Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
SPIRIT AND NERVES
DECIDING FACTORS
This, Combined With Me.
ChaniCaI and Mental Assets,
Win Him Crown.

Why does he stand out
above the other great
golfers of the world, amateur and
professional, who appear to be
playing the shots just as well as
he does, but do not score so well
over a 72-hole distance? Is it his.
putting, his accurate driving, his
iron play, or his consistency in
knocking them straight and far?
A combination of all of these, says
Fred Mcleod, the keen, acute little
master technician of Columbia, who
won the open championship back in
the days when Bobby was thinking
more Of blocks and toy cannons than
he was Of fading an iron shot into q
side wind, and the best part OF his
game, Mcleod adds, is his ability to
turn a bad shot or bad break into
par or birdie by recoveries that seem
uncanny.
Bob Barnett, the astute little mentor
ct the Chevy Chase Club, who has
gathered a number of lesser titles and
today is the match-play champion OF
this sector of the bunkered land, thinks
Jones wins because he Is the perfect
stylist, and that his club on every shot
Is moving in the same plane as it comes
into the ball and goes past it. Both
are right in every possible way, but
that doesn't explain the whole thing.
Neither on the mechanical side nor on
the mental side Is Bob Jones greater
competitor than q dozen others-ama-
teur and professional.
Has Fine Spirit.
The real crux of the matter to our
way Of thinking after having watched
Jones play golf for considerably more
than a decade, having watched him
he
1915 to 1928, Is that Bob has all the
shots the others have, has a fine COM
petitive spirit, can bring his game and
his nerve (mark that last) to fighting
pitch in the pinch, and Is out there
hitting that ball farther and better
than most of them all Of the time.
Bob Jones employs the man crushing
method OF knocking the ball a little
further and little straighter than the
other fellow gets his iron shots little
closer to the pin and puts q shade
better than the best of them.
"But it's around the green that ne
tears their hearts out, we hear FTedole
Mcleod say. And true 1t Is. We've
watched Jones play many rounds OF
what ne called bad golf" and it was
had golf for him. He strayed INTO
bunkers, he visited the rough, ne got
into all sorts of trouble, and at the
end what was his score? Just medi-
OGRE II or II. How did ne 40 IL? ne
did It by recovering from the most
astonishing places, making the most
amazingly perfect shots when he coulo
have been pardoned for bad one, and
by consistently chipping and putting
as Jones' Hagen and Horton smith
alone can do. That SO out at .Mlnne-
apolis was q marvellous piece OF WORK;
but that was Jones at his pest, anu
when he Is at his best there isn't
more uninteresting golfer to watch than
this same Bobby Jones' We watched
him slaughter AL Esptnosa az winged
Foot last June, where he shot OF 70
crush the Chicagoan so completely tnat
Al hasn't recovered yet.
Pulls Out of Trouble.
To the technician, to the man VINO
delights In that wonderful rhythm OF
f1odv wrist and shoulders which CO.
ordinate perfectly in the Jones swing
to create the ideal in golf form, tnat
round must have been a marvellous per
Torrance, but to us 1t was not SO m
ferestine, The Jones we like TO waUcn
and have watched many times-is
the human Jones, the man who makes
mistakes and then makes them up
arain with some wonderful stroke OF
that rolfng genius that Jones alone
seems able to produce when he needs u.
Jones gets In trouble as much as the
other leaders, particularly II ne Is uTeu
and AZ hooking his long shots. But
1rher the others sometimes miss a shot
from the rough or the sand, Jones
makes iust as good shots from these
hazards as he does from smootn lie
on the fairway, and when ne gets III
trouble around the green Watcn MN
xlow that ball out, and SINK tne pun;
How he can do that nCtie tn1Ls' @iiu
how well, and how often.
ia
axcellence is something not many peo-
SIIe think about. And we hold WIZ
Parnett that when Bobby Jones ciup
,~orrea into the ball and hits through ~,
That cllbface is moving on as stralgnt
o plane as o club can possibly move
and still not break wrist or tWo. bUo-
bv alone seems to have mastereo 'ne
knack Of keeping that cruz H, H,sre ato
IL would move If the arms were az
tached to the shoulders with TupOer
and not bone and muscle.
ON the other side of the picture
Ahe mental side-Bobby has been
known to have bad holes IN champion.
ships. He had 10 in the second rouno
at Columbus in 1925, winch was Ano
worst single round In any open cham
soionship since 1920, but he won the
fitIe lust the same. He put the pres
sure on by a great third round ana
kent It on with as great fourth rouno
wo-ninety-one was his winning totai,
with a 7o in It, Figure out what his
average was for the other three ROUNDS.
Jones has that ability to conquer MS
sizzline irving nerves in the crucial
snot that the others seem to lack. And
he has nerves-plenty of them. But
ali you will ever see will be teeth
clinched on q lower lip as he fights to
keen himself in control. Bobby Is tne
master competitor of the age. They
make only one in generation Harry
Vardon had Il back In the mauve days.
.Tones has it now And as long as ne
he continues to play in the open cham
4pionship, and win, he will be the same
wizard he is today. And runor has IL,
by the way. that the Interlachen at1ar
NAV be his last open for some time,
Don't be surprised Bobby SUCKS 70