Evening star., 1925-09-06
JONES WINS GOLF
CROWN OVER GUNN
Retains Amateur Title at
Oakmont by Defeating
PupiI-PaI, 8 and Z.
By the Associated Press.


OAKMONT, Pa. September s.
Golf and gruelling Oakmont lay prone
today before their master and Robert
T. Jones, jr., stocky. smiling Bobby
of Atlanta, Ga. retained his amateur
championship, his third national vic
tory i'm successive years. Bobby by
his great victory today, successfully
defended the title he won at Merton
in 1924. He added the crown TO the
open championship laurels he won in
1923 at Inwood.
Jones administered to his little 49,
year-old pal" Watts Gum, a severe
thrashing in his final of the 1925
tournament. which attracted a gal
lery of more than 1000 to a club
that is 15 miles from the city of
Pittsburgh.
Gum, unschooled in tournament
play, received defeat with smile and
folded his arms about the shoulders
of his greatest idol at the end, the
twenty ninth hole. The score was s
and Z.
Never before in the history of golf
in the United States have two such
friends from the same city been called
upon to duel for the greatest honor
in their sphere and prior TO the con-
test there were great misgivings for
1t was argued that the one could not
bear to defeat the other-and this, de-
spite the pre-battle statements OF
both that they would fight it TO o
finish.
Gum Hangs on DOggedly.
For almost half of the fray little
black haired Watts carried on in bril-
liant fashion and at times attained
the sensational, as when at the fourth
=, ~, aft
holes had been halved, he drove his
second to the green and holed a long
putt for an eagle 8. Again, in the
afternoon, with defeat imminent. he
broke from the strain in that he bore
to drop a pitch from a trap at the
twenty first and scored a birdie
that for a time kept him in the run
ming.
All the time Bobby was himself and
the broad smile was ever evident as
his youthful antagonist fought on and
on. Especially did he enjoy Watts
chasing of grass hoppers from the
caused thousands to swelter, also at
tracted the ground dwellers by hun
dreds to the smooth surfaces.
Each creditable pitch by Gum
brought congratulations from the
champion. He nodded approval of the
lesser shots time and again, yet never
for the moment did he relent, in his
struggle for the greatest golf goal in
America Jones bore down as a cham
pion should, determined to end the
match soon as possible, and he
gave no quarter. Gum, likewise, COM
PEELED the champion to play puts of
foot and at times. even less. A con-
ceded hole was a rarity.
Several Matters Explained.
At the end several matters that had
been widely discussed during the
tournament were explained. 1t ap-
pears that Jones had experienced diff
Guilty in separating young Gum from
his parents for the week of the cham
pionship and that Gum himself had
argued that Bobby was trying to make
a fool of him.
qualifying" the little lad said, but
the people were so nice to- me up here
that 1 wanted to stay. I'll tell you
all that 1 don't believe there's any
body in the world can beat Bobby"
Jones' speech at the eighteenth was
in the usual Jones style. This
tournament has been handled wonder
fully and the spectators and gallery
runners have done everything well.
The Oakmont course undoubtedly is
the most difficult in the world"
William c. Fownes, jr., a former
champion, who qualified, but was de-
feated in the match play by Won
Elm of Los Angeles, said he was
proud that the championship came
to his home club. He added that he
also was proud that Jones and Gum,
"the Atlanta cyclones" had survived
until the final round.
The officials of the United States
Golf Association who spoke were
unanimous in the opinion that Oak
mont is the most difficult course in
the world, and they paid tribute to
Bill Fownes, its maker, and Emil
Loeff1er. the well known professional,
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