Evening star., 1929-06-30
12-FOOT final putt
PUTS BOBBY EVEN
Albanian for Fourth Time in
Seven Years Today Plays
Off Deadlock.
BY ALAN j. GOULD,
Associated Press Sports Editor.

Associated Press Sports Editor.
w Winged FOOT CLUB, MA
n MARONECK, N. Y, June 30.
wv Out on the high perched
home green this afternoon,
the greatest golfer of them
all, Bobby Jones, somewhat tired and
worn by a bruiSing battle with par and
a record gallery, knelt to study the diff
ficult line of a 12-foot putt on which
hung his last hope of staying in the
hunt for the open golf championship
of the United States.
While fully $4,000 spectators jostled,
showed and milled for a peek at the last
episode of dramatic struggle. Jones
stepped up briskly, struck the ball and
sent it curving beautifully into the cup
for par 4, enabling him to tie with
AL Espinosa, after the Atlanta amateur
had come perilously close to disastrous
elimination.
Jones, two-times champion now in
his fourth play-off, and Espinosa, pro-
fessional of the Sportsmen's Golf and
Country Club of Chicago, now sharing
the greatest heights he has ever ex-
perienced, tied for the regulation "
holes at 294 strokes apiece after one of
the widest battles in the history Of the
tournament.
Jones, finishing as poorly as he
started brilliantly, scored 69-75--71--
10. Espinosa put together rounds OF
70-72-77-75.
Play 1t OF Today.
Tomorrow they will play off the title
at 36 holes, 18 in the morning starting
at 10, and 18 in the afternoon at
o'clock. Thus, for the second success
sive year, Jones, with the crown ap-
parently perched firmly on his head,
permitted it to slip off In the final round
for hands to grab and dispute with him.
Last year the famous Atlanta am
ateur. in a similarly commanding posi-
ton as leader going into the last ID
holes, fritted away z strokes on
Ave straight holes. wound up in tie
with Johnny Farrell, also at 294. and
then lost the play-od by a stroke at
Olympia Fields.
Today, with three-stroke margin
over his nearest rival, Gene Sarazen,
and four shots ahead of Espinosa, after
81 holes Of competition, Jones astonish-
ed q gallery of $4,000, the greatest ana
also probably the most uncomfortable in
open championship history, by taking
rs on two holes, the eighth and fif-
teenth, then three costly puts on the
sixteenth green from only 18 feet.
Espinosa Finishes Strong.
Espinosa, in the thick of the fight all
the way, co-leader with Sarazen after
SO holes, rallied spectacularly himself OH
the last few holes to post his 294 and
take the lead, after an atrocious 8 on
the twelfth hole apparently had put him
out of the running. But Jones met q
flock of fresh trouble himself, when he
seemed to have the title slowed safely
away.
After Espinosa had finished with a
blazing 4-3-4 for his final round of
rs and grand total of 294, Jones came
to the last two holes needing par
on each to tie. He played the seven
teenth perfectly, then smashed long
drive down through the dense masses
of humanity fringing the eighteenth
fairway. His iron. slightly pulled, was
hole high, but of the green, foot
from the edge of a trap. and when he
Clipped dozen feet short of the cup
his chances looked slim. A slight slope
to the green required careful calcula-
ton, but Bobby had the finishing punch
and delivered 1t, where farther back it
looked as if he was himself on the ropes
and about to be knocked right out of
the tournament.
Shute Comes Close.
This was exciting enough for the
great throng, but there was one more
bit OF drama as once more Shute, A.
year-old Columbus. Ohio, professional,
came along behind Jones to make the
one remaining thrust either for the
title or a share in the tie. Needing
4-3 or 3-4 to tie Jones and Espinosa
on the last two holes, Shute missed his
Dld Tor the birdie on the seventeenth
by inches. Still game he slugged a tee
Shot that cleared the last two hillocks
and rolled to within 125 yards of the
4l9-yard ninth. His pitch was straight,
but too strong, rolling back over the
green among the spectators.
knowing he had to sink the next shot
TO tie, Shute struck it boldly, but it
went well past the cup. His last hope
gone, he took 5 for the hole, rs for
ms flnal round and a grand total of
296 that left him in a tie for third
place with Gene Sarazen.
The half dozen contenders who fur
nlShed the main pack of thrills in the
closing drive was completed by George
Won Elm, the Detroit amateur, and
Tommy Armour, professional fellow
townsman. Each wound up with totals
Ct 297 for tie for fifth position with
the rest of the field, as well as flock
Of badly beaten favorites, scattered be-
hind them, Leo Diegel finished in tie
for eighth at sol. Horton Smith finished
ninth with 302. Walter Hagen in a tie
for nineteenth at 800. Gone and almost
forgotten was the 1928 champion,
Johnny Farrell, who failed to even have
the distinction of competing IN the last
half of the battle.
Distance Too Short.
Today'S hectic events added weight
10 the conviction that 70 holes no longer
are sufficient to decide the American
open championship. This is the fifth
olay-of for the crown required in seven
years. What is more remarkable, it is
,he fourth out of these five in which
Robert T. Jones. ir., the Atlanta lawyer,
has been participant.
Jones won his first open title in
923 in q play-off with Bobby Cruick-
shank. He lost spectacular play-off
With Willie MacFarlane in 1925 at Wor-
lester, won the championship in 1925
Without any extra competition and lost
lis third play-off to Farrell last year.
n 1927. Tommy Armour, who tried
calamity to get into the front line
oday, beat Harry Cooper at Oakmont
n play-I~f, so that tomorrow's battle
S the third encore in a row.
1t Is an entirely new experience, on
he other hand for the swarthy. brilliant
sspinosa. AS a result Jones established
himself the favorite tonight with odds
4 z TO 5, but ne will find Espinosa
eady to give him a tussle all the way.
he open title back in 1921, when he
lnished second with 297, but eight
trokes back OF the winner, Jim Barnes
n the last four successive open tourna-
nents, ESpinosa has been no better
nan ninth He was fourteenth laSk