A Single Stroke

Sunset at Troon, Scotland, on June 15 found A. G. Havers the winner by one stroke of the British open golf championship. That stroke separated him from Walter Hagen, titleholder. Third place went to MacDonald Smith of California; fourth, to Joe Kirkwood, Australian-born American.

A notable feature was the failure of the " Old Guard " of British golfers--Vardon, Ray, Braid, Mitchell, Duncan--to figure even feebly in the fight to win back for England the title that Jock Hutchinson and Walter Hagen had carried back with them across the ocean for two successive years.

A. G. Havers won his laurels by steadiness, with four 73's and a 76. He recently succeeded Sandy Herd as the professional at Coome Hill Club near London, though still in his early twenties. At 14 he broke the record for the Royal Norwich Course and two years later qualified for the open championship.

Honors for individual brilliance were split by MacDonald Smith and Joe Kirkwood, who broke the course record with 69's the second morning. Gene Sarazen, American open champion, played himself out of the tournament by a single stroke in the qualifying rounds.