The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-07
BOBBY JONES COMES
 HOME SECOND BEST
Mehlhorn, Cruikshank, Smith And Hagen Fin
 ish Close Behind

New York today today won the na- tional open golf championship at Oak land Hills with score of 207, three strokes better than the score returned by Bobby Jones, Atlanta, in defending his title.
 Bill Mehlhorn, St. Louis, finished third with 301 while Bobby Cruick- shank, runner-up to Jones last year, Macdonald Smith, San Francisco, and Walter Hagen, twice champion, tied for fourth place with 303.
 Walkers victory today was the first one by a foreign born professional since Jim Barnes captured the title at Wash ington four years ago. Though the Englishmen has been consistent play CT, he has never before won an import ant title. He was, runner-up last year to Walter Hagen in the North and South open championship.
 Ten Years In America
 The new champion came to America ten years ago and was for some time a nunheard of quantity at Wabash, Ind. About six years ago he went to the Englewood Country club in the su- burbs of New York City, and has par ticipated in all important contests since. He won the reputation of being the slowest player ever known to the American golf links. Walkers .vic- tory was surprising in that a hot wind swept the course in such q manner as to make playing difficult for persons of light weight. He is slight in stature, weighing less than 130 pounds, but he outgolfed such sturdy individuals as Jones and Hagen without any trouble.
 Brilliant Shot
 His victory was not entirely due to steadiness for he made several brilliant shots, including his second over the lake on the 3S4-yard 34th hole, where he holed a nine-foot putt down hill for a 3, virtually clinching the victory at that point. Walker also showed good generalship on the last hole where he pushed his drive behind a tree 200 yards from the green. He had six strokes from that point to win the title, and instead of taking a chance on getting enmeshed with the tree and some awning traps beyond, he delib- erately played well to the right and short of the green. He was nicely on in three and holed in two butts for a par five. All through the four days grind over the sandy hills and wooded valleys, Walker shot his way almost unswerved by the thousands who flocked to the course to see the play. Such popular idols of the links as Jones, Hagen and Evans were trailed by large galleries but it was only after word reached the clubhouse following the finish of Jones that Walker had a chance to take the title that the null titude tried to get a glimpse of the on-coming champion.
 Thousands In Galleries
 Thousands of well dressed women and male devotees of the links lined the entire fairway of the 469-yard 36th hole, on both sides of the fairway from green to tee, while hundreds more fought for places around the finishing carpet.
 When the SS-year-old native of Hoy lake. England, dropped his final ap- proach on the large green 25 feet from the cup, the crowd gave him probably the first tremendous applause he had ever received, but the bronzed profes- sional paid no attention whatever to the plaudits, and calmly ran his ball dead to the hole and tapped it in, secur- ing the supreme honor in American golf and taking the championship cup from Dixie to the Atlantic coast.
 It was the tenth hole, probably more than anything else, that cost Jones his chance to retain the title.
 On this 450-yard hole. whose par is four, Bobby, in four rounds, took six more strokes than perfect figures and two of these additional strokes came in the final stretch. Walker had finished the first days 36 holes in q pair of "A and was one stroke behind the 14T shared by Jones and Mehlhorn.
 Tie At First Round
 He had gone into a tie at the end of today's first round by shooting his third "A, while Jones added 75 to his previous rounds of "A and 8 and Mehl- horn took 76 for 223, Walker and Jones both shot 3S's on the first nine of the final round, still remaining tied at 26O for the 6S holes. Then Jones proceeded to drop the championship on the tenth hole, which had become his hoodoo in his other three rounds, having been compelled to take two 5's and a previously and perhaps the memories of these disasters bothered him again, for he pulled his drive into the rough. He played one of the best long irons of the two days from this spot, however, only to have the ball land on q hard spot on the near side of the green, run across the carpet into a trap and an almost unplayable lie. He failed to get oHt-on his first attempt and was wide of the hole when he reached the green in four, taking six. Walker, following Jones, had no trouble in shooting par on this hole, thereby getting lead of two strokes. He dropped one of them at the 403- yard eleventh, where he went one over par but recovered at the 142-yard thir- teenth with a par, while Jones failed to land on the green and had to hole a long putt to get four.
 The victor gained another stroke at the 384-yard sixteenth with his beauti- full shot over the lake which netted him a birdie to Jones' par and he was four strokes ahead of the southerner after he got par three on the 101- yard seventeenth, where Jones again failed with his iron and did not chip dead. Thus, although Jones finished with a fine birdie four on the 469-yard home hole and recovered one stroke when Walker took an extra shot around a tree, he was three strokes over the score made by the Briton. Meblhorn was the only one of three leaders who shot the course in par during the four rounds. The St, Louis professional made his par 72 on the first circuit of the links, but he slipped three strokes on the next round, merely tying Jones for the lead at the end of the first day. He was one stroke worse this morning with 73 and fell into third place be- hind Walker and Jones by sone stroke and on his final effort could do no bet