TEAM MATCHES AT GOLF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 6 August 1929, Page 7

TEAM MATCHES AT GOLF

NOT PURELY AN INDIVIDUAL GAME

BY HARRY VARDON, SIX TIMES OPEN CHAMPION)

Whatever may be our regrets about the open championship, in which Americans gained the first three places, nothing can. bedim the glow of satisfaction born of Britain's victory in the Ryder Cup -match. It will live for a long time us one of the features of golf m 1929. As much as anything was it a triumph for the team spirit-on the links. Truly splendid was the way in which the Brit. ish players backed up one another on the last day, when they felt the tide turning slowly in their favour and realised that everybody must do his bit to tho utmost of bis ability. There are people who declare stubbornly that the team spirit is impossible of ini'usion into golf. That is why tbe Loy who plays it at school or between terms is usually very meek in admitting the fact, and "does not expect his performances at tho game to earn praise from the headmaster. Anybody who has attended such events as the Britain v. American match, tho Oxford and Cambridge contest, the interregimental championship, and tho Public Schools' Old Boys' tournament knows that the theory about tho complete deficiency of the team spirit in golf is all wrong; but it is not much use arguing against a deep-rooted conviction Avhen its holders have had no opportunity of studying the question.

INDIVIDUALISM IN GAMES In point of fact, I supposo the one perfect team pastime is rowing, in which every member, of the crew necessarily submerges his individuality in the boat. Cricket and football are capable of being played only as team games (a single at either would be ridiculous); but it is undeniable that they encourago nil the elements of personal prowess and hero-worship. The player who consistently makes big scores or takes wickets or gains brilliant trios or places difficult goals knows perfectly well that ho does it, and every other interested party is' equally aware of it. .It docs not affect the individual aspect of the matter, that two teams must be in the field in order to provide tho vehicle for such displays. This is no disparagement of cricket and football, which are great games. The main point is that, just as individualism is strong in cricket and football, though they cannot be played other than as team games, so the team spirit may be intense in golf, despite the fact that it is fundamentally a pastime of single-hand-ed rivalry. But it has to be said that the team match 'at golf lends itself to improvement. A little while ago it was suggested that the teams in "the inter-'Varsity match should play upside down; that is to say, the men who had been placed last in the respective teams should go out first, and those who had been chosen as -the leaders should start last. The proposal'has, I believe, actually been put forward for the consideration of future Oxford and Cambridge captains. Eccentric though it may appear at first blush, there is truly something to be said for it. The sides in the University match are so evenly balanced nowadays that often it happens that the whole issue depends on the last game (or the last two games) to finish. Thus it is in the hands of the presumably worst players in the teams. They fight out the last few holes, snrrounded by the entire crowd of partisans in circumstances of excitement such as they encounter at no other time, while their leaders stand by in the role of agitated but powerless onlookers. And so it is in international matches.

TOPSY-TURVYDOM Some gallant fights and some fine golf shots are provided by these forlorn hopes. We saw them at Leeds, in the Ryder Cup contest. But it would surely be much more appropriate if the admittedly best players of tho sides—"the captains and the kings"—were engaged in the life-and-dcath throes.

They are presumably the more accustomed and the belter adapted to meet the exigencies of a crisis; at. any rate, it seems wrong that, having finished their own fight, they can do nothing but watch when the finish comes. They ought, for the sake of sentiment, to be in the thick of the battle.

That situation would shape itself if the order of starting were arranged so that the last choices went out first, atid the players appointed as the best went out last. It would make the. important personages {and therefore tbe camp followers) very late for lunch; but what is lunch compared with an ideal finish. Another point concerns the order > of placing the Each captain gives in his order in a sealed envelope, and tho individual matches are constituted accordingly. But it occurs sometimes that one captain thinks he has thrown away sure winners on certain losers in the other team—not that the other captain has deliberately sacrificed his wfeak men in strong places, bufc that he has too much faith that they will rise to a big occasion.

It has been suggested that all the members of each team should vote on their order of play. Why not draw for it? The Oxford and Cambridge Society drew for their order of play when they gained their first victory over their favourite enemies, the Royal Liverpool Club. Mr 11. D. Gillies happened to come first out of the and he beat the then wondrous Mr John Ball.