Evening Standard Tournament

Last updated
Evening Standard Tournament
Tournament information
Location Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England
Established 1925
Course(s) Moor Park Golf Club
Final year 1926
Final champion
Abe Mitchell

The Evening Standard Tournament was a professional golf tournament played at Moor Park Golf Club near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire in 1925 and 1926 and sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper. Abe Mitchell won on both occasions. The events used a non-standard format. In 1925 it was effectively a 72-hole par-3 event, while in 1926 it was described as a "target" event with a complex scoring system.

Moor Park Golf Club is located in Hertfordshire, England. It has two courses; the High Course and the West Course of which High Course is the more demanding having hosted its fair share of both professional tournaments and English Golf Union events, including the Carris Trophy in 2001. The clubhouse is set within Moor Park Mansion.

Rickmansworth town in South-West Hertfordshire, England

Rickmansworth is a small town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, approximately 17 miles (27 km) northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne. The nearest large town is Watford, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) to the east. Rickmansworth is the administrative seat of the Three Rivers District Council. The confluence of the Chess and the Gade with the Colne in Rickmansworth inspired the district's name. The enlarged Colne flows south to form a major tributary of the River Thames. The town is served by the Metropolitan line of the London Underground and Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone to Aylesbury.

Hertfordshire County of England

Hertfordshire is one of the home counties in England. It is bordered by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it is placed in the East of England region.

Contents

Detail

The 1925 event was played over 72 holes with total prize money of £1,000. Except on the par-3, a chalk line was drawn across the fairway at a position where the green was reachable and where, on a par-4 hole, a drive might finish. Thus each hole was a par-3. Players placed their ball on the fairway behind this line. There was a special prize of £50 for the player having the fewest number of putts. [1] Archie Compston on 103 led Percy Alliss by a stroke after the first day but both had poor third rounds, Compston taking 63 and Alliss 61. Alliss still led after three rounds but Mitchell scored 54 to his 56 in the final round to win by a stroke. [2]

Archibald Edward Wones Compston was an English professional golfer. Through the 1920s he built a reputation as a formidable match play golfer, in an era when many professionals made more money from "challenge" matches against fellow pros, or wealthy amateurs, than from tournament golf.

Percy Alliss professional golfer

Percy Alliss was one of the leading English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. He was the father of commentator and former golfer Peter Alliss.

The 1926 event was a "target" competition played over 36 holes with total prize money of £1,000. Points were awarded using a complex scoring system. A ball driven into the proper fairway scored 1 point. Two concentric circles were drawn on each green and a player scored 9 points for being inside the smallest circle in the regulation number of strokes, 8 for being inside the larger circle and 7 for being elsewhere on the green. A player missing the green could score 6, 5 or 4 points for their next shot (3rd shot on a par 4) or 3, 2 or 1 point if they took two strokes more than regulation to be on the green (4 strokes on a par 4). A player single-putting a hole scored 2 points for holing from within the smallest circle, 3 for holing from inside the larger circle and 4 for holing from elsewhere on the green or from off the green. A player two-putting scored 1 point. A player who failed to hole out in one more than the par had to pick up his ball. The system meant that a player might score as many as 11 points for par-4 (1 for hitting the fairway, 9 for being within the smaller circle and 1 for two-putting) they would only score 8 points if they had missed the fairway, then missed the green and saved par with a single putt. [3] On the first day Abe Mitchell scored 173 points and led by 12 from Charles Corlett. [3] Mitchell had the joint best score on the second day, with 164, and won by 18 points from Sandy Herd. [4] The target competition was played in the morning and was followed by an exhibition match in the afternoon. The first day's exhibition match was a repeat of a famous 1906 foursomes match with Harry Vardon and J. H. Taylor playing James Braid and Sandy Herd. [3] The second day's match was a four-ball with Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen playing Cyril Tolley and Abe Mitchell. [4]

Abe Mitchell professional golfer

Henry Abraham Mitchell was an English professional golfer. Mitchell had eight top-10 finishes out of 17 appearances in the Open Championship, his best performance being fourth in 1920. He was runner-up in the 1912 Amateur Championship and won the 1924 Miami Open.

Sandy Herd professional golfer

Alexander "Sandy" Herd was a Scottish professional golfer from St Andrews. He won The Open Championship in 1902 at Hoylake.

Harry Vardon British professional golfer

Henry William "Harry" Vardon was a professional golfer from the Bailiwick of Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times and also won the 1900 U.S. Open.

Winners

Year Winners Country Venue Score Margin
of victory
Runner-up Winner's
share (£)
Ref
1925 Abe Mitchell Flag of England.svg  England Moor Park Golf Club 220 1 stroke Flag of England.svg Percy Alliss [5]
1926 Abe Mitchell Flag of England.svg  England Moor Park Golf Club 337
points
18 points Flag of Scotland.svg Sandy Herd 200 [6]

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References

  1. "Professionals at Moor Park". The Times. 29 August 1925. p. 4.
  2. "Mitchell wins at Moor Park". The Times. 31 August 1925. p. 4.
  3. 1 2 3 "Meeting at Moor Park". The Times. 12 June 1926. p. 7.
  4. 1 2 ""Target" Competition". The Times. 14 June 1926. p. 7.
  5. "Novel Competition at Moor Park". The Glasgow Herald . 31 August 1925. p. 15.
  6. "Mitchell's Success in "Target" Competition". The Glasgow Herald . 14 June 1926. p. 16.