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VOL. XXIX
MMiirr.mmwHinwmwii
APRIL 24,1926
per year.
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Number 17
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Mid-April Goes to Canadian
By E. Ellsworth Giles
mHERE was something of an international flavor in
jected into the Mid-April tournament which came to
a close on Saturday, April 17, when two Canadians
took both the first and second division prizes.
To C. Ross Somerville, of London, Ontario, went the honor
of winning the tournament, and to J. L. Weller of Hamilton,
Ontario, the prize for winning in his division.
The weathervane of past performances pointed directly
and unmistakably to Ducky Yates as the probable* winner of
this tournament, but tournaments and matches are not .won
on reputations alone but by the man who puts the ball in the
hole in the least number of strokes on the appointed day.
Yates found this to be cpiite true when R. A. Stranahan of
Toledo, Ohio, overcame and dissipated a two-hole lead which
he held at the turn, playing the last nine holes of the eigh
teen hole match in 34 strokes to win on the home green and
completely upset the old dope bucket.
In turning the trick against Yates, Stranahan scored an ex
cellent 75, but against Somerville in the final the Inverness
man failed to keep his game up to that high medal level, and
succumbed on the last green with a score of 81 as against
Somerville’s 82.
The match closed with Somerville’s ball lying on the verj
lip of the cup, styming Stranahan who had a six-foot putt
- left to get his par four and halve the match. It was just one
more case of the interposition of the unpopular stymie, and
at a moment when there was left no further opportunity for
redemption from ‘the pure accident. True, Stranahan had
left himself a long putt to negotiate, but until his opponents
ball closed the hole to him he still could offset his none too
good approach putt by sinking the ball.
A stymie laid on a flat saiid green on the last and deci mg
hole of any match makes a most unsatisfactory and in& oi
ious finish, which is not golf, and which can never be w o y
satisfactory to the player who benefits through the, acci
The cards of the finalists read as follows:
Somerville
Out 4454-7 545 4—42
In 45447543 4—40—82 _
Stranahan
Out 5 5 4 4 5 5 3 5 4—40
In 45.556.353 5—41—81
Notwithstanding the fact that the finalists had some bad
holes they nevertheless played championship golf on the ma
jority of the eighteen. Somerville had ten par holes and one
birdie, while Stranahan had no birdie holes but nine pars.
They halved seven of the eighteen holes. Somerville, the
cricketer, got a quick jump on his opponent by taking the
first two holes in par figures, but Stranahan reached the turn a
hole to the good and was still a hole in the lead facing the
sixteenth which he lost to a birdie 4. Then came the eigh
teenth, the stymie and the anti-climax.
The winners and runners-up in the four divisions were:
First division—C. Ross Somerville defeated R. A. Stran
ahan 1 up.
Consolation—E. L. Scofield, New York, defeated J. V.
Jenks, Harbor Beach, Mich., 19 holes.
Second division—J. L. Weller, Hamilton, Canada, defeated
S. Howard Voshell, Pomonok, 3 and 2.
Consolation—B. S. Briggs, New York, defeated Dr. J. S.
Brown, Montclair, 2 and 1.
Third division—Robert Lowry defeated P. S. P. Randolph,
2 up.
Consolation—J. T. McFadden, Jr., defeated W. Williams,
3 and 2.
Fourth division—H. Suydam defeated S. Y. Ramage,
5 and 4. •
Consolation—E. T. Seagram defeated G. B. Covert, 4 and 5.