When he returned to New York City aboard the S.S.
Europa, Jones received his second ticker-tape parade down Broadway (the first
had occurred four years earlier when he had become the only amateur ever to
win the U.S. and British Open championships in the same year). This same parade
had honored the likes of General John Pershing and Charles Lindbergh and would,
in future years, honor heroes like Dwight Eisenhower and John Glenn. Bobby
Jones remains the only individual to have been so honored twice. The 1930
U.S. Open was held at Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The tournament was played during one of the most severe heat waves that area
of the country had ever seen. Temperatures soared into the 100's forcing players
to contend not only with the golf course and their competitors, but with the
almost unbearable heat and humidity. Once again, Jones was involved in a dramatic
finish-this time with a couple of bizarre events along the way. During the
second round of the tournament, Jones pushed his tee shot to the right on
the ninth hole along the bank of a lake. Attempting to go for the green in
two, Jones was in the middle of his backswing when two young girls broke from
the crowd and ran toward the fairway. Jones, catching a glimpse of them with
his peripheral vision, flinched on the shot and topped the ball toward the
lake where it struck the water some twenty yards short of the far bank. Amazingly,
the ball skipped like a flat stone on the water and came out on the other
side just thirty yards short of the green. Jones would chip to within two
feet and finish the hole with an unlikely birdie. Although Jones would later
refute the notion, spectators swore the ball had struck a lily pad floating
in the lake. Forever dubbed the "lily pad shot," this strange event merely
added to the already larger-than-life legend of Bobby Jones. The final round
of the tournament had its own share of unusual events and drama. The 17th
hole at Interlachen was the longest par 3 in Open history at 263 yards. Jones
pushed his tee shot to the right and, despite the presence of thousands of
spectators, not one person saw the ball bounce. After a five-minute search,
the ball was declared lost and Jones was forced to drop another. He made double
bogey, reducing his lead to just one shot going into the final hole. On the
18th, Jones left his approach shot some forty feet short of the cup. Facing
the possibility of a three-putt and a playoff, Jones calmly stroked the ball.
The long, uphill putt somehow found the hole and Jones finished with an unlikely
birdie and a two shot victory. Bobby Jones had become the first man to break
par for 72 holes in a U.S. Open and now stood just one major championship
away from the Grand Slam.
