Mirage

Over the sun-parched, hilly Hinsdale links, near Chicago, a company of overheated golfers drove, brassied, mashied their many balls. The mi- rage that led them on was the Western Amateur title. They challenged one another's right to continue the quest and in the end Albert Seckel of Chicago and Harrison R. ("Jim-mie") Johnston of St. Paul played on alone.

At the 31st tee, Seckel led 4 up. Goldy-haired Johnston then squinted more keenly at the holes, won five in a row with deadly accuracy. Dormy-down, Seckel planned his 45-foot putt in the 36th hole for a birdie 3. Scornful of worm casts and slippery undulations, Johnston quashed that feat with a 35-footer to the back of the cup. For him the mirage had materialized.

It was a tournament where strong men wilted. Charles ("Chick") Evans Jr., of Chicago, who had ruled the West as champion eight different years, yielded this last of many major titles in the third round, by 8 and 7, and slid further than ever into the limbo that has been his of late. His conqueror, James Manion of St. Louis, trans-Mississippi champion, went down before Seckel, who has not appeared or; a golfing pinnacle since 1911, when, as a Princeton undergraduate, he became Western Champion.