Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-07-16

Two hundred yards from the green
Eobby studied the situation while
5000 people massed about the final
green. and several thousand more
lining the fairway on both sides,
hung on the shot of the young At
Ianta amateur. At last he took "a
heavy iron. Bang. and the shot was
off. 1t rose high into the air, reach
Ing it's maximum height as it crossed
tpe hazard and stopping with that
check. which betokens. the finely hjt
iron shot. t'roiled ten feet beyond
the hole-ene' of the greatest efforts
ever made by. any man in any cham
pionship. With it went the title to
Bobby Jones-his first national
championship, and the fourth anna
of the United States.
That shot-one of the truly great
shots of golfdom-brought "a message
of defeat for Bob Cruickshank, gritty
little professional from Shackamax-
on, New Jersey. who tied Saturday
for the title with one of the nerviest
finishes ever seen, only to lose before
the phenomenal iron work of 21-year
old Bobby from the south.
Jones beat Cruickshank by two
but the two strokes didn't beat
Grutckshank One shot--that iron
shot at the eighteenth-did the trick.
Neck and neck down the, stretch they
came. .Cruickshank ,squaring the
match on the seventeenth green by
hollng five-foot putt for a par 4.
Scot Sluinps and Receivers.
All that went before was merely
incidental to the eighteenth hole and
that iron shot of Bobby Jones'
Cruickshank's wonderful start-his
subsequent slump on the ninth. tenth
and eleventh and his marvellous
comeback at the Fourteenth, fifteenth
and seventeenth-were all incidents
to that dramatic eighteenth. One
shot won the title for Jones and sank
Cruicks shank. the gritty little Scot.
ever made by. any man for the great
est prize in golf. ,'..
The setting was perfect. There
they wefe at the eighteenth. tee, ex-
Psychological advantage Cruick-
shank's way. if at all. He half-top-
ped hooked shot into the rough
Jones poked a fine drive which just
Cruickshank played out $40 yards
from the green and there was Bobby
Z Jones', with hrs great alternative
Either It was to come off or it was
not-and' it came off. Marvellous
Bobby. the finest. simon pure, who
the worlds greatest amateur made
the greatest shot of his career
PROBABLY he has made shots greater
IN themselves: Possibly on occasions
he has holed full iron shots. But
he never has nut forth a finer effort
under such circumstances nor has
any other man.
Cruickshank still might have got
ten a four. But following that won
deful shot of Jones, which laid his
ball right up against the pin. Crufck-
shank couldn't do himself Justice. He
hooked his niblick shot into a trap
and took to get down to Jones' A.
Jones won the title by two strokes.
but the championship and Bobby's
nrst title all hung on that one shot
Victor After Seven Years.
Their. rounds in the playoft were
rs and IS. Jones had broken through
at last, after sseyen years of disap-
pointment, which made millions Of
golfers all over the land wonder if
one of the greatest players in the
history of the game ever was to wear
the purple.
Statistics of the play-off match
make Jones look like bad putter.
He isn't He took thirty-four puts
for, the round against thirty-one for
Crufckshank. The latter, holed three
puts between fifteen and twenty feet
Jones didn't hole anything over six
rect Jones took three puts on two
greens. Cruickshank never was over
the orthodox two puts and was down
In one putt on five green's. The diff
ference came in the direction and
distance of their second shots.
Jones always was far ahead of the
Shackamaxop professional off the
tee, although the latter ontpIayed
Bobby generally through the fair
way. Crufckshank,s, approach putt
ing was better than that of
Jones But his short mashie work
was not so good as that of
shs n tof oh shs f1nas+ Bobby played
the day = a classic effort that
would go down in history if it came
elsewhere - at the fourth hole of the
playoff. where he pitched dead to
the pin from the rough, lao yards
away. He nearly got l at the 1Os-
yard twelfth, where his tee shot
just rolled past the pin and left his
ball foot away for a sure 2.
Cruickshank missed a four-foot
putt for birdie at the long eighth
and missed a, two-footer at the ninth
Those where his only lapses on the
putting green's On the other hand
he holed three puts of over fifteen
feet and four six foo ters-tf1e kind
on which championship ,trembles
in the balances. = .. -
Jones Leads at Outset.
Jones went into the lead at the
Nrst hole with 4 par against )
Cor Cruickshank~s Ele little Scot
from Shackamaxon got 1T back at
the second, where he laid a high iron
SIX feet from the pin and ran down
the putt. Cruickshank took the lead
at the. third, holing a sixteen-footer
for a birdie A., Jones got, IL back