NO GOLFER OLD AT 40

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 111, 12 May 1934, Page 20

NO GOLFER OLD AT 40

THE MYSTERY OF JONES

Whatever may be said of the stiffening up of the muscles, which may have had a good deal to do with the defeat of some really wonderful golf ■. champions in the end, there is.something unexplained about the failure to "come back" of R. T. Jones. .

The question of what is the best age for golf has been raised by his declaring at Augusta, Georgia, that he .will not participate in further ■ tournaments this year in consequence of his failure in the annual Masters' > Tournament there. Bobby Jones is only 33, and he had been absent from the: game for three years. He finished thirteenth in the contest on Sunday; the winner being Hoi-ton Smith. His. putting (says an International Hews Service message) proved his downfall, for,' hard as he tried, he did not seem to recapture his old touch on the greens. "I tried to win, but did not, and I am satisfied," he said. "I did the best I could." He said the only event he would play in now would be the Masters' Tournament next year. His decision not to play again in tournaments this year has created considerable interest among golfers in Great Britain. Sandy Herd, one of the.country's leading professions, was emphatic that Jones could not contemplate passing from big golf because his game had gone.; • ' ■ . ' COULD RETURN IF WISHED. "At 32, a man with so many ideas on the game should be able .to correct any fault," hi, said. "Jones has not yet reached what I consider the prime of a championship golfer's life. Between 30 and 40 are the best years,.and those nearer 30 are riot necessarily the best ones. Three years' rest should mean nothing to a player like Jones, and I should be very surprised if because of one failure ho has lost confidence in himself. He knows too much, and all he needs is constant play. If he wants to come back, it should be easy for him to do so." : Ted Bay, one of the game's great veterans, said:

"I do not consider that Jones is likely to have lost his great game for ever. I do not think that even he could rest for . three years and expect to come back playing exactly as he did before. It is quite reasonable. and. normal for his game to have suffered, but in my opinion if he played regularly he would recover his form and win many more open events." The interesting point to short-and long handicap : players alike is that Jones has lost his confidence on' the greens. .