100 years ago

"Each time you hold Jones’s career to the light, the more foolish it seems to compare anyone, pro or amateur, to him."

The words of Charles Price – the founding editor of Golf Magazine and a sports writer of some renown – serve as a reminder of the sheer brilliance of Bobby Jones.

A three-time Champion Golfer, a 13-time major winner, co-founder of the Masters Tournament and the first golfer to achieve a unique version of the now-coveted ‘Grand Slam’, Jones’s impact on golf is incomparable.

“Bobby Jones may be the best player that ever lived,” is Gary Player’s succinct assessment.

Player, himself a nine-time major winner and fellow Grand Slam champion, believes Jones’s swing was “perfection” and it carried him to unparalleled success; nowhere more so than on the hallowed grounds of St Andrews, Hoylake, and Royal Lytham & St Annes, where Jones won the first of his three Claret Jugs in 1926.

His maiden victory on British soil completed a remarkable turnaround from his first experience of links golf, when he failed to finish on a frustrating Open debut, picking his ball up and walking off St Andrews’ 11th hole in 1921.

This was just one in a long list of examples of Jones’s infamous temper coming to the fore, and he soon realised that he would need to curtail his on-course outbursts if he was to achieve the success his ability clearly warranted.

Two years later a more serene Jones won the US Open, followed by consecutive US Amateur crowns, before once again trying his hand at The Open when it was staged in Lytham – the venue for The 156th Open, in 2028 – for the very first time.

He qualified for The Open at Sunningdale and feared he’d peaked too soon after breaking the course record with a sublime 66, comprising 33 long shots and 33 putts.

Failing to replicate his Sunningdale form in practice, Jones – ever the perfectionist – was far from confident as he strode onto the 1st tee at Royal Lytham. The New York Times described him as being “nervous and unsettled at the start” and he subsequently opened his Championship with a bogey four.

He recovered well to save par on the 2nd after hooking his tee shot, before sinking his first birdie at 3. Jones was by then a far more tranquil figure on the golf course, but a hint of his old rage occurred when he threw the ball to the ground after three-putting the 6th.

Nothing was coming easy with Jones, who was struggling off the tee, also bogeying the par-3 9th to go out in 37. He fared slightly better on the back nine, however, with no other player able to match his inward 35 and he finished the first round in fifth place.

So disappointed was Jones with his opening round he would write in Down the Fairway a year later: “I should be the last man in the world, I hope, to contend that that is golf.”

It appeared that Jones’s troubles would continue into round two after he bogeyed the 2nd. However, the proud Georgia native refused to offer his opponents any further hint of Southern hospitality and rallied magnificently to end the day tied for the lead alongside Bill Mehlhorn, one stroke clear of a faltering Walter Hagen, the round one leader.

His second round was graced with what journalist George Greenwood described in The Telegraph as “one of the most glorious shots I have ever witnessed’ as Jones plundered his third shot at the par-5 11th – 285 yards into the wind – to within 20 yards of the pin before saving par.

The drama, however, really began in round three.

It has been said that there is a bunker for every day of the year at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Jones found four of these sand traps during a difficult spell on the front nine. Fellow American Al Watrous carded a 69 – the only sub-70 in round three – to move from two behind to two in front ahead of the afternoon’s final round.

It was now a two-horse race.

In between the third and final rounds, Jones invited his younger compatriot – and closest rival – back to the Majestic Hotel for lunch and a rest.

Perhaps distracted by the pressures of the upcoming final round, Jones left his competitor’s badge at the hotel and was refused re-entry to the course by a fastidious employee on the gate. Jones did not cause a fuss and simply walked to the public entrance and paid two shillings and sixpence to enter the grounds.

The final round was reminiscent of a heavyweight boxing match, with Jones and Watrous attempting to pummel the other into a state of submission; their convivial lunch now a distant memory.

Watrous dropped a shot at the 3rd and both men were level by the 5th, only for Watrous to regain a slender advantage at the 7th. Jones had struggled at the par-3 9th all week and three-putted the short hole to fall further back.

“We were simply cutting each other’s throats,” said Jones afterwards. “I was desperately near to cracking.”

Jones was still two behind with five to play, before Watrous began to wilt. He three-putted the 14th and gave another shot back at 15. The players were once again tied with just three to play.

Then came a moment – a wonder stroke – that would go on to define Jones’s career, certainly on the links.

Watrous was comfortably on the 17th green in two shots and looking pretty. Jones had hooked his drive into the cluster of bunkers on the left of the fairway and faced a perilous, blind second shot.

With 175 yards to the hole, Jones unleashed one of the finest strokes of his distinguished career, with his ball staying on a true line before finishing closer to the pin than his playing partner's.

There now sits a plaque amid said bunkers [above] commemorating one of the most famous shots ever struck in The Open.

Watrous was stunned. So stunned that he inexplicably three-putted, handing Jones a crucial advantage ahead of the 72nd hole.

Another bogey by the young American, coupled with a steady par at the last all but sealed Jones’ first Claret Jug. He was made to wait for Hagen to complete his final round before it was official.

Bobby Jones was the Champion Golfer of the Year and the first amateur to win the Claret Jug since Harold Hilton in 1897.

Writing in Bobby’s Open, Steven Reid believes Jones had “secured his reputation on the world stage as a golfer of the highest order.”

Legendary golf writer Bernard Darwin echoed Reid’s sentiment, saying: “It is difficult to understand why he does not win all championships.”

A few weeks later Jones became the first player to win The Open and the US Open in the same year; a pre-cursor to his ‘Impregnable Quadrilateral’ of 1930 when he won The Open, the US Open, The Amateur Championship and the US Amateur – the four majors of the day – in the same calendar year.

The 61st Open of 1926 was also notable for being the final Open of JH Taylor’s wonderful career. A five-time Champion Golfer, he became good friends with Jones and was reported to be crying during the presentation ceremony.

“The greatest golfing prize has been won by the greatest golfer,” said Taylor.

Jones would go on to win The Open in 1927 and 1930, during what is now known as his ‘seven fat years’ of glory.

Having achieved so much in such a relatively short time span – and having had a greater impact on golf than any player before or since – reams and reams have been written on Jones and the unparalleled legacy he left behind.

His unrivalled imprint, however, is probably best summed up by Charles Price: “The explanation for Bobby Jones’s astounding golf is quite simple. He had a genius for the game.”