The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-15
l ALKING
IT OVER
BIZ JOE WILLIAMS

ANEW YORK. July 10 some
IL hours pack, the complaint was
recorded in this :o.umn, backed up
by professional testimony, that short
odds Of 9 to 5 against even 50 skilled
a golfer as Bob Jones in an open
championship were ridiculous. This
was the price the bookmakers were
laying against him out in Mime
spolis.
n sesmed ANYTHING but fair 10 tb.
speculative PLAYER. There were at least
fifteen performers In the tournament with
a rood chance TO win. Precedent was
arainst Jones. He had won the year be-
fore az winged Foot and no PLAYER had
repeated In this event since 1912.
Moreover. he had only recently returned
ernsnss OF ohvsical stamina and nerve con-
troll h had battied his Wsv 70 the iront
il both the British amateur and the open
Considering this and that II seemed as
II the odds ought TO BE- much more liberal
This was before the tournament started.
NOV that it is over am willing
INTO admit they we're entirely too
liberal. The Jones boy in a golf
tournament is simply one Of those
sure things, like the electric rab-
bit at the dog track and the chariot
race in the circus.
Al IN, berinninx Of the season he set
mt "a win the four major championships
Of golf. Already he has won three Of them
OnIv the American amateur remains, and
though he was eliminated In the first
round last tall BY an unknown he figures to
take the event in stride. Apparently moth
ing can stop him.
II is also evident that the distinction o.
being the FIRST golfer @ make clesn
sweep OF the tournament nelo on poth 49, 49,
hov than ANYBODY realized in the begin
ming. Having advanced TINS iar u ISL
likely that he will surrenaer 70 oNet ToIl-
Sdence or adopt a less militant psychology
against amateur competition Whcn *
clearly outolasses.
After the clean sweep-if IL eomes-What
then7 Well. the Jones boy will become
more and more a less active figure In the
big tournaments. He will feel that he has
DISCHARGED what he faneies Is debt Of
gratitude to his home town which idolizes
him and 20 r. more intimate friends who
have hailed him as the coming king of
golf ever since he was younGster-
think this explains his extraordinary
esgerneSs 10 compile a record no other
golfer has ever ATTEMPTED:
INFORMALLY this sort Of thing,
IN smacking somewhat as it does
of Alexandrian ambition and
theatrical amateurism, is thoroughly
unlike him. 1 suspect he wants to
be in a position to say, We'll, there
isn't anything left to do to prove
that I can play golf, and now folks
if you don't mind I'd just as soon
pay a little attention to something
else"
AZ heart the Jones boy is Eay. modest.
easv-Koing and fun-iovinE. II has been
long time since golf was fun to him. and
81 recent wears IL has been labor Of a
isxnE exnau,i1,ng ia; "raf ak sO 1o,,op ~
recreation and he Is eager to have II done
with.
BY winning all the championships a golf
er can possibly win in one season he has
houes his friends will allow him TO pass
1 posSibe for him 10 rccaptgre the informal
spirit Of the game nc once knew.
imagine Il will be ali right with the
professionals II Jones retires for all time
and without DELAY. He has demonstrated
concl1siveIv that he can do more with
golf tall than any PLAYER the game has
ever known. Until he came along the
professionals represented the highest note
IN golf skin. hut for the past five or six
years they have been a secondary school
admittedly inferior 10 the 2S-year-old
amateur from the south.
-
As Walter Hagen commented before the
Interlachen tournament started open golt
competition in this country has resolved
itself into a mass battle against one player.
ut Is no longer question OF who will
win the championship these DAYS" said
Hagen cit is n question of who will crowd
Jones the most"