At Minikahda

Ancient and honorable veterans; callow and honorable fledglings; famed and honorable champions walked upon the grass at the Minikahda Club, Minneapolis.

All were enemies; all were fighting to take something from the others. But the fight was untainted because they were all honorable men who play golf for glory and not for pelf.

First Day. Medal play for the qualifying round of the Amateur Championship of the U. S. unearthed from the obscurity of Englewood, N. J., the fledgling Eugene V. Romans. Eugene shot a smart 71, and put his name in headlines on sporting pages throughout the land as the low medalist for the opening round. One stroke behind him was the fledgling Phillips Finlay,who has just passed his entrance examinations for Harvard, and who lives on Long Island. Famed Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet and Chick Evans -- later three of the semifinalists -- began with staid 75s.

Second Day. Bobby Jones dis played his inability to stay out of the spotlight by scoring a sen sational 67, five under par, rec ord for the course, winning him the medal trophy for the tourna ment with 142 gross. George Von Elm, who defeated Jones in the 1926 championship finals, barely qualified with 79-75 -- 154. Onetime champions who qualified: Chick Evans, Francis Ouimet, Max R. Marston. Onetime champions who failed to qualify: William C. Fownes Jr., Robert A. Gardner; the aged Findlay S. Douglas, champion some 30 years ago.

Third Day. Slightly ancient, faintly famed, portly and be spectacled Harry G. Legg, Minneapolis insurance man & Yale graduate, struck the first horror into the tournament spectators. He ousted Champion Von Elm from the lists by 1 up. Von Elm's golf, shaky in the qualifying round, remained shaky. Legg, playing his home course, was not shaky. Other tournaments in which Legg has not been shaky were the Western Amateur in 1919, five Trans-Mississippi tournaments, ten Minnesota tournaments, the Minnesota Open of 1925 and the National Interscholastic of 1907, all of which he won.

Bobby Jones, slightly shaky, was 1 down to Maurice McCarthy Jr., Long Island, at the turn; was still 1 down three holes from home. McCarthy then shook severely, missed a short putt, squaring the match; overshot the 17th green, losing the lead; overshot the 18th green, losing the match 2 down. Francis Ouimet beat Max R. Marston, 3 & 2.

Fourth Day. Harry G. Legg was removed from the tourney. Roland Mackenzie, Brown University, badgered him bitterly but evenly. At the 17th tee they were even; both foozled drives; Legg was trapped on his second; trapped on his third; missed a long putt, conceded the hole, lost the match 1 down.

Francis Ouimet beat the fledgling Finlay; Chick Evans beat Eddie Held, first (1922) U. S. public links champion.

Bobby Jones overwhelmed Harrison R. ("Jimmy") Johnston of Minneapolis.*

Fifth Day. Bobby Jones broke 70 for the third time during the tournament and destroyed Francis Ouimet. Ouimet, onetime (1914) amateur champion, onetime (1913) open champion, great golfer, only underscored Jones at one hole all day. After the morning round, Jones was 8 up. In the afternoon, he won the match 11 & 10 at the eighth green.

Chick Evans and young Roland Mackenzie played fiercely at each other's heels until in the late shadows of a nerve-straining af- ternoon. Evans, usually a wobbly putter, sank a curving 25-footer for a birdie three on the 37th. Overwrought, he stumbled to the edge of the green and muttered: "I can't watch Roland putt!" A moment later the groan of the crowd told his ears that Mackenzie's 15-foot putt had missed the hole.

Last Day. At the 29th hole Chick Evans bent over his ball to sight his putt. He then straightened up unexpectedly, left the ball, walked over and shook Bobby Jones by the hand. Evans had touched his ball preparing for the putt, moved it, lost a stroke,/- lost the hole, lost the Amateur Championship of U. S.

He would probably have lost it anyway. The margin of Jones's victory was 8 & 7. In the morning he shot his second 67 for the tournament, 5 under par and led Evans by 6 holes. Evans, veteran of national championships since 1909, made a brave bid in the final round, cut Jones's lead to 4, faltered and lost.

In addition to the championship Jones won for himself the distinction of scoring the finest stretch of tournament golf ever played by anyone. Linking his scores at Min- ikahda with his scores earlier in the summer in winning the British Open, Jones had played 159 holes of the most exacting tournament golf in ten under 4's. Sports experts unreservedly termed him the greatest golfer that has ever lived. Duffers gasped.

* The Atlanta Constitution (Bobby's home-town newspaper) described this match as follows: "A forest fire from Dixie today swept over the Minikahda course and before its withering blast Harrison Johnston, Minnesota's boldest bid for championship honors, was toasted, roasted and finally charred. . . ." /- High grade players lose a stroke when they inadvertently move their balls. Not so duffers--who pay little or no attention to this fine old rule.