GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 5 October 1936, Page 9

GOLF

ROUT OF WALKER CUP PLAYERS (By Air Mail—From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 10th September. British golf lias suffered several rude shocks at the hands of American players, but none has been go severe as that caused by the debacle of the Walker Cup team. To fail to win either a foursome or a single was a humiliating experience, and, despite the pungent criticism to which the players have been subjected both at home and in America, I do not think it, can be properly explained. I am prepared to concede the American a definite superiority as a match winner, but this does not .account for the wholesale collapse of a team whom everyone in this country believed to possess some possibilities. The British players have been described as “amateurs” and “week-end” players, with the sneers that these terms imply. Actually it is a very apt description, and it tells plainly how they compare with their rivals. As a matter of fact, the golfer is like all other British games players. He lias not the time, and I do not think the inclination to become a specialist in the same sense and thoroughness that is expected of men in other countries. Our attitude may be wrong. It is definitely so from a competitive point of view, but it is one that we have always maintained. When the team went to New York the authorities of St. Andrews, who are entirely responsible for the match, were praised for having scrapped the old players and put their trust in younger men. It was "ealised that they might suffer from their inexperience, but it was agreed that a wise course had been ' taken. Now, of course, it is said that ; St. Andrews made a grievous mistake, ' and that the selection of the team ought (o be taken cut of their hands and given , over to those who are in closer touch 1 with the game outside the fashionable circles. . The players are to compete in the American amateur championship, and it is to be hoped that they will make a better show. The cup match, however, went to prove that, while they are just as good as their opponents from the tee and through the green, they have not the Americans’ skill in saving the strokes round about the green. In this professionals and amateurs are alike. Both can roll, as they say, three shots into two by means of a chip and a. putt. This is really the reason for their supremacy. 1