OUIMET—GOLFER.

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 9, 1 November 1919, Page 15

OUIMET—GOLFER.

A Little Yarn

(By F.E.8.)

Some one might write an interesting history some day entitled " The Competitive Soul." Certain entries have it by instinct or by heritage and a great many others, through no fault of their own, haven't. There is the case of Francis Ouimet. This golf star has the competitive soul to a final degree,,unsurpassed by no one in the game, whether it; be golf or something else. At the Big Spots. Ouimet is able to rise to loftier heights under pressure than any man we have ever seen. As a twenty-year-old kid, when tossed in against Vardon and Ray, he met this competition not with any nervous flurry, but with a vast keenness for battle. It never occurred to him that the odds were against him. He merely knew that he was in the throes of a vital competition, whereupon lie turned and played one of the grandest games of his life. There was never a moment when he faltered or weakened or began to slip. He met the issue joyfully because it was the last word in competitive golf, and, therefore, he was at his best. Against Chick. The same thing held in his recent match against Chick Evans. Ouimet's physical condition was such that the ordinary mortal would have never even started. But Ouimet had been looking forward to this match with Evans because he knew it should make, the best match he could meet. The mere fact that he happened to have a temperature of 102, and had been able to keep nothing in the way of food on his stomach, was a minor detail. He was actually drugged to strength by the keen desire of contest against a golfer who had won an amateur and an open championship within one season. In meeting Chick, Ouimet was at his best as long as his physical stamina held out, and then he began to slip. After being three up he played the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th. holes badly— eight holes in a row well below the form he had .shown. This slip permitted Evans to square the match, and then, where most men would have continued their downward progress, Ouimet's competitive soul came back, and he finished the last two holes one under par by brilliant golf. He obtained his grip upon himself at a moment when he was reeling physically through the instinct. <© # ®