This was just one in a long list of examples of Jones’s infamous temper coming to the fore, and he soon realised that he would need to curtail his on-course outbursts if he was to achieve the success his ability clearly warranted.
Two years later a more serene Jones won the US Open, followed by consecutive US Amateur crowns, before once again trying his hand at The Open when it was staged in Lytham – the venue for The 156th Open, in 2028 – for the very first time.
He qualified for The Open at Sunningdale and feared he’d peaked too soon after breaking the course record with a sublime 66, comprising 33 long shots and 33 putts.
Failing to replicate his Sunningdale form in practice, Jones – ever the perfectionist – was far from confident as he strode onto the 1st tee at Royal Lytham. The New York Times described him as being “nervous and unsettled at the start” and he subsequently opened his Championship with a bogey four.
He recovered well to save par on the 2nd after hooking his tee shot, before sinking his first birdie at 3. Jones was by then a far more tranquil figure on the golf course, but a hint of his old rage occurred when he threw the ball to the ground after three-putting the 6th.
Nothing was coming easy with Jones, who was struggling off the tee, also bogeying the par-3 9th to go out in 37. He fared slightly better on the back nine, however, with no other player able to match his inward 35 and he finished the first round in fifth place.
So disappointed was Jones with his opening round he would write in Down the Fairway a year later: “I should be the last man in the world, I hope, to contend that that is golf.”