ld usually hold their own in the best
of professional company. The American papers gave very lengthy reports
of all the matches in which I took part, the headlines and what followed
them being frequently very flattering. There was "The Golf King," and
many such as that, in type nearly an inch deep. Perhaps I may, without
offence, be permitted to quote from the account given in a leading daily
newspaper of the second match in which I defeated Willie Dunn--at
Scarsdale--which I only do for the purpose of showing that the
conditions of play were sometimes really trying, and not at all
conducive to big victories or record breaking. This paper said: "If it
were necessary to dwell upon the extraordinary consistency of the
champion's game, one has only to refer to his card for the four rounds
(it was a nine-hole course) in yesterday's match, as his worst nine
holes totalled forty-one and his best thirty-seven. If the turf could
only unearth a thoroughbred as reliable as Vardon, poolrooms in Greater
New York would be past history in very short order. Vardon's skill
probably never underwent a severer test than in the match yesterday.
Everything was against his exhibiting anything approaching championship
form. He had not only to contend against a biting north-west wind, which
temporarily got mixed up with a flurry of snow, but the course itself,
from the character of the land, is about as difficult to score over as
any in the country. The ground is one succession of 'kopjes,' while
seven of the nine holes are 'on the collar' all the time, and at an
angle of from twenty to thirty degrees. The course is only 2677 yards in
playing distance. On paper this gives the impression of being nothing
out of the ordinary, but confronted with it in actuality, it is about as
hard a proposition as any victim of the golf habit could tackle. The
only course one can compare with it here is Oakland, and the latter is a
billiard table by the side of it. At the finish of the thirty-six holes
Vardon said, 'I never felt so fagged out in my life. In fact I could
play seventy-two holes on the other side every day for a week and not
have been fatigued half so much.'" I do not remember that I ever
committed myself to such an extravagant statement as this, but the
course was certainly a very trying one that day. Yet on that occasion I
lowered the eighteen holes record for the course. Altogether I beat most
of the records of the courses during my tour. The fir