Evening star., 1924-06-15

With inc new champion dt MS VlCtO
four of the steadiest rounds of golf
but, over his record and standing ou
peak above the records of all other {
OF the bunkered nation, is the wond'
over flve-year stretch, during whicl
Hagen, Sarazen, Macdonald Smi
others constitute what the lesser KIN
the ring in professional golf. Any
the ring" it brings cheers of acclaim
Bobby Cruickshank almost broke
through at 1nwood last year, when
Jones won. The pros were not sorry
to see Jones win, although they re-
Sretted that one of their number who
would have come to some financial re-
ward through annexation of the big
title, did not come through.
This year professional not with
in the ring won the championship,
and although Walker is not the spec
tacular performer nor the popular IA
Vorite that Walter Hagen is, his vic
tory is very popular with the profess
sionals for the championship is out
side the ring And in winning it,
Walker has given a squirt of ambition
to every other pro in the country. for
they figure if he can win, some other
pro. only equally we'll known also can
win.
Encourages Lesser Lights.
The ring is broken. and the pros
rejoice, not with any feeling of ma
lice for Hagen, SaraZen and company,
but for the feeling of hope it brings
to the rest of the entrants.
Bobby Jones, king pin medal play
er of the world, stands today as Gle ar
ly the medal play leader as if he still
were the champion. He entered his
first open championship at Toledo in
1920 and finished eighth. Since that
title chase he has competed in four
championships, winning once. Today
he leads Walter Hagen over a stretch
of five championships by just seven
teen shots. When he entered a In
wood last year he trailed Hagen over
three championships by one shot. He
came through at Inwood with a lead
of fourteen shots over the debonair
Walter who had been leading the
pack over the stretch until that time.
Today. over five championships, he
leads Walter by a big margin, with
the rest of the field, excepting Jim
Barnes, far back in the ruck over
the distance.
Consistency in golf, as in any other
sport, is the crowning index to the
worth of a player. Bobby Jones con-
sistency is the unfailing index to the
marvellous game of the Atlanta anna
teur. His last round at Oakland Hills
a few days ago. was his worst round
in four years of championship compe-
tition. and it was IS. Bobby won at
Tnwood with an average of IA. He
1890 for the seventy fve-hole dis
tance. That is what defines the cham
pion. At Detroit Walker was consist
ent, but over the five-year stretch, he
is many, many shots back of Bobby
Jones.
Jones Was Eighth In 1920.
Jones went out to Toledo, where
Ted Ray won in 1920, and hnished-
eighth. Columbia played host to the
pros in 1921. when Jim Barnes gal
loped in with a great lead, and Bob
by finished fifth. blowing away his
chance for the championship by TAX
ing at the fifth hole; And then then
when Gene Sarazen won, to finish
second in a tie with "Grandfather"
John Black. His money went to
Black, for Bobby does not need plate
and he believes the pros who win
are entitled to the money.
Then came Inwood where Bobby
almost blew away his chance at the
seventy second hole, but came back
with that great iron shot at the
eighteenth to win the play-off from
Cruickshank.
At Detroit Bobby tied at the end
Of the first day with Bill Mehlhorn.
Bill dropped shot on the third
round. while walker, a shot back at
the end Of the first thirty-six holes,
gained a shot and was in tie with
Jones at the end of the hfty-fourth
hole. They were even at the begin
ming of the final nine, for Bobby got
out in 80 to SO for Walker, where the
latter sank an eightfoot putt for
birdie at the ninth.
Where Bobby Lost Title.
Bobby quite definitely lost his
championship at the tenth, a 46O-
yard, par affair, when he took his
second 6 of the tournament at this
hole That is where Walker amas
10
him the championship over Bobby
Jones, adding another at the thir-
teenth, where Jones took a 4, and
he kept it to the fifteenth, where it
became two shots when Walker took
three puts.
But Walker. taking plenty of time,
banged an iron shot up into the wind
across the lake at the sixteenth. and
ran down the putt for a birdie 3.
That settled the championship, for
Walker could have finished 4, and
still have won. When he secured a
3 at the short, but hard seventeenth,
he could have taken at the last
hole and won. He did take 5, where
normally he had gone down in 4, but
it didn't make any difference.
Bobby Jones last nine was the
worst nine we have seen him play
over four open Championships, with
the exception of the nine holes which
included the 9 on the fifth at Colum-
bia in 1921. And that was only one
bad hole.
One bad nine over a stretch of 2SS
holes And that half round of 40
only three over par over one of the
toughest courses the open champion
ship ever has seen. Into the wind, at
that, for five of the holes on that last
nine were dead into the wind. Who
can deny that Bobby Jones is the
finest medal player on this side OF
the water--or the other either--for
Britain's best haven't done so well in
our championships.
Walker Earned His Crown.
To return to walker, his rounds
of "A, "A, IA and IS certainly entitled
him to the championship, for 2s7 at
Oakland Hills over the long route is
fine golf The course measured over
$500 yards and the ball had to be up
I'll the way No halfway measures
ger by at Oakland Hills. Either you
got there or you didn't, as Jock
Hutchison found out to his sorrow.
f5uS Oakland Hills brought out one
great point in modern golf. That is
that Bobby Jones, although he was
dethroned as champion, remains at
the crest--the finest medal player in
the world.
REAL SPORTSMANSHIP.