SIXTY YEARS A GOLFER.

Taihape Daily Times, 27 September 1918, Page 7

SIXTY YEARS A GOLFER.

A golfer for sixty years! Such Is the wonderful record of Mr. William Doleman who has just died in Glasgow in his eigtieth year. And during most of this time he was a first-class player qualified to take part in the amateur championship, Indeed, until about ten years ago, when a rule was passed shutting out those with handibelow scratch, he mad£ an annual pilgrimmage to the scene of this classic event. 'At that time a conscientious club handicapping committee had put up his allowance to three, never thinking that this would debar him from competing in the championship, and this .was Mr. Ddleman’s one golfing disappointment. He was a picturesque old man with weather-, beaten face and shaggy beard, smacking of the sea. In recent years his eyesight had failed him, and he carried a pair of field glasses to watch the flight of the ball. It was a curious sight to see him take out his glasses as soon as he had made a shot, and watched where the ball finished. A little man, his full shots were comparatively short, and one recalls his experience in a championship heat at Sandwich in 190 S, when his opponent was Captain Hambro, a big powerful player who makes a habit of hitting prodigious tee-shots. From the first tee Mr. Doleman was nearly one hundred yards in the rear, and it looked as if it -were to be a very unequal contest. As the “gallery” moved forward the veteran Scotsman whispered to a friend, “Luckily Providence never arranges that the big hitters are also good putters.” Thus hopefully he set off, and by accurate approaching and deadly putting he hung on Captain Hambro in an astonishing way. He refused to be worried by his opponent's slashing shots, and in the end he was only beaten by a single hole. It was a truly remarkable performance for a man of nearly 70 years of age. The absence of Mr. Doleman from the championships was regretted by everyone, for, as a representative of the old Tom Morris school of golf he was the only remaining link with a former generation.