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ON the 17th and 18th of March
1879 there was
played a foursome between Tom and Bob Kirk
against the brothers Jamie and David Anderson.
The contemporary record says: 'The stakes
being pretty high (£40) and the men never having
come together before in the same way, the event
had been looked forward to with not a little
interest among golfers, but notwithstanding the
curiosity which had been awakened it is safe to
say that in nearly every other part of the country
thoughts were yesterday morning far enough
away from golf. Not so in St Andrews, however;
there the game would appear to be seasonable at
all times, and accordingly, though the country
around was lying whitened with snow, the players
were enabled to start about noon, with a clear
green before them, and accompanied by a large
gathering of interested spectators. Of the play
throughout, the two rounds which constituted
the final half of the match, it may be said
generally that the great share of credit was
earned by Jamie Anderson, who was in his best
form, and by Bob Kirk, who has, since his return
to his native green, got back much of his former
rattling play. Tom Morris, on the other hand,
did not give his partner the support he deserved;
one of his favourite little mistakes in the putting
having apparently caused him a good deal of
annoyance. Davie Anderson, too, who wants
the steady style of his brother, was at times
rather wayward, though perhaps not more so than was to be looked for, in
view of his comparative inexperience in such matches. In the
early part of the first round the game went
rather heavily against the Andersons, who,
before the turn homeward, were 3 holes behind.
It was, however, just at this point, when there was no saying what difference an additional hole
placed to the lead might have caused, that Tom
made his unfortunate slip, throwing away a
'dead' putt which, had it been taken, would
have left his opponents 4 down. To this mishap
was no doubt accountable the loss of the next
4 holes, in both of which Tom was strong with
his putter, and so left his partner out of sight
of halving when he came to play the final like to
Davie Anderson. Then in the third hole there
was more indifferent play on the part of Tom
and Davie, bringing up the halving figures to 6,
in which figure the next 2 holes were also taken.
In this way Morris and Kirk retained their lead
till they came alongside the railway, when,
through shortcomings on the part of both their
opponents, the Andersons were allowed to take
the call in 5, making the game all even. Going
to the Corner of the Dyke, the play was for the
most part one long series of mistakes, beginning
with a couple of 'topped' balls from the 'tee,'
and ending with the missing of a short putt by
Jamie Anderson, who, had he holed, would have
placed his side to the good. A half in 5 at the
Home hole completed the i round without advantage to either side.
"The scores in the round were:
"Goig outward in the second round, the
Andersons again fell into arrears, their opponents
playing most faultless game, and placing
over their reckoning a series of figures worthy of
the brightest and most genial day, and really
surprising as performance's in cold and biting
winter weather. As happened also in the first
round, Jamie Anderson drove into the Burn at
the start, and the first call accordingly went to
Morris and Kirk, who finished with a pretty 4.
Equally fine was the style in which Kirk carried
the second with a long putt in the same figures,
thus bringing up the lead to 2. An exceedingly
huge swipe of Bob's gave his side the advantage in the play for the third
disc; but a little looseness on Tom's part in the putting brought the
others to equal terms, and a half was declared
in 5, as would again have been the case at the
Ginger-Beer hole had Jamie not imitated Tom's
example by throwing away a little putt. Game -
Morris and Kirk, 3 up. The Long hole, on the
other hand, was saved to his partner and himself
by Davie, who, in playing a long odds in 5,
finished very prettily and secured a half. The
interchange of the next 2 holes Tom giving
away the one and gaining the other by a beautiful
approach to the High hole brought the players
to the Short hole, where Jamie succeeded in
reducing the odds, as it proved permanently, by
getting better over to the green with his swipe than
Tom. At this point, unfortunately, snow began
to fall heavily, and soon spectators, players,
caddies and the links were clad in one thick
uniform of white-. Accompanying this fall, too,
there was a strong piercing wind, which, carrying
the blinding drift as it did across the links, made
it matter of impossibility to play the game
with any care or caution. In spite of this storm, however, the game was
carried on. In the remainder of the round the holes were pretty
equally exchanged, the High hole being lost by
Tom's putting, the third by a foozle of David
Anderson's in the long game, the fourth mainly
by Kirk's ball getting a nasty rub, the fifth gained
by a pretty steal of Jamie Anderson, the sixth
halved by Tom, when matters were looking
rather threatening, lying dead off a long and
difficult putt over a snow-covered green, and the
seventh also halved in 5. With 2 more holes to
play, the Andersons in this way stood I down;
but at the Corner of the Dyke, Jamie, with an iron
shot, the like of which he seldom plays, pitched
a good lying ball away from the putting-green
into a ditch on the far side of the road, and with
the ball, of course, the hole. At the Home hole,
however, he made amends for this mistake by
holing when playing the 'like' to Tom, leaving
his side, after all, only 1 down on the day's play.
The scores in this round were:
"Next day there was a great improvement in
the weather. All traces of the snowstorm had
disappeared, and the temperature was spring-like.
