BRITISH AMATEUR GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 16 July 1928, Page 8

BRITISH AMATEUR GOLF

THE NEW CHAMPION LONDON, 31st May. T. Philip Perkins, who won Lho British Amateur Golf Championship at Prostwick, is only twenty-three years of ago, and ho has'boon in the front rank only a. year- With meteoric suddenness, bo jumped to fame in the English Championship of. 1927. U was his liist appearance in an event of this importance, and he achieved a notable performance in winning it. ■ A month or, so ago, be defended the title, and again reached the. final, but was defeated by another uoweonior to first-class golf in A. J, Stout. Perkins was an outstanding competitor from the start of the championship at Prestwick. Indeed, in a- way that was very remaVkable tie was selected as the probable winner at once, and the further the event proceeded, the more, likely his success became.

In the final he was opposed by Roger Wethored, who was champion five years ago, and who lias twice since reached tlie seiiii-linal. But for two years Wethored has had the greatest trouble with his golf. Some mysterious fault has developed iu' his swing, and all the doctors of the. game have failed to diagnose the complaint. Curiously enough it only concerns his play with wooden clubs. His iron, shots are as masterly as ever. Hut it is a terrible handicap to a man to drive without knowing where the ball will finish. That was Wethered's plight at Prestwick, and at times he was as much as a hundred yards off the correct lino. The wonder was that he survived to the final. Rut in tho circumstances his position was really hopeless from tho_first shots for his opponent was at the, peak of his game, ami, moreover, was not the man to let him off when .Iks fell into blunders. But oven when he is slashing the hall into all sorts of forbidding places, Welherod is not easy lo beat, owing to his power of recovery, and at the end of the, first round ho was only two" down. His waywardness, however, robbed him of any chance of winning, and he was beaten by six to four.

It. was a disappointing' championship the golf being very poor, and on I his account it is not easy lo say how good tho now champion is as compared with othe title-holders. But his game is founded, on sound lines, and happily ho is a swinger as distinct from a hitter. Standing 6ft. 2in., and with broad powerful shoulders, he has all the force that the modern game ""demands. As a boy he was delicate, and, on the advice of the family doctor, ho was encouraged 10. spend his life on the links. So ho started to hit a ball about the Castle Bromwich course, Birmingham, at the ago of six, and he has never ceased to lake a close interest in the game. At the. end of last year, he was involved in a nasty motor accident. He was driving his car down a country lane during a storm, when a tree was blown from its I'pols, and fell across the. c;fr, si liking Porkpis on the head. He was laid up' for two months in hospital, and, as soon as he was able to go home, he con traded scarlet fever.

In. the meantime, he has not resumed work, and lie has practised most diligently for the championship. • Perkins has been invited to go with the British loam to America to compete for tho Walker Cup, but., though it is usual for (he champion to act as captain, he is very young for the, position, and it is probable that the side will be led by Dr. William Tweddell, (lie ex-champion.