Evening star., 1926-04-04

for his craftsmanship and his hrm re
offers that have come to him to mai
The affair of three weeks ago,
been rebuked by the governing boz
matches he played with professional
teapot" according to Bobby's close
Atlanta. Keeler was in Augusta last
ships and writing golf on the side.
regarding the situation in which on
paper stories crediting him with ha
citation.
The groundwork of the story is
this: Jones has been in Florida all
Winter. selling real estate at sara
sofa, the business which he entered
more than two years ago and which
he has determined to make MS h1e
work. In the back of his MIND
doubtless, was the thought that ne
would be able to play golf good blt
I'm Florida with men who could give
him competition. For even though
many good amateurs go to FLORIDA
every Winter very few of them are
in Jones class. Some of the pro
fessionals, the very top-notchers OF
the game. can give him run, but
few of the simon-pures can induce
Jones to bear down.
Jones Worried By Letter.
Five weeks ago several of the Y.
s. G. A. officials met at luncheon
and discussed Jones among other in
dividuals, in addition to other i'm
portant matters. The consensus of
opinion at the luncheon was that the
champion was playing a bit too much
golf with professionals, even though
he had done nothing, so far as was
known. to injure his amateur stand
ing. A letter was written to Bob,
and the champion, considerably wor-
ried, took it to, his father and to
Keeler for advice as to how 10 reply.
While his answer has not been made
public, Jones did not take the posi-
ton that "he would do as he pleased,
the u. s. G.. A, to the contrary, but
did tell the governing body that he
believed play with golf stars of the
first magnitude would help him.
out of this interchange of letters
was magnified the story that Jones
was in wrong with the L. ;. G.
A, and hints were broadcast tnat
the amateur champion might find
himself in difficulties that would en-
danger his amateur standing. The
entire incident was amlcable ana
now is closed. Jones will go abroad
on May 5 as a member of the Amer
ican Walker cSp team without the
slightest disagreement with the pow
ers that be in golf.
BY way of explanation, 1t should
he mentioned that Robert Tyre
Jones. Jr., leans backward in ms ell
fort to erase any taint of profess
sionalism that may attend his gor
PLAYING. If he so wished, the youth
full Mr.. Jones could be man OF IN
dependent means today, for he mas
had countless offers to capitalize ms
skill. Some of them involved ms
amateur standing, while others were
CLOSED over with veneer OF re-
spectability that might have gotten
hv Naturally those that would have
him become an out-and-out profes-
sional carried the largest money
consideration.
Has Spurned Big Offers.
Jones had consistently turned
down all such offers, not even consld-
ering for a moment one involving
some sac. .0OO-quite a neat piece of
change for a youngster. SeVeral
others ran into sums as high as
S25.00O. while some inviting the
champion to write stories for news
papers or magazines carried various
tempting sums. Bob Jones STANDS
ont today with a very limited num-
bar of amateur top-notcherS as one
of those who has not permitted hlm-
self to be led into the path or semi
professionalism. He always has been
most rigid in his definition OF Whdt
constitutes trespassing on a some
what flexible amateur code. Ana ne
is today the outstanding example
of an amateur golfer who makes
every possible effort, although IN
business, to disassociate a great
golf game from the many lnduce-
rnents to profit. that accrue 10 lts
possesSor.
As in the case of every star amateur
,Iaver. if is very difficult to draw a
line of demarcation as to eXactIy
where the fact that Bob Jones Is
great golfer enters into his ability TO
sell real estate. Other first rank anna
teurs who are not exceptional saies'
men get along fairly well IN other
lines of business, and II prospect
buys a piece of real estate from Jones
hecause of his fondness for the cham.
pion and not because of the land ne
has to sell, the dividing line of anna
teurism would be extremely hard to
locate.
Has Worried Over Game.
To return to the mechanical game
of the worlds outstanding player, II
is true that Jones has been having
some trouble with his game this year.
His long iron shots have been hook
ing far too much and Jones has been
worried. He has even gone so far as
tn weigh some of his irons, hoping
that a heavier head will counteract
the tendency to hook. And he has
been taking instruction for several
weeks from James NJ. Donaldson, the
former Chicago and Fenimore pro,
who now is in Florida.
Jones is not off his game badly.
But the hook at the end of long
iron may mean a difference of two
or three strokes on a course where
the greens are closely trapped, for a
hooked ball runs where a ball played
the other way will stop. Bob did
fairly we'll in the recent champion
ship at Pasadena, finishing second tc
Hagen over the latteP'S own course.
But Jones performed poorly In the
72-hole match against Hagen. CD
servers in the South who saw bath
of the 36-hole contests said Hagen
was simply unbeatable, and that no
man could have stood up against the
brand of golf Hagen shot in the match.
Yet to those who read only the tele'
graph stories a Jones defeat by 8
and must have implied some de-
cided inferiority on the part of the
amateur titleholder. |
Champ Has Not Slipped.
The Hasan licking over the 72-hole
route cam[ by the same margin that
Sweetser defeated Jones in the cham
pionship of 1922 at Brookline-a de-
feat many admirers of the Atlanta
lad call his worst defeat. 1t will be
recalled that Jones was down at
the end of the first nine holes of the
Sweetser match and shot a "a on the
last nine, picking up but one hole
and that when Sweetser took three
puts on the 18th green.