The play was also or, perhaps, one should say
consequently better. Mistakes, of course, occurred now and then; but, taken as a whole, the
scoring gave evidence of increased steadiness and
precision. In Kirk's driving there were, of
course, one or two inexcusable slips; but, on the
other hand, the determination with which he
came out in the more difficult parts of the game
more than atoned for any such occasional looseness, and stamped his
appearance throughout as the most successful player of the four.
Tom Morris, too, handled his clubs to good
purpose, being generally ready to wipe out by
strong driving and pretty iron play any little blot
placed on the card through his aversion to
'dead' putts. To the Andersons fell the hardest
and most discouraging task of any than can be
given at golf the playing of a losing game from
first to last. Handicapped as they were in this
way, the brothers kept at their work very pluckily.
In Jamie's play there was a lack of that nicety
of iron pitching that has so often before stood
him in good stead, and David was now and again
slovenly in his long game; but neither the one
nor the other was to be shaken off or broken
down, Davie in particular proving himself as
good at 'holing out' as any of the lot.
"Starting with one to the good, Tom and Bob
walked away from their opponents in the finishing half of the first round to an extent that
seemed to threaten speedy extinction of all the
hopes of the other side. At the Burn, Jamie
failed to lie dead in 4; at the second hole, Tom
was extra good in his approach; at the third hole
the stronger game was again on the same side, and
then the lead went up to 4. At the Ginger-Beer
hole, Tom secured a pretty half with a well-taken
putt; and at the Long hole, although Kirk drew
his ball from the tee, and sent his partner into
the most dreaded bunker in the links, a half was
in the long run called in 6. The next 2 holes
went to swell the account of the winning side
the 'Heather' hole gained by a beautiful shot
of Bob's, which left the ball all but dead off a
long drive; and the High hole being given away
by Davie Anderson, who, owing to a 'foozle'
of Kirk in driving, had the game in his hands,
but threw it away by dribbling into sand in his
approach. After the Short hole had been halved
in 3 Bob improved his position still further at
the last hole out by finishing with a pretty steal
which placed the Andersons 7 behind. At this
point, however, the fickleness of the game
asserted itself, and soon it was apparent how rash
any premature confidence would have been.
In the first 7 holes in the return journey, Tom
and his partner were only allowed to get 2 halves,
and accordingly, in striking off for the Corner of
the Dyke, Jamie and his brother were merely 2
behind. On the first green, Tom loft his partner
with more to do than Jamie did; on the next, the
Andersons were a second time within better
distance in the putting; on the fourth, Davie
holed out well, while Bob had again rather much
expected from him; on going for the fifth, Tom
topped his tee shot, and thus lost a stroke, and
with it the hole; and the seventh Kirk gave away
in a short putt. On the way to the Corner of the
Dyke Jamie Anderson missed a nice Iying ball in
playing his second, and though the others trilled
somewhat with the advantage given to them,
they secured the call in 6 against 7. The last
hole being halved, the round was finished with
Morris and Kirk 3 to the good. The scores
were:
"In the first half of the second round Morris
and Kirk retained their lead. At the Burn, after
a good approach by Davie, Jamie pocketed the
hole cleverly in 4.; but the advantage he gained in this disappeared on the next green, in playing
for which he drove into sand to the left of the
flag. In the next 4 holes there was a good deal
of brisk fighting. At the third hole, Tom
secured the call by deadlier putting: in the long
hole this was squared by very similar play on
the part of Jamie Anderson; at the Heather hole,
Davie took liberties with the short game; the
High hole was made good by the brothers through
a fine approach. The Short hole was credited
to the same side, Tom being wide in his drive,
while Jamie lay within five yards of the flag, and
the last hole out was halved in 4, leaving the
game at the turn 2 up in favour of Morris and
Kirk. As there was now not much preference to
be given for the chances of the leading couple, the
play came to be watched with great interest.
This interest, indeed, increased to excitement
when, in the first hole, Davie reduced the odds to
one by an exceptionally fine iron approach. In
going for the third flag, Davie unluckily made an
awkward and fatal mistake by topping a cleek
shot, but after two halves had followed this, Tom
failed to take an opportunity of being 'dormy'
at the sixth hole, and as the result was still left
an open question, the hopes of the other side once
more revived. At the next hole the prophecies
of the most sanguine received some justification
by the plucky way in which Davie holed-out in the
like, to a shot in which Bob was disappointed in a
bold bid for the hole; and the game was declared 1 up and 2 to play. The Corner of the Dyke hole
was halved in an indifferent 6, both Davie and
Bob missing holeable putts; and the Andersons
were consequently left with the chance of halving
the match by gaining the remaining hole, the
others being dormy. After the long game, both
balls being on the home green in 3, Bob playing
the odds ran up to the edge of the hole, and
Davie in the like had still the possibility before
him of saving the stakes. In this important shot
he made a capital effort, but the ball ran past,
and a half was declared in 5, giving the match to
Morris and Kirk by I hole. The scores in this
round were:
In the total score there was only a difference of
4 strokes in favour of Tom and Bob, 356 to the
Andersons' 360. Mr T. T. Oliphunt, of Kossie,
acted as umpire on both days."
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