GOLF IN BRITAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1933, Page 3

GOLF IN BRITAIN

THE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING. PREMIER AMERICANS TO PLAY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, December 24. With the Walker Cup match out of the way for two years, it is not expected that many of America’s amateur golfers will come over to compete for the British championship at Hoylake, but I am told that C. Ross Somerville, who holds the U.S. title, has the ambition Jones in having both cups on his sidefo. attempt to emulate the feat of Bobby board, and that he intends to enter. Somerville, a Canadian with Scottish connection, startled American golf last autumn by capturing the title in the face of the strongest opposition, and taking tire trophy out of the country for the first time since Harold Hilton brought it to England 21 years ago. He was no stranger, however, having thrice qualified for the championship in four consecutive years. Somerville, who is 29 years of age, is an insurance broker in Toronto. During the last few years he has concentrated on golf, but he is a fine all-round athlete. A first-class cricketer, he played for. a Canadian amateur team in this country a few years ago, and he also excels at Rugby football and hockey. As a golfer he has neither frills, nor, indeed, any peculiarities of style. He is, in fact, a plain, straight-forward hitter, and very powerful from a length point of view. If there is any feature of note about his style, it is that he grips the club with all the fingers round the shaft. That is to say, he neither over-laps nor inter-locks. But other champions have favoured the same method of holding the club, notably John Ball, Harold Hilton and, in more modem times, Cyril Tolley. In America, it is reported, ©layers in considerable numbers are now experimenting with the inter-locking grip owing to the success which Gene Sarazen has achieved with it, but 95 per cent, of the leading golfers of the world overlap, and the method has stood every test through two generations. One drawback to the inter-locking style is that it is liable to injure the two entwined fingers, and to cause disfigurement of the hands.