The Washington times., 1930-07-03
FACES STIFF
TEST FOR
TITLE
BY DAVIS ]. WALSH


NEW YORK, July 3.-His not
TO daily in the effulgence Of a ma
tion's homage. His only to receive
the difference due conqueror and
hasten away to conquer again
Bobby Jones will be off to the
wars once more before nightfall
today, his face set toward Mime
apollo and a greater test than any
he yet has experienced, the ma
tional open golf championship.
Jones was the toast of the nation
indeed, yesterday as he came
home with the British amateur
and open championships to re,
ceive a welcome that is echoing
in his ears even at this moment.
y But today grim reality has come
with cold light of morning. Yes.
terday's cheers are drowned in
the tumult of tomorrow's worries.
It is the penalty of fame that a
hero must remain heroic to the
end, and so Jones is forced to
turn his back upon acclaim to set
forth for Interlachen and-what? ?
Personally, 1 suspect that he is
going out to meet his first defeat
of great year. This is mere
opinion, and, therefore, no less
NnkIA Iva
ion seems to be. Jones arrived
here, sun tanned and almost ag.
gressively healthy. He hadn't
lost his golf clubs, as alleged He
hadn't been i'll, as suggested by
scarehead cables.
He was and will remain
the greatest golfer this bun
ker-craZed old world has
known and probably will
know. But this comes pretty
close to being the year for
him to lose the national open
championship. 1t isn't in
the books for Jones to win at
Interlachen.
Jones simply has won more
than his share of honors, even
for a man whose golf is almost
foolproof. He has been under a
strain the like of which would
give a pack mule nervous pros
tration. Within a period of three
weeks, he won the British ANA
teur and the British open cham
pionshipS, with barely a breathing
spell between. He already las
achieved a miracle It is asking
too much to expect him to parlaY
this amazing performance into
something that would SAVIOR of
competitive sorcery.
Human frailty being what it
is, Jones is overdue for the in
evitable reaction. Ard the field
he will face at Interlachen must
be potentially stronger, more
menacing for the addition of
Hagen, Farrell, Sarazen, Dens-
more Shute and others than was
the conquered list at Hoylake.
If Jones wins this one, after all
the winning he has done. there
simply will be nothing for it but
to take the old-oaken. mosS-cov-
cred law of averages and nurl it
violently out upon the rear area
way.
However, the law has reached
out its long arm and tapped
Jones upon the shoulder with an
authoritative finger more than
once in the last five years. which
admittedly have been his great
est. It did so, for instance, at
Baltusrol in 1926 after he had
won his first British open title
and had followed this with a
melodramatic finish at Scioto to
win the American open of that
year.
He looked like a Cinch for
the amateur at BaltusrOl but
he had won everything that
any man had a right to ex-
pect in a single year and SO
he lost to George Won Elm,
whom he twice had beaten
most sOundly in previous title
meetings.
The following year saw him
repeat in the British open and
score that miraculous 285 at St.
Andrews. thus flouting all of its
mallowed traditions. But the re.
action caught him midway
through the American open at
Oakmont and he finished well
down in the list for the only
time in a dozen years.
This ought to have made him
due for the national open in 1928
hut he lost play.off to Johnny
Farrell, a defeat that made him
an absolute kick-in for the anna
teur at Brae Burn, Jones being
the kind of golfer who is never
without a title.