Age Retreats Before the Young in Heart
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by AGE RETREATS BEFORE JOSEPH C. DEY, JR. THE YOUNG IN HEART USGA Executive Director • T AGE 42, Blake Shepard is touched and ten scores of 79 tied for the last four A 'with the normal hopefulness which places. blesses most week-end golfers. But he This was over a good test of golf. received a new charg€ of it while gallery- Somerset played at nearly 6,400 yards, ing the USGA's second Senior Amateur with a hard par of 70; it required accu- Championship last month at his home racy, the rough was punitive, and the course, Somerset Country Club in St. Paul, greens were keen and in fine condition- Minn. all told, a Championship examination. "I can't wait to be a Senior," Mr. Freddie Wright, now 58, with four Shepard finally concluded, in total disdain graOndchildren, passed the test like the of the 13 years he would accumulate in thorough-going Champion he became. The the process. Boston securities broker played 93 holes in It was, in fact, an inspiring occasion. the six days--one qualifying round and It gave a lift not just to youngbeards like five matches-and he was only three over Blake Shepard, but most especially to elder par for the duration. In one match he citizens who are contemporaries of the played out the bye holes for a 67; in his Senior Championship players but whose semi-final, he was out in 31; in the final, higher handicaps made them ineligible for h..: was out in 33. the tournament. After the final, one super- It required golf of high quality to Senior remarked fervently to the new eliminate tke defending Champion, J. Wood Champion, Frederick J. Wright, of Boston: PIa tt, of Philadelphia. Wright was his "You've given me something to conqueror by 1 up in a third-round match work for." that was worthy of any tournament any- This Senior Championship, the "baby" where. Wright holed the course in 73 and of USGA competitions, was a happy occa- Platt in 74. sion at a delightful club. It is always Wright, like Platt, has been a skilled heart-warming to see golfers from all over golfer for many years, of the same vin- the country renew old friendships and tage as his fellow-Bostonians, Francis Oui- make new ones at a national champion- met and Jesse Guilford. In 1916, at the ship. When Seniors gather, it is especially age of 18, he first played in the Massa- so. Underneath the dignity which their chusetts Amateur Championship and years have brought, you can always detect reached the semi-finals. Just last month- a charming boyish delight in playing, a 40 years later-he was runner-up in that beguilement with sheer fun. same Massachusetts Amateur Champion- ship. In between, he won his State title Quality Belies Age seven times, and has also been the New England Champion. When you saw the quality of the golf at Somers€t, it was difficult to realize that they were Seniors. Take the 18-hole qual- Walker Cup Player ifying round, for example. The medal- Yes, he is the same Fred Wright who winning score was 72, turned in by Weller was a member of the American Walker Noble, a 65-year-old youngster from Ber- Cup Team in 1923. He won his singles at keley, Cal. There were 32 qualifiers' places, St. Andrews and contributed to a hair- 6 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, 1956 Just A Couple Of Kids Minneapolis Star & Tribune photo I. Clark Espie, left, of Indianapolis, Ind., the runner-up, and Frederick J. Wright, Jr., of Watertown, Mass., the 1956 USCA Senior Champion, pose with the Senior Championship Trophy which Mr. Wright won at the Somerset Country Club, St. Paul, Minn., last month. The 58-year-old champion, seven times the Massachusetts Amate'ur Champion and a member of the 1923 Walker Cup Team, was never behind as he scored a 4 and 3 victory in the final match. line victory for his Team, 6 to 5, with Senior title four times, and was Indianapo- one match halved. lis district champion in 1939. Some time After all these years, what a deep satis- before that he represented Indianapolis in faction it is to Fred Wright to win a gold the USGA Amateur Public Links Cham- medal symbolic of a USGA Champion- pionship. ship! Espie started to play golf in 1924, the Wright's game is, of course, thoroughly year after Fred Wright was on the Walker polished. He is a particularly long driver, Cup Team. He, like W right, has four and he has a delicate putting touch which grandchildren. But he looked like a teen- holed birdie after birdie at Somerset. Of