Muirfield during Amateur Championship Week quite a oumber of people were showing one another copies of a circular received from an enterprising firm of turf accountants. I remember being @ little bure in my feelings because I had not been considered worthy to receive a copy of this document, writes Mr. A.C. M. Croom in the "Morning Post." It is gratifying to find that I was in good company,.since Mr. Harold Hilton was also left out in the cold. The authors of this circular offered to lay odds, varying, of course, im length, against any competitor for the Amateur or Open Cham. tionship. The prices, I remember, struck me as being rather pinched' but otherwise the terms of the would-be bookmakers were distinctly generous, They were willing to bet with anybody, demanding no introduction or references, and they set no limit of the amount which their clients might stake, No reasonable person can object if two golfers, discovering that there is a difference of opinion between them, decide to submit the issue to Ordeal by Wager. But the intrusion of professional book. makers into our domain is most unseemly and must be prevented. The best way to secure the desired object is to prove that for the layer of odds the game is not worth the candle. He has one point in his favour, and only one: he can sure that eny golfer who bets with him will pay up if ho loses. But no one who knows anything about golf is likely to accept the odds Which he can afford to lay. There fore he must expect tv do the bulk of his business with the general public, which includes the clever brigade who believe in taking profits and cutting losses,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.