158, and on the
second day I did 156 to his 157, so that on the whole event I was 313 to
his 315. Taylor waited on the edge of the green while I holed out my
last putt, and was the first to grasp my hand in sincere congratulation.
Beautiful weather, the biggest golfing crowd ever seen in America up to
that time, and a good links, made the tournament a great success. The
partner who went round with me during this championship competition was
Will Smith, the holder, who finished fifth.

I had some curious experiences in the course of my journeyings about the
country, and I am not sure that they were all good for my game. During
the early months I was down in Florida away from the cold and the snow.
I met some good golfers there. It was necessary to play an entirely
different game from that to which we are accustomed in this country.
There was no grass on the putting "greens." They were simply made of
loose sand, sprinkled on the baked ground and watered and rolled. When
there was a shortage of water and there was wind about, the fine part
of the sand was blown away, and the surface of the "greens" then
consisted of nothing but little pebbles. It was not easy to putt over
this kind of thing, but I must not convey the impression that these sand
"greens" were wholly bad. When properly attended to they are really nice
to putt upon after you have become accustomed to them. It was impossible
to pitch on to them, and one had to cultivate the habit of running up
from a very long distance. Thus I got into the way of playing a kind of
stab shot. The tees consisted not of grass but of hard soil, and one had
to tee up much higher than usual in order to avoid damaging the sole of
the driver. This provoked the habit of cocking the ball up, and as a
corrective all the teeing grounds in Florida sloped upwards in front.
Locusts were responsible for eating all the grass away from some
courses, and I had a unique experience when I played Findlay at
Portland. When we were on the putting greens, men had constantly to be
beating sticks to keep the locusts off the lines of our putts. If it
struck a locust the ball would come to a sudden stop. Acres and acres of
land about there were without a single blade of grass. The locusts had
eaten it all away. After we left Florida we reached some good courses,
and resumed the old kind of play. It has often been suggested that the
peculiar conditions of play in America, to which I was subjected for a
lon