ager as he whipped around Somerset in 73 the 93 holes he played, he had 24 3s and to be second in the qualifying round and two 25. then won matches from Eugene Bellville, The runner-up was J. Clark Espie, of of Kansas City, Mo.; Co!. C. D. McAllis- Indianapolis, aged 57. He came to the tel", of Orlando, Fla.; Paul W. Horn, of . Championship with a solid record in Mid- Chalfont, Pa., and Co!. Forrest Andrews, Western golf. He had won the Western of DeKalb, Ill.. Co!. Andrews was a group Seniors' Championship twice, the Indiana commander of the U. S. field forces., tank USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, ]lj)56 7 armament division, overseas in World War II. Col Andrews won in the third round SUBSCRIBERS TO USCA from the 1955 runner-up, George Studin- CREEN S,ECTION RESEARCH ger, of San Francisco. 6' EDUCATION FUND \Vright's victims before the final were American Agricultural Chemical Co., Prank Justin, Sr., of Fontana, Wis.; Martin New York, N. Y. Augusta National Golf Club, Ga. M. Issler, of Short Hills, N. J., who was Catto & Putty, San Antonio, Texas medalist last year; Platt, and James S. The Clapper Co., West Newton, Mass. Manion, of St. Louis, who has long been Connecticut State Golf Association prominent in Mid-Western golf. Except Goldthwaite's Texas Toro Co., Fort Worth-Houston-Dallas, Texas for the match with Platt, Wright never Golf Course Superintendents Association, had to go past the 15th hole. He won from St. Charles. Ill. Espie in the final by 4 and 3. Golf Course Superintendent Association of For those who failed to qualify: there Northern California, Oakland, Cal. was an 18-hole stroke competition on the Golf and Lawn Grass Nurseries, Atbnta, Ga. second day of the tournament. First prize Donald Harradine, Magliaso, Switzerland went to Don Lambert, of St. Louis, with Lafkins Golf and Lawn Supply Corp., a 74. He was followed. by four with 75s- White Plains, N. Y. Alfred C. Ulmer, Jacksonville, Fla.; A. L. Maine Golf Association Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, (Jim) Miller, Chicago; Glen M. Bronson, New York, N. Y. Minneapolis, and Louis D. Davis, of Jenkin- Massachusetts Golf Association town, Pa. Metropolitan Golf Writers Association, Another IS-hole stroke competition was New York New England Golf Association held the next day for all players not still New Hampshire Golf Association in the Championship. Low score this time Philadelphia Association of Golf Course was a 73 by Dr. Millard S. Rosenblatt, Superintendents, Pa. of Portland, Ore. Four 77s were next, by Ranelagh Golf Club, Buenos Aires, George H. Treadwell, Memphis; Robert U. Argentina Rhode Island State Golf Association Davidson, Kansas City, Mo.; Llewellyn The Upjohn Co., Kalamazoo, Mich. Power, Bellevue, Wash., and Edward F. Vermont Golf Association Brady, Sr., San Benito, Texas. Vineland Chemical Co., Vineland, N. J. The field of 120 for the Championship Western New York Golf Course Superintendent Association, proper was determined by 18-hole sectional Hamburg, N. Y. qualifying rounds in 25 locations. The to- Winmesa Farms Company, Phoenix, Ariz. tal en try was 282. Last year the en try was Worthington Ball Co., Elyria, Ohio 370. The handicap limit of 10 no doubt exerts considerable influence on the size of the entry. Another player of that era who competed The system assures a Championship field in the Senior Championship was Dudley of high quality. The main objective of the Mudge, of St. PauL He was medalist in event is to provide a national competition the Amateur Championship of 1915, for senior golfers of skill, as determined Somerset provided excellent facilities and by handicaps, and who are members of a most happy atmosphere. Especial thanks USGA Regular Member Clubs. Unlike are due to the club's committees, under many senior events, the USGA Champion- the general chairmanship of Daniel H. ship is not primarily for social purposes, Ridder, and to the president, Henry H. although the Association naturally hopes Cowie. to foster the good fellowship of golf. A survey concerning the form of the At the USGA's Players' Dinner preced- championship is now being conducted by ing the tournament, a 40th anniversary the USGA Senior Championship Commit- was marked for Charles Evans, Jr.-back tee, under the Chairmanship of John G. in 1916 he won both the Open and Ama- Clock, of Long Beach, Cal., a Vice-Presi- teur Championships. dent of the USGA. 8 USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: SEPTEMBER, 1956.