The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-08-05
YANkS WILL
GET ACTION
BY Robert T. Jones, jr.
british Open and Southern Cham
MON

British Open and Southern Cham
piOn
After getting back aboard the
hquitania. certain thoughts have
occurred TO me which have caused
me to interrupt the sequence Of
writings which I had planned.
feel that there are things which /
cannot leave unsaid about my most
recent visit TO the British Isles.
Z hat was fortunate enough to
win the championship was. Of
course. gratifying to me, hut /
cannot say that alone caused me
10 enjoy my visit.
1t is always an outstanding
pleasure to meet pure Hooded, gen
efous sportsmen. those men who
must. make any game and any
country great. / find great diff
Guilty In expressing, in my poor
way, the immense and sincere
gratitude which I bear toward the
British people for their kind treat
ment of me. If there was regret
in their hearts that their champion
ship had been won again by an
American. there was certainly no
indication OF it apparent to me.
It is only natural, ] think. that
regret should have been there
should not like to think they
were not keen to regain the cup
but It was completely obscured
in the gracious behavior Of the
true British sportsman.
Indeed, / should have been I'M
mensely pleased with considerably
less generosity. When / came to
the last hole, knowing had won.
barring miracles. I expeced cordial
demonstration worthy of a British
sporting crowd. But the welcome
/ received far surpassed anything
l could have imagined. The people
glad that / had won and was
immensely pleased and happy to be
with them.
America now has had a long
string Of victories IN the British
Open-six out OF the last seven
but saw some things this year
which lead me to believe we won't
get many more. There are now in
Britain more promising young
players than there have been since
the war. Not merely youngsters OF
"A and 16 who have vet to complete
the development Of d swing, but
young men of 10 and 20 who are
lacking only In experience.
Chief among these. Of course.
are Cotton and HOdsOn. Both
are Just 20 years Of age and
both are now magnificent play
ers. HOdsOn led off In the
championship with two fine
rounds Of w and 20 and was
only beaten by the Furnishing
third round which has killed
many heads older than he.
Cotton played Uuite steadily 10
finish In 298 and the next week
reached the seml-finaI In the
great professional tournament
at Gleneagles.
Fred Robson and Aubrey Boomer
had rather bad luck, both taking
IS in the first round. If / had not
the good fortune to gain q, big
lead on them at the start, the cup
would never have been mine, for
each of them beat me by two
strokes the last 81 holes.
The low scoring at st. Andrews
caused quite d furry in the British
press. The fact of the matter il
that the course was much simpler
than It has ever been In the past.
In 1921 the old course was very
fast and while the, drives were
long, the play around the green
was very difficult. The subtle un-
dulations around the greens make
81. Andrews the great course that
it Is, and it must be easier when
these are simplified.
The green's this year were soft
and would hold a pitch quite
easily. The difficult rolls were
thus avoided anu 1t even became
unnecessary to observe any great