SPUR TO AMATEUR GOLFERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 5 December 1929, Page 7

SPUR TO AMATEUR GOLFERS

" RIVALRY WITH A RELISH (BY HARRY VARDON, SIX TIMES OPEN CHAMPION ) (Specially written for "The Mail") There are signs of a revival of the bid-time spirit of rivalry between amateurs and professionals in golf. One little indication is tho institution of an annual match between Oxford University and a team of prominent professionals organised by J. H, Taylor. For something like fifty years, the universities met only club sides of amateurs, and I suppose this fixture is in the nature of a tribute to the changed status of the paid players, and to tho circumstance that Taylor was the first of their number who sent a son to Oxford. • A stronger note is struck by the fact that a contest between representative teams of British amateurs and professionals is now an established event. Its success when it took place for the first time ibis season has ensured its future. The professionals aro keen on it—partly because they aro enthusiastic about any kind of "needle" rivalry on the links, even when no prize money attaches to it; and partly because it is / held> on behalf of their benevolent fund, Which helps those members of their brotherhood who have fallen upon unhappy times. It is certainly an excellent thing from the point of view of the leading British amateurs,, who until a year or so ago were receding more and more from the diversion—which their predecessors pursued with zest oh every possible occa- ' sion—of measuring their powers with the best professionals. In the old days, it was considered romantic and sporting in the highest degree -when Mr Arthur Molesworth, of Westward Ho—the most accomplished English amateur of his era—issued a challenge in which he offered to meet any professional who would give him a third. '.Young Tom Morris, of imperishable name in history, took him at his word, 'ahd beat him by 7 and 5 at St. Andrews. That was only a few months before the immortal young Tom died at the age of 24,;' after ; having crowded so many trir umphs into his short life as to make later generations wonder how he coraE pared with their champions. . ; A MODEST FAREWELL Mr Molesworth must have been a man >f independent ideas and actions. So far as I know, I, was at only one open championship in which he competed; That was afc Sandwich riot very many years ago. He had been playing as an "unattached" amateur, and, hav r •'". ing failed in the qualifying rounds, was sitting on a seat far out on the course—-

grcybcarded and forlorn, apparently knowing nobody and unknown to anybody. Ho complained that tho couvso was too difficult, especially as all ho had was a Jady's set of clubs —which, indeed, was true, becauso he had tho set beside him. Then ho rose and walked gloomily away. That was his last appearance in competition—a strange exit on tho part of a player who had been so great in his day. Whatever his ultimate obscurity, Mr Molesworth did much to stimulate and crystallise the spirit of healthy rivalry between amateurs and professionals —a spirit which has waned in this country in recent times although it' has flourished with ever-increasing vitality in tho United States. Mr Bobby Jones has declared to mo that he never missed an opportunity of engaging in a sharp-pointed contest with a first-class professional, even if it meant a journey of hundreds of miles.; He thought that it not only brought out the best that ho could produce at golf, but that he always learnt something from it by watqhing the methods of' his opponent. And it is no less helpful to the professionals, who are moved to produce /ill that they can give in skill so as to maintain the prestige which they naturally feel is their due. ' For some reason, a certain gulf has strisen between the two sections in this country during the present generation. Probably it is the result of the modern exigencies of work. EEUNION IN RIVALRY. Less and less have amateurs of tho front rank, apart from a few faithfuls, been disposed to enter into the ordeal of the open championship test. And yet at one time people were astonished when any amateur with a reputation failed to have his tilt at the professionals on that occasion. There "were always amateurs fighting hard_ with the leaders in the closing stage's, and sometimes—twice for Mr Harold Hilton and once for Mr John Ball—there were triumphs for amateurs. What they could do, and what Mr Jones has done in the present age, surely others could achieve if only the spirit of emulation were as strong as it used to be. This contest between the chosen of the two sections ought .to do much to restore it. Even if it be against the interests of the amateurs so far as concerns their chancer of winning, I am sure it would be valuable to have singles of 36 holes. Amateurs are accustomed to 18 holes, but the trend off events points clearly to the conclusion that sooner or later they will have to get used to duels of a day's duration—at any rate in events of first importance. There is a steadily developing public opinion in favour of such a condition in connection with the amateur championship,, and it is the accepted test for the Walker Cup match. The way in which our side started at Chicago a year ago suggested that they might have won if the games had been over 18 holes; but they were worn down over 36 holes.