GOLF.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1926, Page 5

GOLF.

RESTORING BRITISH PRESTIGE,

BRITISH GOLFERS’ VISIT TO AMERICA. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Sept. 30. Though nothing definite has been arranged, there is a strong hope that it -will be possible to send a representative team of British professional golfers to America next season. The difficulty will be to raise the money. At least £3,000 will be required to pay the expenses of a side of ten, and the professionals have no fund of their own to draw upon. It is thought that possibly St. Andrews might be prepared to make a donation from the money taken at the open championship this year, though heavy claims are made upon them. In all likelihood, too, clubs would contribute. At present it is the custom for members to subscribe to pay the expenses of their professional to compete in the championship, and in some cases as much as £5O is raised. The only other way to raise the money for the tour, unless some generous benefactor comes forth, and is prepared to pay the expenses of the trip, will be for the professionals themselves to take the matter in • hand, and play exhibition matches at which admission fees would be charged. All golfers feel that some attempt should be made to restore British golfing prestige. Five times in six years America has captured the British championship, and something should be done to restore the balance. It is asked, if the British players cannot beat tlieir American rivals under their own familiar conditions, what chance of success have they in America ? But the visiting challenger is always in a better position than the home player. He has only one thing to bother about, and he can concentrate on it to a greater extent when he is away than when he is at home. The record of Hagen goes a long way to prove this. In the last eight American championships he has only once won, whereas in this country he has captured the prize twice in three years, and on another occasion was beaten only by a single stroke. If a team is sent, it will be controlled in every detail by the professionals themselves, and in all probability it will be captained by Edward Ray. GOLF PROBLEMS. Problems that- arise in the playing of golf are as the sands of the desert. Such a game as golf lends itself to peculiar circumstances, for there is so much variety; no two rounds .played are exactly the same. One ease submitted to the Rules Committee of the Royal and Ancient Club is surely unique. A lady at Reigate Heath holed her fee-shot at a hole that was “blind.” The search for

it was fruitless, and so another was played, and she finally holed out in five. The tragedy of the whole thing is that the second ball must count, for the first one ranks as “lost.” AN ALL ROUNDER. Arthur Duncan, who won the amateur golf championship of the Dominion at Miramar, is an all-round athlete, and his activities in other sports are as great as his doings in the golf world. He w;is educated at the Wanganui Collegiate School, and during his time there was the athletic champion, excelling alike in field sports and track events. He was also captain of football and cricket. Going to Wellington, he won representative honours at both football and cricket. He was a smart five-eighth, and a free-driving, dashing batsman. His drive has helped him considerably in his golf. A writer says that we shall soon see the last of the expensive golf hall. True. We saw the last of three only a few days ago.