GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 10 June 1935, Page 7

GOLF

VISITORS FOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP (From Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, 16th May. W. Lawson Little has arrived from America to defend his title of British amateur golf champion. Ho is an arresting personality. In appearance he resembles Dempsey, and with his massive shoulders you feel that you would like to have him on your side in a Rugby scrum. As a golfer, tco, you are left in no doubt as to his power. From the toe lie cracks the ball mightily, and so prodigious is the length which ho obtains that the rest of the game seems supremely easy to . him. But his ■ big bitting as also backed by accurate lofted aproaches and fine putting. Still, it is bis length which makes him outstanding, and I think there are several other amateurs better equipped in an allround sense.

Soon after his arrival Little competed in the Royal St. George’s Vase competition at Sandwich* and it was just the same sort of day as when Bobby Jones took part in the event and took 87. This score so disturbed Jones that he believed that the bottom had dropped out of his world. Immediately afterwards, however, he entered on a triumph which had never been equalled by a golfer in this country. It is scarcely to be expected that Little will have the same brilliant experience, but bo will be one of the favourites in the championship which is to be played at St. Annos.

It was a bitterly cold day at Sandwich, and though lie wore three woollen pujlovers. Little shivered as he walked round the course. In the circumstances, it was not surprising that, many of Ids shots went fatally wrong. Included in the field was the strong Canadian team who have come over, .and they, too,found the conditions dreadfully severe. They, confessed that they were not accustomed to playing in such a forbidding wind, and that it was too much for them. The team, which comprises.nine players and a manager, is the first which has been officially sent) to this country, and it is headed by C. Ross Somerville. He has won the amateur championships both of America, and Canada, and when he was here two years ago he reached the semi-final of the British event. I think he will again he a dangerous competitor, and even if the others should he handicapped by the strangeness of the conditions, there are good golfers among them.