Vol. XXVII
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JANUARY 2 6, 1 9 24
..5”^1red as 8ec<>nd class matter .at the post office at RICHMOND, VA. Subscription, $2.00 per year.
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Number 6
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The Advertisers Tournament
(By Larry Paton) v • . ^
X X TILLIAM T. HAMILTON, of
\\/ Tuckahoe, N. Y., a member
. " of the Westchester - Biltmore
Country Club at Rye, N. Y., came to
Pinehurst, saw a big field of golfers start
in the annual get-together tournament of
the Winter Golf League of Advertising
Interests, and conquered all opposition to
become the 1924 champion of the league,
succeeding T.s Russell Brown, of Mont
clair, N. J., who won the medal and who
took both medal and title a year ago. To
make the victory this year binding,
Hamilton made Brown’s trip to the dis
cards a personally-conducted tour, for the
new champion met the old in man-to-man
encounter and emerged triumphant in the
second round by a two-hole margin. Mrs.
Clarence Cone, of the Inwood Country
Club, Long Island, is the new ladies’
champion.
This year’s tournament of the Acl party
began on Saturday, January 12, with a
preliminary medal round held for the
purpose of arriving at proper handicaps,
and ran through Saturday, January 19th,
with side events almost every day, for
both men and women. For the first time
the championship was run off on a hand
leap basis; so bringing the stars back to an even footing with
“the field/’
During the week of play many nice things were said by the
Advertisers concerning the marked improvement in the Pinehurst
courses, more particularly the No. 2 or championship layout, where
many yards have been added and new holes constructed to lend
variety and stiffness. That 80 was not broken on this course dur
ing the tournament brings additional evidence to the belief of the
experts that No. 2 is now the hardest of the Pinehurst courses.
Altogether there were four divisions of 16 for match play, also
a fifth or “slush” flight for the overflow. Players defeated in the
opening round went into consolation flights and men who lost in
the second round of the main divisions or first round of consola
tions were placed in a Shenandoah flight, meaning that they were
flying, high.
„ Hamilton had a fight on his hands in all but one of his four
matches. Working under a 14-stroke handicap, he handily de
feated W. E. Beckerle, of Dunwoodie, by 5 and 3, as a starter.
Then he took care of Brown, who had won the medal with a round
of 83 on the No. 3 course on Monday, and who played at a rating
of 4 strokes. The edge in this instance was by two holes.
In the semi-final round, Hamilton struck a tartar in young
Robert Finney, of Baltusrol. Twice they made the 18-hole circuit
horse and horse. They had to play again on Saturday and along
W. T. Hamilton, Winner of the Championship
Division in the Advertisers’ Tournament
this week.
\
with them went Frank Finney, Bob’s dad,
who had worked his way through a
strong lower half which included a form
er champion in Murray Purves, of Bos
ton. The event had to be concluded on
Saturday and so the three survivors de
cided to play together, the elder Finney
matching cards with which ever of the
others carried on to semi-final success.
- Again it proved a touch-and-go battle,
Hamilton ekeing out his way to the
championship by beating both Finneys, 1
up. It was a rough sea for the Finney
tribe, for Murray Purves went along to
make it a four-ball and he beat Bob Fin
ney in a special event for the beaten semi
finalists. It was hard for the gallery to
tell who was who and what was what
until the final putts were holed. Purves
beat the younger Finney in their side
argument, by two holes.
Winners in the minor divisions were:
Second, A. R. Gardner, Westchester
Biltmore; third, Alfred B. Rode, Sleepy
Hollow; fourth, M. C. Robbins, Wyka
gyl; fifth, James Barber, Englewood.
Consolation flight winners were: First,
S. Keith Evans, Knollwood; second,
Charles E. Sherman, Essex County;
third, Guy Bolte, Dunwoodie; fourth, Montague Lee, Manhattan
Club, Mt. Vernon, N. Y.; fifth, Arthur F. Sachtleben, St. Albans.
Other match play topliners were: First, Shenandoah, George
C. Dutton, Woodland; second Shenandoah, A. S. Higgins, St.
Andrews; third Shenandoah, W. R. Jenkins, Grassy Sprain;
fourth division, Lost Rudders, W. H. Hamilton, New Haven, C. C.
Mrs. George Dutton was medalist in the ladies’ championship
with a round of 104. She lost out by 2 and 1 in the opening match
play round to Mrs. J. H. Wright, who was beaten in the finals
by Mrs. Clarence Cone on the 16th green.
The field in this year’s tournament was not as large as those in
some other years but it is safe to say that competition was never
so keen. R. M. Purves and Mrs. John tf. Wright were the put
ting champions of the week, the players qualifying from day to
day on the clock sand in front of the clubhouse and then meeting
on the last day to settle the issue. ' •
The annual meeting, banquet and dance was held Friday night
at the Carolina, and Frank Finney, of Baltusrol, was elected presi
dent in succession to C. A. Speakman, of Siwanoy, who that
afternoon played himself out of office in the same manner that the
captain at the famous St. Andrews plays himself in—by driving a
ball off the first tee to be scrambled for by the caddies, the success
ful boy’s reward being a five-dollar gold piece.