Bobby Jones sailed for England in April of 1930 as
captain of the U.S. Walker Cup team. Jones and his teammates would compete
against their British counterparts at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, England
before playing in the British Amateur and Open Championships. Jones played
well in the Walker Cup competition, winning both his foursome and individual
matches as the U.S. won 10 of 12 matches overall. Following the Walker Cup,
Jones played in a 36-hole tournament sponsored by Golf Illustrated and won
by a stroke. Playing at the top of his game, he traveled to St. Andrews for
the 41st British Amateur Championship and the first step toward the Grand
Slam. After a bye in the first round, Jones played his first match against
Sid Roper, a relative unknown player and former coal miner from Nottingham.
Although Jones started with an amazing display of golf that left him five
under par after five holes, Roper remained just three down and matched his
legendary opponent stroke for stroke the rest of the match. Roper would finish
the match with 15 fours and a single five, finally yielding after the 16th
hole, 3 and 2. Jones had survived the first big test of his championship run,
later acknowledging that Roper's great play would likely have demolished anyone
else in the field. Jones' closest match came in the fourth round against Cyril
Tolley, the defending British Amateur champion. Despite extremely windy conditions,
nearly every man, woman and child in the town turned out to watch. The match
went back and forth with each man leading three different times by the time
they reached the 17th tee. Playing the famous "Road Hole" all even, Jones
elected to play his second shot to the left of the imposing pot bunker in
the front of the green. Tolley played to the right and ended up just short
of the bunker with a delicate, downwind chip to a tightly tucked pin. Tolley
then played what he later called the finest shot of his life-a beautiful pitch
to within two feet. Jones matched Tolley's shot by getting up and down to
keep the match even. Although the two remained all square at the end of 18
holes, Jones went on to win the match on the first extra hole advancing to
the next round. While Jones would not be forced into extra holes again, his
remaining matches were not without drama. In the semi-finals against George
Voigt, Jones had difficulty with his depth perception-the result of sipping
a glass of sherry during lunch-and found himself down two holes with five
to play. However, Jones won the 14th and 16th holes and calmly made a twelve-foot,
curling putt on 17 to halve the hole. He then went on to win the 18th hole,
and the match, 1 up. In the final, Jones defeated Roger Wethered, the 1923
British Amateur champion, 7 and 6. Some 15,000 spectators swamped the American
legend in a scene of incredible pandemonium. The crowd was so overwhelming
that local constables had to escort Jones during the mile and a half walk
back to the clubhouse. Bobby Jones had finally captured the only major tournament
that had eluded him to that point. The first leg of the Grand Slam had proven
to be anything but a given and was ultimately the closest call of all. Jones
would later call it perhaps the most important tournament of his life. Legendary
golf writer Charles Price would later write that the British Amateur proved
to be the most obstinate championship of Jones' life, from which he managed
to extract the last possible ounce of drama.
