 This is Jimmy Powers coming your way with another Grantland rice story Hello folks. This is Jimmy Powers Thus far the life of Grantland rice as depicted in his autobiography the tumult and the shouting has taken us behind the scenes with some of the greats of sports golden age the fabulous 20s today However, we're going back almost to the dawn's early light of golf in America We're going to meet the fellows who through their keen and courageous play began to make America golf conscious at present We have more than five million golfers in this country, but when Grantland rice took up the game in 1909 probably not more than five thousand people in this country had even swung a golf club much less tried to master it I'm talking about the days prior to World War one So with a bow to the spirit of Grantland rice, which will remain green and vibrant as long as there is a sports-loving America We pick up in first person another chapter from the tumult and the shouting Golf lends itself nicely to the 19th hole a place for refreshment happy talk and commiseration I've got a host of stories there not only from and about golfers But with headliners of every sport and business peel down to his shorts a refreshing drink in one hand and a tested Scorecard in the other. It's hard for a man to be anything but himself three amateurs from 1907 through 1916 played leading roles in the golf destiny of this country Jerry Travers chick Evans and Francis we met they won both our amateur and open titles Travers was the first on the scene Not physically equipped to reach and hold any sustained height He nevertheless won our amateur crown four times in 1907-1908 and in 1912 1913 and the open in 1916 New York born Travers rates as one of the half dozen greatest competitors who ever played any game He had Ben Hogan's concentration. He couldn't use a driver. So he used a number one iron off the tee Never long but straight as a string. He crushed opponents with his approaching and putting chick Evans the Chicago Marvel was playing title golf in 1906 and still plays superb golf today 48 years later the length of our friendship Chick with his extra long hickory shafts won the open in 1916 The amateur that same year and again in 1920 a truly fine iron player chick had the sweetest foot action I've ever studied had he been able to putt with the killing coolness of Travers There would have been no stopping him for at least 10 years Our third grade amateur before the age of Jones was Francis we met of Boston as a young ex caddy We met was most responsible for golf sudden boom in America By 1913 the United States had outgrown its knee britches and practically all sports except golf The scotch and British dominated at golf with Harry Varden and Ted Ray to have John Bowles finest Varden had won the British Open five times and was to win it again in 1913 Ray took it in 1912 Back by the London Times this pair came to America during the summer of 1913 and toured the country giving exhibitions before record crowds at record fees Varden a well-built fellow with his publicized overlapping grip was the complete stylist Ray on the other hand was a ponderous stoop-shouldered bear of a man who affected a walrus moustache a Sherlock Holmes pipe and the ability to lunge into the ball with brute strength Neither man was a talker, but Varden possessed of biting intelligence could be civil as for Ray He was usually as sour as an elephant with a sore foot That 1913 open played at the country club of Brookline a Boston suburb was nevertheless considered a shoe-in for Varden or Ray Into this picture walked unassuming Francis. We met a 20 year old local as Boston as the cod and just as cool at the end of 72 holes of metal play over the rough par 71 layout it was Varden Ray and we met all tied More than 3,000 braved a steady drizzle for the playoff the smart money expected we met to crack wide open Instead he cracked the two British rocks with a precise 72 defeating Varden by five strokes and Ray by six The match was written up as the shots heard round the world and needless to say Advanced golf's popularity with the masses at least 10 or 20 years We met had fired the imagination of thousands of youngsters who had known only baseball football and perhaps basketball Kids began swinging a battered mashy iron as well as a bat Another figure I must include here is Australian born Walter J. Travis who began playing the game at 36 He won the United States Amateur Crown in 1900 1901 and 1903 and the British Amateur in 1904 When he outgamed and outshot the supremely antagonistic British at their own game a Slight figure the cigar chewing Travis under pressure had the physical and mental toughness of a mule skinner What is your secret? I asked Travis one day. I Never hit a careless shot in my life. He replied. I bet only a quarter But I play each shot as if it were for the title He was hard-boiled grouchy and tough, but I liked Walter Travis immensely Another great contributor to American golf in those early years tougher and rougher even than Travis was Charles Blair McDonald Who won our second amateur title in 1895 and went on to envision many of our oldest and finest courses a Transplanted Scotsman McDonald was a fiery fierce man in all argument and debate He knew and bowed only to the royal and ancient of st. Andrews But he laid out the national Lido the Yale and some of our finest midwestern courses He was the advanced guard of the championship courses. We know today a Parting salute to the Varden and Ray team was given me by Tommy Webster the brilliant British cartoonist and wit following that historic 1913 open the pair of them sail for home where they were immediately booked in three consecutive tournaments Webster followed Ray in that third tournament where the lumbering giant Finished up by crawling the last two holes Tommy asked Ray what he was going to do the following week do exploded Ray I'm going back home tonight and have a good sit down for two weeks back at his club Ray refused to leave his chair as Burning as any of the early greats. I won't forget our first American Gamecock McDermott who won the US Open in 1911 and 1912 he beat Varden and Ray in the 1913 Shawnee Open in Pennsylvania. I covered the Shawnee Open that year in which Johnny McDermott the American champion was paired with Varden McDermott a great golfer with a tragic fate awaiting him only weeks away was at his crest Varden would hit an iron approach 12 feet from the cup You could see McDermott's chest expand as he hit one nine feet from the pin McDermott won this big tournament leading the field in a runaway by something like 12 strokes When the cup was presented to McDermott he welcomed the two-star Britishers, but concluded with this statement But you are not going to take back our cup Varden and Ray were insulted the golf committee called McDermott back to apologize McDermott offered an apology if he had hurt their feelings But turning to Varden and Ray he added but you are not going to take back our cup a Fighter McDermott would wager any amount on himself and practically any match he played the fire of his own intensity burned out the little fellow and Following the 1913 Open McDermott went mentally astray and vanished into a home where he's been ever since Years after he was put away Johnny was brought to a well-known Staten Island course where he shot a 70 He hadn't seen a golf club in years Yes, little Johnny McDermott was truly one of the great naturals of sport and that leads me to a reflection I've long had about this wonderful and humbling game called golf to the uninitiated Watching a Hogan a Snead a demerit or any star hit his shots the game looks amazingly simple For that reason too many so-called golfers Fret and fume about the game. I mean weekend golfers who never in a hundred years will play the type golf They think they have a right to play To this army of golf's loft souls. I offer this advice The quicker the average weekend golfer can forget the shot He dubbed or knocked off line and concentrate on the next shot the sooner he begins to improve and enjoy golf. I Once saw Walter Hagan make 19 mistakes during one round in a north and south open at Pinehurst in 1924 He finished with a 71 Ultimately winning the tournament a mistake meant nothing to him neither did defeat He scorned second place the crowd remembers only the winner I'd as soon finish 10th as second. He said Well folks, that's it for today and next time we're going to relive with granny rice his wonderful and Oftentimes humorous association with Walter Hagan the incredible man Like Babe Ruth the Hague was perhaps the most colorful figure America or world golf has ever known Until then this is Jimmy Powers transcribed wishing you all the best of the bestest