The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1929-09-02
Jones BEST
NaASSY
FIELD
BY Davis J, Walsh

s&hA1 MOkS4n, Jail, sept. q.
Mhs . spinster ON . holiday,
golf suddenly went romantic
today and, in the voluptuous
setting Of q modern Garden of
Allah, this usually practical
enterprise began play for the
national amateur champion
ship Of 1929, a championship
such as golf in all the years Of
it's history has not known.
visually. it had all the props and
trappings of an Arabian night. To-
nights adventure. the sort of thing
in which sky and water. blue as
the eye of q Viking. blend with q
background OF hill. ravine and
waving barrancas into a musical
comedy golf course. Comparatively,
il was the last word and all the
words in the anecdote.
Comparatively, it claimed the
greatest competitor Of them all, the
Jones man himself. champion Of
champions and ready to prove it IN
this mornings qualifying round,
which he will begin at 1920 o'clock
In company with Jack Neville, the
Coast champion. Another of the
great ones. Cyril Rolley, champion
Of England, will be out on the
course 20 minutes earlier; A third,
George Won Elm, will follow Jones
In the first tee by Is minutes,
while at five minute intervals
through the long day win come
links genius In veritable profusion.
--~~--------
Ex.champions like Sweetser.
0uiInet, Evans and Egam viii
clutter up the premises. with
Ross Somerville and Don Car
rick. Canadian title holders. pres
ent and past: with T. A. Bourne,
Eustace Storey and Lord Charles
Hone. the Englishnlen: with the
near champions like George
Dawso, DIR. Paul Hunter, Johnny
McHugh, Allen MOser, Don Moe,
Phil Finlay. Gene Homans. EDDIE
George VOigt, Bon Stein, Rude
Wilhelm: i'm fast, with 14O golfers
who must be good or they
wouldn't be i'm there.
This, in short, was the usual cham
pionship with the usual champion
in-prospect, the Jones man, and the
usual contention but here convention
ended and the bizarre began. On one
hand the dreamy romantic Pacific.
ready to be discovered again by a
moderan Balboa, propelling an err
rant golf ball into space; on the
other, broken, jagged outline OF
palms and sage, barranca and sand,
jutting hill and yawning abyss. in
brief, the garden. of Allah all over
again with the same, fataiist1c
theme.
What is to be, will be!
VIII it be a new course record
for Jones in the two qualifying
rounds today and tomorrow. II it
is to be. it will be. Jones shot a
81 the other day, five under par and
six under the course record, and
may repeat any time both himself
and the wind is right. Will it be
the almost inconceivable, defeat
for Jones, the man who has supple
mented three open and two British
titles with four of the last five anna
teur championships played.
1t may not be, but it can be: it
happened in 1926 when Won Elm
won the title and this can happen
again here, although Won Elm
was understood to be in Ill health
today. and not capable of deter
mined challenge. Will 1t be meet
ing between Jones and Tolley, the
two big champions. in the finals. If
SO, fate already has determined the
matter. Tolley twice has failed to
qualify in American championships
but that may only mean that fate
this time has picked him as its
darling.
If it wasn't for fate, In fact,
only the admittedly J, great
would be among the SO sur
at the end Of the qualifying
rounds tomorrow night.
But this happens to be the
happy hunting ground of wh!msv
and caprice. with the insidious
Pacific waiting always in ambush
to blow up q gale or send up
smoke screen Of fog for the ben
eft of unwary. 1t happens to lie
the one course in America where
anything can occur and many
things do and before the end of
the week. drama figures run riot
1t probab will start running
on Wednesday when the first and
second rounds of Is holes each
will be played, the quick death
episodes of the championship from
which even Jones has been known
to shrink.
Twice since 1927 he was ali but
eliminated during the general ex-
element of these rounds by a couple
OF ordinary golfers, and the belief
here today was that, if Jones was
to be beaten, the defeat would come
on Wednesday or not all. II it is
to come. it win come. That's golf
in this Garden of Allah.
A defeat for Jones, as a mat
ter Of fact, would be In perfect
keeping with the unreality Of
this most remarkable Of cham
pionsEips. 1t started, for in.
stance, at o'clock this morn.
ing. with Jimmie Richie, one
of the resident hopes, leaving
the first tee with a reformed
ball player, Title Shafer no less.
It was to finish the round with
Ward Edmonds. a pole vaulter from
Stanford, coming to the eighteenth
green. Meantime. 1t was to send
Dtnk Templeton, the Stanford track
coach, out on the course with his
unique style, and Maurice McLauzh- |
lin, ence a great tennis player, off
with Eddie Held. still great golfer. !