US Open countdown: Barnes rises to top in 1921; Jones begins to emerge
25th U.S. Open | July 21-22, 1921
Columbia Country Club, Chevy Chase, Md.
Leaderboard
| Jim Barnes, England | 69 | - | 75 | - | 73 | - | 72 | — | 289 |
| Walter Hagen, United States | 79 | - | 73 | - | 72 | - | 74 | — | 298 |
| Fred McLeod, Scotland | 74 | - | 74 | - | 76 | - | 74 | — | 298 |
| a-Chick Evans, United States | 73 | - | 78 | - | 76 | - | 75 | — | 302 |
| Emmet French, United States | 75 | - | 77 | - | 74 | - | 77 | — | 303 |
| a-Bobby Jones, United States | 78 | - | 71 | - | 77 | - | 77 | — | 303 |
| Alex Smith, Scotland | 75 | - | 75 | - | 79 | - | 74 | — | 303 |
| a-amateur |
While Jim Barnes (see story on page A1) was working his way toward a nine-shot victory in the 1921 U.S. Open, a young phenom was elsewhere on the course learning lessons that would one day make him one of the biggest names in American sports.
Nineteen-year-old amateur Bobby Jones, who tied for eighth in his first Open in 1920, tied for fifth at the Columbia County Club, 14 shots behind Barnes. Entering the final round nine shots off Barnes’ lead, Jones opened his round going birdie, birdie, par, par.
Jones, whose budding talent was apparent when he made the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at age 14, then approached the par-5 fifth hole. The hole measured 560 yards with a fence running alongside it. Jones’ drive left him 275 yard out. Then he got greedy. He pulled out his brassie (roughly equivalent to a modern 2-wood) and decided to try and reach the green in two. Instead, he pulled the ball over the fence, out of bounds. He dropped another ball and hit it over the same fence. An eventual quadruple bogey on the hole and a final-round 77 doomed his chances to catch Barnes.
Two months later at the U.S. Amateur, Jones lost a match when he tried to drive a green by cutting the corner of a dogleg. His ball hit the top of a tree and landed in a creek bed.
“I can play this game only one way,” he said after the match. “I must play every shot for all there is in it. I can’t play safe.”
The confident, go-for-broke style of play, however, would soon carry Jones to 13 major titles, including U.S. Open championships in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1930.
dale.phleps@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 4:23 PM with the headline "US Open countdown: Barnes rises to top in 1921; Jones begins to emerge."