twice, and though he was
then in the improving stage and evidently not at the top of his career,
I felt that he was a man who might very likely do great things in the
future. Afterwards I followed his play with some curiosity and interest.
I saw that in course of time he beat many good men whose form I
understood precisely. I knew that he was one of the steadiest golfers I
had ever seen--a man of fine judgment and marvellous exactness, who
always played with his head, and was constantly giving the closest
possible study to the game. I felt that when he came to play for our
Championship he would make a very bold bid for it. When I heard that he
was going to Sandwich last year, I made him my "tip" for premier
honours, and before the first round was played I said to many friends,
"Mark my words; if Travis gets anything like a fairly easy draw to start
with he will go right through." And so he did. I saw him play on this
memorable occasion, which will never be forgotten as long as any of the
events of golfing history are remembered, and, in opposition to the
opinions of other British critics expressed in many columns of print
during the weeks following, it was and is my absolute conviction that
his was the best golf played in that tournament, and that he thoroughly
deserved to win. He played with his head the whole way through, and his
golf was really excellent. It was only natural that our people should be
very downhearted when they saw what had happened, for it seemed nothing
else than a great disaster. I do not think that in the long run it will
prove to have been so, for the inevitable effect of it was to wake up
our British golf, which stood sadly in need of arousing. I think that
amateur golf in this country has been steadily depreciating for some
time, and at the present moment I think that the standard of merit of
our best players is lower than in the days when Mr. Harold Hilton, Mr.
John Ball, jun., and the late Mr. Freddy Tait were at their best. And
despite the American shock, I cannot profess that the outlook at the
present moment is particularly encouraging. There are other good golfers
in the States besides Mr. Travis, and, frankly, I think that unless we
wake up in this country the Cup will go there again. For the moment our
numerical strength in the Championship tournament is in our favour. When
there are only half a dozen Americans entered out of a total number of
over a hundred, the odds are evidently again