THE CHALLENGE MATCH

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 July 1939, Page 24

THE CHALLENGE MATCH

A. D. Locke beat R. A. Whitcombe by 6 and 5 in theii 72-hole match at Coombe Hill, Bernard Darwin, famous golf journalist, wrote in "The Times" after the recent £500 challenge match. For this young man, still only 21 though a seasoned warrior, to come here from South Africa, beard our open champion, and beat him roundly is beyond all doubt a fine achievement. Locke deserves all possible congratulations, the more so as he had not been at all well just before the match. It should b-« said, too, that th">re is no ■longer any cause for complaint, as there was last year, as to his slowness. He now plays the game as pleasantly and quickly as anyone could wish *o see. It was a good win, but it was in no sense a great match. I do not know exactly what was lacking, but something emphatically was, and the crowd, not a very big one, though almost pathetically anxious to crow and cheer, could not whip themselves into enthusiasm. Indeed, some of the spectators appeared more interested in the antics of the television wagons and cameras and other mysterious appurtenances, to say nothing of the agitated commentators, than they were in the play. There was something stillborn about this match, and that is all about it.

It was cold and windy when the morning round started and the wind still blew at the end though the sun had come through. It did not blow

hard enough, however, to account for a number of really loose shots, and it j must be set down ir cold print that j the play was not up to the expected i standard. It is a mistake to pay too, much attention to scores, but they do give a certain indication, and the fact that on this not. very long course Locke gained three holes with a round of 74 is eloquent. In fact, Whitcombe, after getting a lead, threw away his chances with some really crooked tee shots and other mistakes. He was 1 up at the turn and he won one hole coming back, but he lost no fewer than seven and that ought not to have happened. Locke began with some rather weak chipping which lost him.a hole or two, but he took his chances when they were handed him prodigally on the way home.