BOY GOLF CHAMPION

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

BOY GOLF CHAMPION

INSTITUTION IN ENGLAND. DISTINGUISHED YOUNGSTERS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, August 31. The boy’s golf championship has developed into a big affair. Inaugurated thirteen years ago with a handful of players on an obscure course, this season’s entry numbered 170, and it took place on the championship links at Carnoustie. It has also served an excellent purpose in bringing out youths and fitting them for the more important senior competitions. For instance, six years ago the boy champion was Eric Fiddian, who has since captured ,the English championship and is a Walker Cup representative. _ _ I think the new boy champion, P. B. Lucas, may have an equally distinguished career. At Carnoustie all the ambryonic champions of Scotland were arrayed against him, but from the time the first ball was struck it was apparent that he had a touch of class that none of his rivals possessed, and he went fairly easily through his matches to triumph in the thirty-six holes final. His opponent in this was a seventeen-year-old Scottish boy named W. A. McLachlan, who, by some wonderful putting feats, held his own during the first round which finished all square, but was outplayed in the afternoon, the match coming to an end on the fifteenth green by four and three. It has often been said that boys should be kept out of competitive golf, that it is better that they should keep to cricket and football. In the case of Lucas I think it can be taken t|iat it is his third snorting interest, for at Stowe school he is captain of both the cricket eleven and the Rugby fifteen. The son of the late secretary of the Prince s club, Sandwich, Lucas started hitting a ball about with a child’s club and in the meantime his only golf has been during the school holidays. A left-handed player, he has a handicap of scratch at the Sandy Lodge club, London, and as his success at Carnoustie suggests he seems now to be on the threshold of a distinguished career if he decides to concentrate on the game.