OPEN GOLF

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 96, 14 July 1927, Page 9

OPEN GOLF

British Championships Amateur in Lead QUALIFYING ROUND COMPLETE By Cable. —Press Association. —Copyright LONDON, Tuesday. In the qualifying rounds of the British open golf championship on the Old course at St. Andrews, 108 of the competitors returned cards of 160 and under, and qualified. The first seven were:—C. J. Tolley, 73 and 71, total 144; Charles Whitcombe, 71 and 74, 145; Melhorn (America), 73 and 73, 146; Golias (France), 71 and 76, 147; R. T. Jones (America), 76 and 71, 147; Kirkwood (America), 75 and 73, 148; S. Tweddell, the amateur champion, 73 and 76, 149. Jolly was ninth with 75 and 75, 150, and was bracketed with Ernest Whitcombe, 72 and 78. Braid took 74 and 76, 150. Boomer (France) to folowed with 73 and 78, 151. Then came T. A. Torrance, 77 and 75, 152; Barnes, 79 and 74, 153. Len Nettlefold (Australia), with 80 and 75, 155, was bracketed 39th with W. H. Taylor. Of the others, George Gadd, Ray, Compston and W. L. Hartley all returned a total of 156. Herd, Havers and Robson took 158.—A. and N.Z.Sun. The heading of the list by C. J. Tolley adds but another conquest to an already fine record. Tolley has been playing excellent golf this season, both in England and France. He appears to belong to about half the English clubs, and was bbrn in 1896. He first come into prominence in 1920, when he won the British amateur. His wins since then have proved very numerous, and include the Welsh amateur (1922), French open (1924, International Invitation tournament, U.S.A. (1922). In the open championship at Troon in 1923 he drove the first green (350 yards) and holed his putt for a two. C. Whitcombe is the same age, and a professional, who has been prominent in British and international golf since 1921. Three Americans, the French discovery, and the British amateur champion fill the next places, making the leaders a very formidable collection. Young Charlie Gray, who went to America to become Joe Kirkwood’s assistant, has written from the Skywater Country Club, where Joe is the professional, at the princely retainer of £2,000 a year. No wonder Joe likes the U.S.A.: it has, in truth, proved for him “the land of the almighty dollar.”