CONVINCING WIN

Northern Advocate, 20 July 1935, Page 2

CONVINCING WIN

THE BRITISH OPEN. ALFRED ; PERRY, CHAMPION. Alfred Perry, Englishman, 30 years of. age, professional to the Golf Club of Leatherhead, Surrey, is British open champion by virtue of a brilliant win at Muirfield. The championship was last played at Muirfield, a magnificent seaside course , less than 20 miles from Edinburgh,: in 1929, and what a contrast there is between the score sheet for 1935 and that for 1929. In the'latter-year the Americans were

in England in force and of the first ten on the list eight, were Americans,, including Walter Hageni, the winner, Johnny Farrell, second, and Leo Diegel, third. This year the ..first four names are British. While we can legitimately take very great pleasure from the contemplation of the results, we must be candid enough to admit that there was no American “invasion” this year. The two outstanding American professionals in the field.

Henry Picard and, MacDonald Smith, were free lances, and Lawson Little, amatepr ,champion,..prolonged his stay in England in order to have* a tilt at the professionals at Muirfieid. The Americans.' will compete in full force again in 1937 when the Ryder Cup contest: will ’ again be played in England. 5 Though the American challenge was not numerically strong this ■year, the fact that a championship has again-been won by a-Briton encourages ‘the hope that “the rot” which r Set jift iff 1921 s has now been definitely stopped. Cotton won last year and Perry has won this year. Padgham, the- Whitcombes; Easterbrook, Cox, -Dailey ' andother professionals may S&dll ask themselves why one of them sfibffld not 'win ,next year. These vicr ..tones of Cotton and Perry should destroy the inferiority complex that has paralysed British professionals in the championships for tob many years.' The best American professionals have . alwaysl'sai'd that : .British professionals have nothing to learn so far as making the shots, is concerned. What they V iiave lacked, has not been the technical equipment but the ) winning way, thp confidence that they could win to the'goal’' The Victories of Cotton and Perry will. go. far towards restoring that' confidence, and in 1937 the British professionals should be able to beat off- the American assault, particularly if a Briton wins again next year. It has also to be remembered that at the present time American golf lacks a‘ Walter Hagen and a Bobby, Jones. In the series of American victories in the British open championship, from 1921 to 1933 Hagen was responsible; for four wins and R. T. Jbhes for three, and, at ‘the moment I'anyway, America has neither a professional nor an amateur who is capable of repeating these „ performances. jSerry’s championship, following upon Cotton’s, wili help enormously to reestablish the morale of British professiohal golf* and should lead to further successes. It should also help in giving confidence and determinqtioii toythe:., tearn : which will shortly 'leave Britain to play America for the , Ryder Cup at Ridgwood on September 28 and;29, - * _•> .. ■ - Perry’s 'Win was a thoroughly workmanlike job, inspiring much more confidence in.,his ability to repeat than''Haafl"“G!dttoh's '’'win. last night. At Sandwich twelve months ago, it will be remembered, Cotton simply spreadgagled s the .field with phenomenal scorers ~qf, 67 and, 65 for the first two rounds. In the last round he was very nearly a beaten ' man. He was ■clean-gone-for five or six holes and .-then pulled himself together to finish with a shaky 79. There was nothing shaky about Kerry’s golf at any stage, ■and when he started the last round iWith a 6 it made no difference. He -went on like a, golfer .who knew, he could play the shots and meant to

play them, -and through the green and ,pn, the, green, he kept -on hitting the ball with no bog pardons to himself or anybody else. Though Perry has never won a really fcig event he has been one of the front-rank professionals for some years. Perhaps his best year was' 1932, whep/'hj?., was,, runner-up. in the X'&ftws of the W6rld” tournament and tlrird in the Dunlop : Southport tournament. He has played in the British open championship for some years but has not heretofore been up among the loaders..

Henry Cotton got off to a flying start again with a 68' in the first round, but after-that he could not get under 74. It is difficult to believe that anybody had very much confidence in Cotton’s ability to repeat his victory j3f last year. He is burdened with a peculiar temperament. • He has twice refused to play for his country on the ground' that'to do so would interfere with his preparation for the open championship. Clearly he is not the stuff of which the real champion, the fighting man, is made. He is a magnificent golfer, but one imagines that

he never feels quite in his element when the dust of battle rises in the arena.