Evening Star Newspaper, September 21, 1930, Page 87

| o AT . "2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 21, 1930. 5 - Will “13 Jinx” Deteat Bobby Jones? Atlanta Wizard Faces Field of Able Com- petitors, Any of Whom Old Man Hoodoo May Select to Be Bobby’s Stumbling Block as He Tees Off in American Ama- teur for His 13th Major Championship. ILL the 13 jinx, that numerical hoodoo which prevents business men from starting new projects on the third day after the 10th of the month, causes auto racing drivers to writhe in mental agony when they find themselves trailing the twelfth car in a speed carnival and influences architects to omit the thirteenth floor when designing modern skyscraper hotels, strike down upon Bobby Jones and deny him the 1930 amateur golfing championship of the United States dur- ing the play of the coming week? Starting Tuesday, Jones and the rest of the amateur field, representing the greataest group of simon-pure linksmen America boasts, will begin play on the famous Merion course, in Philadelphia. Thirty-two will qualify for the maich play rounds. Should Jones, Atlanta’s outstanding citizen, perform at the pace set thus far this season, he will be one of the two finalists teeing off next Saturday morning { he defeats his adversary it will mean the thiricenth major title the distinguished Georgian has garnered since he began collect- ing first-grade championships eight years ago. . will be his fifth national amateur crown to add to a string which includes four United States open diadems, one British amateur and three British open titles. It will mean that Bobby Jones, for the first time in the golf an- nals of the world, is possessor simultaneously of the four most important links baubles that exist—the British amateur and open and the American open anad amateur of 1930. Today, with both British crowns and the American open under his belt, the Emperor Jones has compiled a record that never has been matched. If, on Saturday of this week, he also annexes the 1930 national amateur, he will have made a record that mayv never be equaled. ERHAPS Old Man Jinx has decided Jones’ present remarkable achievement for a single year's competition is quite sufficient. Per- haps he has decided 12 major titles during a career are enough for one human being—re- gardiess of how great a golfer that person may be. If the fates so decide, this year’s amateur will be a repetition of the 1929 event, in which Jones went down to defeat in an early round, thereby robbing the tournament of a major part of its color and interest. If the psychology of environment has any- thing to do with it, Jones will play invincible golf in the impending links jousting. Just 14 years ago Merion was the scene of Bobby's first major play. He was eliminated in the third round. In 1924 he returned to Merion to win his first American amateur crown. For Jones coming back to Merion will be like a traveler, long away, returning home Why shouldn’t he play inspired golf? Sports writers will discuss that first major tournament of Jones' long after Bonny King Bobby has retired to his Georgia law practice. He was only 14 years of age; he was Georgia State amateur champion; he was wearing his first pair of long trousers—donned, as he con- fessed with a blush beneath his tan, because he felt it would add an air of maturity—Bobby was painfully aware of his youth in those days; he was “copy” of the type sports writers grow gravhaired locating and running down 4c surprised even himself by qualifying with the respectable score of 163. Next day, the first of match play, Bobby defeated Frank Dyer. That night the hotel room where Bobby was stopping with his father, a one-time base ball star at the University of Georgia, was besieged by scribes. They learned that Bobby, like many an athlete who has scaled the heights, was literally forced into sports activity by ill health. Up to 5 years of age the boy never had managed a morsel of solid food, due to fauity digestive apparatus. They learned how Fulton Colville had given Bobby his first set of second-hand sticks; how Bobby and neighbor boys laid out a four-hole course in the yard of Mrs. Frank Mesdor, where Jones Senior had taken his family when told that suburban life might benefit his son’s health; they learned how Stewart Maiden, pro at the nearby East Lake coirrse, had been Bobby's inspiration and links id day the Jones kid eliminated E. M He fell himself the following afternoon, bowing to the defending champion Robert Gardner. But the “Kid Wonder” from Atlanta had made his mark in the golfing world He has been a figure in it, more or less vividly limned, as the fates willed, ever since At 21 Jones won his first major competition, the American open, defeating Bobby Cruick- shank in an 18-hole playoff, 76 to 78. At 22, visiting Merion the second time, Jones landed his first American amateur crown, defeating George Von Elm in the final, 9 and 8, before a gallery of 5,000 fans The world is so well versed on Jcnes’ sub- sequ-nt links record there is no need to des- cribe ii in detail. Suflice it to say, he captured his thicd major title in 1925, the American amateur; won his fourth in 1926 by annexing his first British open and followed that with his fifth, when once more he took the American open. Again, in 1927, Jones won the British open and the American amateur. In 1928 he Bym'.;- f won his eighth major diadem, the American amateur. Last year he won the American open for the third time—his ninth crown. His record thus far this year includes the British amateur, his tenth diadem; the British open, his eleventh, and the American open, his twelfth. ILL there be a thirteenth to add to this admirable list? Old Man Hoodoo may turn thumbs down. The bane of golfing addicts may be assisted by some of Jones’ able com- petitors. It might be well to consider a few of these last named. First off, there’s Harrison R. (Jimmy) Johnston, defending amateur champion. Johns- ton captured the 1929 American amateur by defeating Dr. Oscar