Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-18
BY o. B. KELLER.
written for the Associated PresS.)

A TLANTA, November 18.-And SO
~ It's "Good-by to all that" for
~ Bobby Jones and, incidentally,
for this correspondent. Bobby's
retirement from competitive golf Is the
end of the trail-the end of TRAN that
has carried us together a matter Of
100, 900 miles; three times to Europe and
across the fields of ~ major champion
ships.
When Bobby told me Of his decision
I couldn't say anything for the mo-
ment. I Just stuck out my hand, and
we shook, perhaps q bit solemnly.
was happy, in a way, for, of course, it
you don't come to the end of an asso-
citation of Is years with the greatest
sporting competitor and the greatest
boy you've ever known without some
thing that hurts you a lot.
1t was the thing to do, eminently. As
Bobby said, whatever he might do, con-
tinuing In competition must be in the
nature of an anti-climax. He had I'm
ished OF the seven fat years" of his
career with IL major championships.
In the closing year, 1880, he had ac-
COL1Pl1cIACQ Tile 11lipOoSlUAC-Ck1 SIdIlO
slam Of golf-by winning all four major
titles; he had flung an incomparably
brilliant escalade into the impregnable
quadrilateral of golf, where his record
stands safely intrenched forever.
For no one ever will do 1t again. In
the casual words of an old theatrical
star, '"That's all there is-there isn't
any more"
Seven Lean Years Dear.
But in the long memories that remain
as the glamour fades, there always will
be recollections Of the seven lean years;
the long pull against fate and fortune
and the best golfers in the world, when
the greatest golfer of them all played
IN IL major championships and never
broke through for o single victory.
In some ways, those are the dearest
OF the green memories" Those were
the days before we Travelled In drawing
rooms and private cars; when we were
lucky to get lowers and didn't mind If
we had uppers; when, in 1921, on the
road to the amateur championship at
st. Louis, two years before Bobby broke
through, sat one night in his lower
berth while mine was being made down,
and he said TO me:
Il wonder if I'll ever win a champion
Ship
And ! said TO Bobby:
Son, you're the greatest golfer In the
world, and when you get that conviction
into your skull, you'll win, not one, but
a lot of them"
And Bobby only laughed,
But Bobby eventually developed an
ambition, which we now can talk about
freely and with no special show Of mod
esty.
After he had won the national open
Inwood, in 1882, and followed with
the national amateur in 1924 and 1925,
he said to me one night:
Jones Gets His Wish.
There is one thing I'd like to do, in
golf. I'd like to be national champion
of the United States six years in sue
cession, either amateur or open. Then
I'd be ready TO hang up the old clubs,
and let them all take a shot at that.
But, of course, 1t can't be done"
And we both laughed that time. OF
course, 1t couldn't be done.
And now-well, now he has been ma
tional champion of the United States
eight years in succession-open cham
and 1925; open champion, 1925; anna
tur champion, 1927 and 1928; open
champion, 1929, and both open and
amateur champion, 1880. Added to
which he has been open champion of
Great Britain, 1925, 1927 and 1880, and
amateur champion, 1880.
Thirteen major Championships, in
the hardest and grimmest and most
uncertain Of all major sports. achieved
in a span of eight years, at the age
OF 2sl
1t Is the time to stop. 1t is a good
end to the long trail.
There are no mere records to shoot
for. Bobby Is the Afirst golfer to win
five United States amateur champion
ships He has equalled the British and
the United States record of winning
both the amateur and the open in the
same year. He is the only competitor
who ever won both the British and the
United States open championships In
the same season, and he has done that
twice. And no other golfer, amateur or
professional, has won thirteen major
titles In a career of any duration--and
Bobby's career, which has been Just
half his life, is OF IA years.
End Of Trail for Both.
I have been with Bobby In his hours
of blacklist depression, as after Willie
Hunter beat him In the third round of
the national amateur at st. Louis, and
when Sweetser beat him the following
year at Brookline. / was with him when