Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-11
GREAT CREDIT DUE
HIM, JONES THINKS
Far From Finished Linksman
When He First Played in
U. S., Says Bobby.
BY BOBBY JONES,
American Open and American Amateur
No,

Champion.
IN reviewing Tommy Armour'S
great victory in the recent
British open golf champion
ship, I cannot help thinking
that Tommy deserves little bit
more than the usual amount of
credit, not merely for his play l.?
this particular tournament, but
for the all-around and consistent
excellence of the game which he
has developed for himself. Armour
has not reached his present posi-
ton without a whole lot of hard
work, and I think that that fact
ought not to be overlooked.
1t was in the year 1920 that Armour
made his first appearance in America,
playing in our amateur championship
that year at the Engineers Club on
Long Island. He was a very stylish
player then with a very fast, decisive
stroke which was very pretty to watch.
But he was not great golfer by any
means. His iron play was above what
we might call the first flight average,
down and his putting was very weak.
He played in a few of the champion
ships succeeding after 1920 without
ever attaining any outstanding sue
ccSSeS. In other words, when he first
came over he was just a good amateur
golfer.
Better Pros Than Amateurs.
It Is a strange thing that a number
Of men who later made enviable names
for themselves as professional golfers
earlier played in amateur competitions
without making much Roadway and
this although their amateur opposition
was considerably weaker than that
which they encountered in the pro-
fessional field. Abe Mitchell made sew
eral unsuccessful attempts upon the
British amateur and few years later
was recognized as Great Britain's lead
ing professional, and one of the great
est players in the world.
And then young Denny Shute failed
TO make a showing in either amateur
or open events until he became a pro.
since which time he has had his share
CT Winter prizes and has figured promi-
nently in at least two national opens
I suppose it must be that more time
for practice and for giving thought to
the game has been what these men
needed.
Certainly Armour did not make much
Roadway until he left the amateur
ranks. He turned pro I think in &C
cepting a prize in one of the Texas
Winter tournaments and that some year
he scored his first big victory in one of
the Florida tournaments. Handicapped
by impaired vision in one eye, it must
have taken a lot of determination to
keep en- working on that drive and putt
A Sudden Change.
It looks almost as though the thing
came to him more or less suddenly
played with Armour almost daily
throughout one Winter season in Florida
when We were both in Sarasota, and
while he was very great iron player
then, he was still far from being the
he did get his putting pretty we'll
Strengthened out through constant ex-
perimenting with different clubs and
strokes, but his driving continued to be
uncertain. particularly when he was
getting tired. We played lot of 90
hole four-ball matches as partners
against combinations like Sarazen-
Diegel, Farrell-Barnes and Hagen
Nichols. and in one against Sarazen
to pieces after the turn in the after
noon that he hit not one fairway on
the last nine. And he was in very
nearly that condition when he left
Sarasota in April of 1926. I played a
practice round with him at Columbus
before the national open that year, and
although he went around in SO. he had
only marvellous putting to thank for his
score.
Adds Needed Asset.
What Armour did between July, 1926
and June. 1927, do not know, but
within that period he added the only
thing that was needed to make him a
really great golfer-he found somewhere
a powerful and reliable drive OF
course the courageous finish which he
made in holing 10-foot putt for a
birdie 3 on the last home to tie Harry
Cooper Is a well known bit of history,
but the thing that I remember best
~n 80 - A