F. Willing, of Portland, Ore., in the final, 4 and 4. It was the first title round of Jimmy's career—and it ranks among the most pulse-stirring in the amateur’s history. At the eighteenth hole, standing ankle deep in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, which fringes Pebble Beach, he drove splendidly for a par 5 recovery to end the morning round only 1 down. At the first hole of the afternoon round he squared the match, halved the next two holes, then went out in front for the re- mainder of the match. This year, as a Walker Cup player, Johnston paired with the veteran Ouimet to defeat Wil- liam Campbell and John Ne'son Smith, 2 and 1, and in singles humbled Cyril Tolley, 5 and 4. In the British amateur he clubbed his way to the sixth round, defeating Bernard Darwin, Maj. A. G. Barry, Col. Moore Brabazon, Reginald Straher and D. C. Murray, losing in the sixth to Jones, 1 down. Johnston, 31, and a veteran of the World War, is the boyish type that catches the crowd’s fancy. He is a master of the spoon shot and that he possesses courage under the most exasperating circumstances was attested by that drive from the ocean’s edge in 1929. He has a title to retain and an urge to defeat Jones. Next, there's George von Elm. The big Californian, now of Detroit, already holds one victory over Jones, defeating him in 1926 by 2 and 1 for the amateur diadem. Previously he had lost twice to Bobby in the finals—1924 and 1925, In the 1929 British open, Von Elm tallied 318, 26 strokes back of Walter Hagen, the winner. This year, as a Walker Cup player, George paired with Voigt, losing to Tollev and Bobby Jones in action. Wetiered, 2 down, but defeating Rex Hartley in singles, 3 and 2. In the 1930 British open, Von was pared out when the field was cut ta 60, but had tied Tolley to lead the amateur contingent in qualifying with 147. Von Em won the French amateur, defeating R. G, Morrison of England, 9 and 8. In the sub- sequent British amateur, Von advanced to the fifth round, being defeated by the Hon. Michael Scott, 1 down, after 20 holes. In the recent American open, Von tied for eleventh placa with 301. When on his game, Von Elm can travel with the best. He is as likely as not to be Jones' adversary when the impending tournament hag narrowed to two men. A year ago goif devotees rubbed their eyes and looked again when they read that the great Bobby Jones, defending amateur champion, had been eliminated in the first round of match play. The defeat was -administered by a youngster -— Johnny Goodman of Omaha, Johnny was himself eliminated the following day, but his mark was made. Since then ex- perts have been compeiled to consider him a factor in any tournament. Goodman, now 21, rode to the American open at Winged Foot last year as tender to a car- load of steers consigned overseas. Johnny helped unload them at Hoboken, then journeyed to Mamaroneck for the tournament. The pride of an amateur prevented acceptance of finan- cial assistance for the trip East. Jess Sweetser is another player for Jones tq fear. Sweetser, winner of the British amateur in 1926—the first American to win that his~ toric bauble—suffered a nervous breakdown upon returning and has undergone a protracted siege of ill health, but gives indications this year of returning to form. He's only 28—Jones’ own age. Phil Perkins former British star, now of Stapleton, N. Y., is another contende: of un- usual promise. Perkins, at 25, has had 11 years of sterling golf. He won the British amateur in 1928, defeating Roger Wethered, 6 and 4. A year earlier he had won the British closed amateur. He holds the course record at Castle Bromwich, a 69. Two years ago he won his way to the American amateur final, defeating Don Moe, Ducky Yates, Johnny Daw- son and George Voigt, only to bow to Jones in the title session, 13 and 12. Perkins still smarts under that defeat. He has plenty ef reason for wishing to conquer Jones. Don Moe has possibilities. The University of Oregon star, Western amateur champion last year, was outstanding in the 1930 Walker Cup matches, rallying heroically after being 7 down' with 15 to play to defeat J. A. Stout, 1 up. In the British open, he finished 12 strokes back of Jones. He was forty-fourth in the A.menca.n open, but this week’s play may find him on the rebound. OTHERS to be reckoned with include Roland b MacKenzie, former boy golfer, of Washing- ington, now of Wilmington, Del., and Maurice McCarthy, jr., of Brooklyn, N. Y. Five years ago MacKenzie, a Brown University star, created a sensation in the American amateur before e_limlnation and has been an annual factor ever since. This year he won the Maine amateur and previously had won in both foursomes and singles with the Walker Cup group. McCarthy, as a student at Georgetown, two years ago won the intercollegiate title and was metropolitan amateur champion last year. Both of these young men will bear watching. And what of the Philadelphians—men who have played Merion numberless times and en joy an advantage from the start through knowing every topographical quirk of the course? What of Ted Johnston, young 1930 Philadel- phia amateur champion; of W. B. (Duff) Mec- Cullough, whom he defeated in the final for that crown; of J. Wood Platt, Whitemarsh star, and his equally noted brother, Zimmer; of J. Winston Kindt, Andrew Kaye and the durable Max Marston, a former amateur king? One of these may be selected by Old Man Jinx as the instrument through which the thirteenth title may be denied Kingpin Bobby Jones Bobby’s attitude toward major tournaments, however, is going to make it difficult for any jinx to throw him off his stride. Golf is a game to Bobby; he plays it because he loves it. Regardless of the glamour and thrill attached to winning a fourth major event in a single year, the contest at Merion is just another golf tournament to the At'anta wizard. Wherein lies the greatest danger to his opponents and his best defense against any stray jinx that may choose to masquerade under the super- stitlous banner of number 13.