1930 British Open: Jones' Grand Slam Year

1930 British Open winner Bobby Jones
Bobby Jones in 1930, the year of his final British Open victory. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
by Brent Kelley
Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism.
Updated November 04, 2019

Bobby Jones won the "Grand Slam" in 1930, and his victory in the 1930 British Open was the second of his four Grand Slam wins. It followed by a week Jones' win at the British Amateur.

By winning here, Jones became only the second golfer to win both the British Amateur and British Open in the same year. John Ball was the first to accomplish the feat in 1890.

Jones was in or near the lead throughout, his first-round 70 tying him atop the leaderboard. Jones moved one clear after the second round, but Englishman Archie Compston's third-round 68 moved Compston one stroke in front of Jones.

In the fourth round, however, Compston fell apart, carding an 82. Jones wasn't at his best, either, with a 75, but a brilliant greenside bunker shot on the 16th hole to within inches of the cup saved Jones' round.

Jones got into the clubhouse at 291, with Leo Diegel and Macdonald Smith still on the course having chances to catch him. Neither did; instead, Diegel and Smith tied for second, two strokes behind Jones.

This was the last time an amateur won the Open Championship.

Jones left Britain with half of the Grand Slam in his bag; he went on to win the 1930 U.S. Open (where Macdonald Smith was again runner-up) and U.S. Amateur to complete the feat. At age 28, he retired from competitive golf following the 1930 season.

One exit of note this year: 1907 British Open champion Arnaud Massy missed the cut in his final appearance in an Open Championship.

1930 British Open Golf Tournament Scores

Results from the 1930 British Open golf tournament played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England (a-amateur):

a-Bobby Jones 70-72-74-75--291
Leo Diegel 74-73-71-75--293
Macdonald Smith 70-77-75-71--293
Fred Robson 71-72-78-75--296
Horton Smith 72-73-78-73--296
Jim Barnes 71-77-72-77--297
Archie Compston 74-73-68-82--297
Henry Cotton 70-79-77-73--299
Thomas Barber 75-76-72-77--300
Auguste Boyer 73-77-70-80--300
Charles Whitcombe 74-75-72-79--300
Bert Hodson 74-77-76-74--301
Abe Mitchell 75-78-77-72--302
Reg Whitcombe 78-72-73-79--302
a-Donald Moe 74-73-76-80--303
Philip Rodgers 74-73-76-80--303
Percy Alliss 75-74-77-79--305
William Large 78-74-77-76--305
Ernest Whitcombe 80-72-76-77--305
Arthur Young 75-78-78-74--305
Harry Crapper 78-73-80-75--306
Pierre Hirigoyen 75-79-76-76--306
Harry Large 79-74-78-75--306
Stewart Burns 77-75-80-75--307
William H. Davies 78-77-73-79--307
Arthur Lacey 78-79-74-76--307
Ted Ray 78-75-76-78--307
Norman Sutton 72-80-76-79--307
Tom Green 73-79-78-78--308
Duncan McCulloch 78-78-79-74--309
Alf Perry 78-74-75-82--309
Marcel Dallemagne 79-72-79-80--310
Len Holland 75-78-80-77--310
Albert Isherwood 75-77-78-80--310
Percy Weston 81-77-76-76--310
a-Lister Hartley 79-78-79-75--311
Edward Jarman 76-76-79-80--311
William Nolan 78-79-74-80--311
James Bradbeer 77-77-76-82--312
William Branch 81-77-78-76--312
Alf Padgham 78-80-74-80--312
Owen Sanderson 83-74-77-78--312
J.J. Taylor 76-78-82-76--312
George Gadd 78-78-73-84--313
D.C. Jones 75-77-82-79--313
Charles McIlvenny 76-75-79-83--313
William Twine 78-78-78-79--313
Ernest Kenyon 79-76-79-80--314
William McMinn 82-75-77-80--314
Bob Bradbeer 81-74-80-81--316
Sydney Fairweather 77-78-79-82--316
H. Rimmer 79-79-79-80--317
a-William Sutton 78-76-81-82--317
a-Cyril Tolley 84-71-80-82--317
a-Harry Bentley 76-78-86-78--318
Harry Kidd 79-75-85-80--319
C.W. Thomson 81-74-81-83--319
William Gimber 76-78-81-85--320
a-Raymond Oppenheimer 79-78-82-82--321
a-Donald Soulby 75-82-82-83--322