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.
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    Brent Kelley
    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

    Return to list of British Open Winners