The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1930-05-01
BOBBY LEADS
GOLF TEAM
TOBR|TA|N
BY DAVIS J. WALSH

man 10 man, Body JONES Is
on the high seas leading the
U. S. Walker Cup team for
another assault upon the edi,
flee of British prestige in golf
firmly convinced that. in the last
month, something very disquiet-
ing has happened to the touch
with which genius has marked
him as it., own. It seems that it's
just no Use. He can't play golf
nowadays the way he wants to-
He's lost all control, And this. &C.
cording to his friends, is the way
he's lost it:
He has played eight rounds of
golf on his home course at East
Lake during the last several weeks
for an average of 661a strokes a
round. His high round of the per-
Torrance was IS, the rest of the
display including another IS.
three Cts, two 66s and a IS. He
was trying out a new set of clubs
when he shot the latter, the
friends said in a deprecating whis-
per. They meant to imply that
really he should have done better
"He'S never played the golf
he is playing today" they
whispered in one ear, while
upon the diaphragm of the
other pounded the insistent
voice of Mr.. Jones, telling me
his troubles.
There is no Swank about ones.
He knows that he hasn't the
slightest reason to suspect that
he can't play golf but it is part
of his act to talk himself down
and not without cause. He
breads making even the most
casual utterance about his game,
in fear that the statement will
be confronted with that of the
bombast. I suspect, in addition,
that he is just superstitious
enough to regard optimism as an
invitation to bad luck. Finally,
he is a captious self;critic.
So all he would say was that,
try as he might, he hadn't be IN
able to retain the touch ne
showed at Augusta and Savannah
this winter and so let him run
on as follows:
'T. don't know what it is.
Just haven't been able to play
my shots for a month. Am
worried? No, / wouldn't say l
was. The slump was not UNI
expected. never quite get my
touch until 1 get in tOurna-
ment. !
"Of course, if this sort of play
continued -" His voice tralled
off into significant pause,
which tacitly meant that, in such
a case, he would entertain slight
hope of winning the only major
title that so far has escaped him,
namely the British amateur
championship.
But
"He'S fifteen pounds lighter
than he was before the last
national open at Winged
Foot" his friends whispered.
"That means everything. He's
keen. He's ready"
Armed with this information, I
returned to the attack. Wash t
it true that Mr.. Jones was in bet
ter condition for this emergency
than at any time in recent years.
He conceded that this might be
so, with vast indifference
"YOu don't need health to
play good golf" said he, dis
missing the matter as being
without importance.
The intimation was that he
would prefer a good. stiff pain
in the neck to couple of rounds
over rs when he gets in the
British championships.
That's a joke" came the
inevitable whisper Every
body knows that Farrell and
Sarazen aren't going to Eng
land because Jones is going.
They haven't any use for
second place."
The Walker Cup matches? Mr..
Jones promptly admitted that he
was more than a little worried
about those. He, as captain of
the team. had done some tenta-
tive thinking about the Ameri-
can pairings for the fourSomes
but wasn't prepared to commit
himself.
What about his improvement
with the maShie niblick? Oh, he
Just changed his stance and,
presto, there it was. He hast
ened to add that he never saw
the day when he could play a
mashie niblick shot with Horton
Smith.
"He'S hitting a beautiful
long irOn"-the whisper. =
And so it went, even to the
matter of the four leaf clover. It
seemed that his Atlanta friends
had presented him with the gold
souvenir last week and, while on
his way to deliver a speech of
acceptance, the warning shout of
0 passerby came just in time to
allow him to jump to safety by
inches from the path of driver
less runaway automobile. But IL
seemed that this wasn't worth
mentioning. In fact, it was very
studiously not mentioned in Mr..
Jones hearing.