Montford Memories: A tear in my eye as St Andrews welcomed 'home' Bobby Jones

THIS year marks the 80th anniversary of an unparalleled piece of golfing history when the 28-year-old Bobby Jones achieved something no golfer before or since has come close to matching.

Between May and September he won the Amateur championships and the Open championships of Great Britain and the United States. He was never a full-time golfer, seldom played between October and March, and throughout his golfing career worked for a living in law offices in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jones, who had played in his first US Open in 1920 aged 18 when his boyhood idol Harry Vardon was playing his last aged 50, had already won nine national championships when he set out on his historic 1930 journey – two Open championships, three US Opens and four US Amateur championships.

The first leg was the Amateur Championship at St Andrews, one of his favourite courses, then the Open at Hoylake, where he won by two shots from Carnoustie-born MacDonald Smith.

Remarkably, history repeated itself in the next stop of the journey, the US Open, with MacDonald Smith two shots away in second place. The great Walter Hagen said afterwards: "Here is the greatest field ever assembled for a US Open, 1,200 entries, and yet it's the field against one man, Bobby Jones. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It's unbelievable but it's true." The last leg of the Grand Slam saw Jones far from tired but at his best to win the US Amateur Championship. An amazing 35,450 spectators watched this final tournament and when it was all over Jones announced his retirement at the age of 28.

As the Grand Slam slipped into the history books and Jones announced his retirement, it seemed as if that would be the last St Andrews might see of its most famous adopted son. However, on the way to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he was persuaded to spend a few days at Gleneagles "for a spot of golf". He felt, however, that he couldn't pass up the chance to play the Old Course.

Word spread quickly through the Auld Grey Toun – "Bobby's back!". A huge gallery followed his round, out in 32, home in 40 with an eight-yarder for a birdie three at the last. The local paper estimated that around four to five thousand spectators watched his finish – this six years after his last competitive shot.

Fast forward now to 1958 and the inaugural Eisenhower Trophy world team championship, to be played at St Andrews. To universal delight Bobby Jones was appointed as captain of the US, despite suffering from crippling spine disease. What a chance this would be to meet a true golfing great, but even more exciting was the hope that maybe, just maybe Jones could be persuaded to give Scotsport an interview. But how to achieve this was the question.

I sought the help of Frank Moran, the revered golf correspondent of The Scotsman who had covered the British legs of the 1930 Grand Slam. Frank was a founder member of the Association of Golf Writers, formed at the 1938 Walker Cup and was its President from 1948 to 1976.

To my delight Frank arranged for us to visit Jones in his suite in Rusacks Hotel overlooking the Big Room of the Royal & Ancient premises. The extent of Jones' illness was revealed with his laboured exit from his car, but with no preliminaries ("we'll just talk golf" he said) we filmed a magical 15 minutes. I was thrilled beyond measure. He was charming, gracious and in his subsequent letter to me indicated he seemed to enjoy our chat.

The night before the opening of the tournament the townsfolk of St Andrews conferred on Bobby Jones the Freedom of the Burgh in the Younger Hall. After Provost Leonard had handed over the siIver casket, its recipient miraculously got out of his chair and walked to the podium. As part of the audience, I'll never forget his opening words: "Within the few seconds it took me to make my way along the table so thoughtfully provided, I found out how a man's life, or a great part of it, can flash through his mind in an instant. I knew in that instant that I had no need for the notes in my pocket. I knew that I would have no difficulty finding things to say about the people of St Andrews."

A memorable evening ended with a spontaneous rendering of Will Ye No Come Back Again by the entire audience. And yes, there was a tear in my eye as I joined in.

A further historic tribute was made on 10 September, 1972 when the St Andrews Town Council named the 10th hole on the Old Course "Bobby Jones". The only other hole named after a golfer is the 18th – "Tom Morris."

The spinal disease Jones bore with such bravery finally claimed his life aged 69 on 18 December, 1971. Frank Moran, to whom I owed so much, retired in 1964, was awarded the MBE a year later and died in 1975 aged 90.