Golf

British Open. A snowy ball hung in the air over the second green of the Prestwick golf links, Scotland. From the sea close by, blew what a Scotsman would call "a bit breeze," an American a "stout wind." Truly hit, the ball never wavered. It dropped on the dry, fast turf, leaped toward the hole, disappeared from the view of the thousands of spectators that jostled in the rough and back of the bunkers. Picking his way from the tee, his mashie still in his hand, J. H. Taylor, five times (1894, '95, 1900, '09, '13) British Open Champion, came to 'the green, watched his partner putt," received the snowy ball--holed in one-- from his middle-aged caddy, whose grin was to say: "Aye, a bonny shot. An ye'll be gi'en me a bottle o' whuskey the nicht." *

Many another ball plunked on that second green during the four rounds of the British Open Championship, last week. Lumbering Cyril Tolley would come by; British Amateur Champion Robert Harris (TiME, June 8) ; slouching Ted Ray, the long-driving professional; lank Arthur Havers, Open Champion two years ago, his lips pursed over the putts; clever Charles Whitcomb, whom a stray cur attacked at one tee and sent out of the play with a lacerated hand.

None pleased; the galleries liked the men from the U. S.--big MacDonald Smith, Joe Kirkwood with the curling smile, Jim Barnes, a long, dour man of little talk and less laughter. Before, behind, around these, the populace of that part of Scotland rowdily trailed, pushing prams, spilling lunch baskets. It was a nuisance to the police and the players.

Mac Smith at first broke the course record by 3 strokes with a 69, holing 4 birdies and an eagle. Needing but a 78 to win, he took 82 in his last round. Said he : "I have played in many places in the world, but never experienced such a rabble as beat me this afternoon."

Joe Kirkwood dubbed, pulled, could not get pinward at all for the boisterous galoots that were watching and calling for his "trick" shots.

Jim Barnes opened with a 70. The crowds were fierce but 'he plowed through for a 77 and was second to Smith at half play. His third round was more plowing, 79. Coming in at the finish, he holed eight consecutive fours, made a 74 to find himself a winner over Taylor, Smith, Ray, Mitchell and even steady Archie Compston of North Manchester, with a score of 300 even. Ray and Compston, tied for second with 301, each missed a putt that would have" tied Barnes at the seventy-second green.

Long Jim Barnes went off to Cornwall to see his mother. At the Pelham Country Club (N. Y.), the members assured each other that now their former professional had caught up with Jock Hutchinsonf (1922 winner) and gained on Walter Hagen/-(1922, '24 winner) in the matter of the British Open Championship.

Intercollegiates. The East dropped its jaw--and a title it had kept since 1897. At the Montclair, N.J., Golf Club, trouble brewed in the U.S. Intercollegiate Championship when Lauren Upson, University of California ousted defending champion Dexter Cummings, Yale. Trouble effervesced as two sectional college champions--A. Jack Westland, a tidy little golfer from the University of Washington, and squat, blond G. Fred Lamprecht, Tulane--cut their way to the finals. In the title match, Westland clung close to par. Lamprecht would have none of it. He cracked out three consecutive 34-5, the first two of which shaved the course record, then holed two more fours to scuttle Westland, 9 and 7. Such golf as Lamprecht's would have caused comment in a national tournament. Soon it may, for Champion Lamprecht is an older college man than most (some years ago he attended Cornell), and his perpetual smile betokens a golfing disposition.

The four-man team title went to Yale; Princeton second, Williams third, Dartmouth fourth, Harvard fifth.

Women's Western. Rain-sopped women stood waiting in the Riverside Country Clubhouse (Riverside, 111.). Entered to them a dusky-haired, comely young woman choking back a smile. The gathering chuckled, cackled, congratulated the young woman, then stood quiet while a chairwoman gave her a tall, slender silver cup. That night the young woman, Mrs. Silvan L. Reinhart (nee Elaine Rosenthal), of Hubbard Woods, Ill., discussed with her husband, "Spider" Reinhart, onetime Yale end, the ups, downs, ins and outs whereby she had successfully defended her Women's Western Golf Championship, through rain and wind, against a field of 81, including the redoubtable Mrs. Lee Mida of Chicago.

Trans-Mississippi (amateur). At Omaha, Trans-Mississippi Champion James Manion, St. Louis, teed his ball on the first tee at the Omaha Field Club. His fellow townsman, Don Anderson, had played him to a standstill, all square in 18 holes. James Manion knocked this 19th drive clean into 36th Street, out of bounds. There went his title. Clarence Wolfe, another St. Louisan, subdued Anderson that afternoon, 2 and 1. In the final, Wolfe broke the course record with a 70. His opponent, Arthur Bartlett of Ottumwa, la., promptly countered with a 69, but lost to a fighting finish. Champion Wolfe had reason to be thankful for the absence of Eddie Held Jr., a familiar figure in the Trans-Mississippi and once its winner. Eddie, a student at Washington University (St. Louis), was busy at the intercollegiate matches where he reached the semifinal.

Prerogative. Said Miss Joyce Wethered, British Women's Golf Champion these past two years: "I retire ... I am stopping playing [in championships]simply because I choose to. I am tired of it for the time being. There is no mystery about it. I am not going to emigrate or marry. I have simply exercised a woman's prerogative . . ."

But she still retains a woman's prerogative to change her mind, thought U.S. golf enthusiasts who have long wanted to see her play. Besides, her stern decision makes no reference to informal matches. She might, hoped many, come over some day with her ex-Brritish Amateur Champion brother, Roger, and have a friendly world's brother-sister championship with the Chicago Cummingses, ex-National Champion Edith and ex-Intercollegiate Champion Dexter.

*An old Scottish custom--the hole-in-one man gives his caddy a bottle of whiskey.

/- The only U.S. golfers to win the title.