempt better to accommodate the huge crowds that are sure to visit Wimbledon a new large stand has been built round another court, which will be known as No. 1 court. This will be a relief for the centre court, and the matches next in interest will be staged there. Britain won the first tie in the Davis Cup competition against Belgium, and now meets Spain. Colonel A. R. F. Kingscote was one of the three to play against Belgium, but he did not show good form on the hard court, and he has notbeen chosen again. His place is to ! be filled by "Pat" Whcatley, and the other player to contest the singles will be J. B. Gilbert. The pair thosen for j 4he doubles are Max Woosnam and L. A. I Godfrcc. THE TURF. Once again has there been a thrilling finish to the 'Jubilee (writes Centaur, your racing correspondent), the most popular of all the spring handicaps. It may be remembered that last year Diligence and Simon Pure dead-heated for first place, with Condover only a neck behind them. This time, Parth, once owned by Mr. Mathuradass Goculdas, but now in the possession of the Franco-American, Mr. A. Macombcr, and Tidden by auolhov Franco-American, Frank O'Neill, beat Lord Coventry's Cambridgeshire winner. Verdict, by* a ihort head, with Sir George Bullogh's Soldumeno dnly another short head away third. There waa a considerable gap between third and fourth, and the one .__ to fill the latter position was the Duke of .Westminsters Twelve Pointer. The Jest "also ran" in r-very sense of the expression. They included the Grand rrix winner of two yejirs ago, Eefalin,

S DOINGS ON TRACK AND HELD. '£

I which, however, does not look a highI class horse, for ho is small in every | way—in stature, bone, and general j physique. The two that carried off the (honours in the Daddock were Parth and I Vordict. Xot oft™ are paddock expressions so completely confirmed when the judge comes to have nis say later. Soldumeno also pleased very much. I and it was obvious that Jack Jarvis had efl'ected wonderful improvement in this horse brought over from Ireland. Parth lias developed into a grand four-yeaV-old, having fine size, power and that ahnost indefinable, quality which is called character. He looks as distinguished as his bleeding suggests. Verdict j has never been better in her life. Sht is to-day more muscular and robustlooking than ever before. She will always be slightly of the "greyhound" i type, but that look is not nearly so J pronounced now as it was; And what a grand sort she is—genuine, honest, land full of merit. Pharosm, by comparison with the three just mentioned, seemed appreciably smaller and set. Cloehiiaben always" catches the eye of the paddock critic, but he was in the top class this time and, therefore, over- , shadowed even at the weights. It did not seem that Mr! Persse," his trainer, I was altogether satisfied with Twelve Pointer, for no real confidence where he was concerned could bo discovered. I Browiihylda, the Oaks winner, was looking better, but in her case also the hopes were slender indeed. The delay at the.start, during which some of them went through the tapes and came nearly a furlong, would not ;be helpful to a mare, in particular on ;sueh a hot day as this was. When, hovvIcver, they were allowed to go Brownliylda was well enough away, though not so prominent at the outset as Waygood (a winner of the Irish Derby) and ;one or two more. Parth had drawn seventh place from the outside. Verdict's place was twelve, which gave her the position next to the rails. The inside position on the Kempton Course is possibly a hindrance rather than a help. There must be a chance of being closed on when making the elbow bend into the straight, no matter how good the place may appear on approaching it. Horses on the outside swing so solidly ;that they branch as they head for home. ;This is exactly what occurred to I Verdict. Parth swung into the straight 'on the outside of Clochnahen, which with jone or two others was oh the outside jof Verdict. While Parth was thus faced with a clear run, Lord mare was. being hampered. Clochnaben did not pull out for her, apparently 'because l>onoghue on the former did not think ho was beaten then, "but when at last Beary forged past that couphthere was Waygood blocking the way. Beary did the right thing in keeping Verdict to the rails. To have pulled round would have lost far too much ground, but because of the incidents mentioned he could not comence his run land chase after Parth at the moment jhe should have done. Therein quite probably lies the reason of A'erdict's defeat. When she did get a clear course she responded gamely enough to her jockey's hard hand-riding. We saw then very remarkable she is in her capacity for pulling out that little extra when apparently "all out." Parth in those few tense moments was having to withstand a challenge from right and left—and such challenges, too!— Verdict on his right and next to the rails, and Soldumeno on his left. It seemed that the two of them nearly drew level, only Parth would not yield. Neither gained an inch on him in the, last few strides. Many think Verdict .would have won in another stride or tAvo. It is not my view. One or the other would, of course,, have i cracked, because the pressure was so I tremendous, but it struck mc that in 'those last few strides they were all ■banging a little to each other as horses [will do under great pressure and when tiring. ..•••'." It is the custom to. apportion praise [or blame to the jockeys according to the placings, but no one could wish to have seen finer jockeyship on the part of the riders of Parth, Verdict and Soldumeno —O'Neill, Beary and Elliott. They were really splendid in that finish. We shall never cease to admire the clever handicapping of Major F. Lee—the winner was giving 31b to the secondhand 161b to the third—the courage of the three horses and the power, skill and horsemanship of the jockeys concerned. Such a precious little could have turned the scale, and while it is not for the victors to exult too much over only a short head margin, it is certainly not for the vanquished to be depressed after such a valorous fight. In the way of post-race conclusions it may be agreed that Mr. Macomber was well advised when he gave £15,000 for Parth before the last St. Leger, that Verdict is a mare to rank with Pretty Polly and Sceptre—she must certainly have captured a classic had she been entered for them—and that Soldumeno is bound to win a big handicap before the present season ends. (Continued on Page 4.)