From the hearth - Author and historian Sidney Matthew on 'Jonesitis,' a ticker-tape parade for Tiger, and his own suggestion for the so-called Tiger Slam: the Slam Dunk. It's always hard in transcripts to convey a sense of the occasion, but I hope Sid's infectious enthusiasm - for the Masters and its founder, and for Tiger's quest - comes through.

Wry Stories on the Road Hole is his most recent book. He's also contributed informative and entertaining works about his hero, Bob Jones. It's a lifelong interest fomented listening to old Scottish pros passing the winters in Florida. His books include Secrets of the Master, a best-of collection of Jones's newspaper columns on golf instruction and The Life & Times of Bobby Jones, which he helped turn into an documentary narrated by Sean Connery. We spoke Saturday morning of Masters week. Coming soon: Bobby Jones Extra, a book of old front page reproductions documenting the career of Augusta National's president in perpetuity.

The Hearthstone Review: Sid, first all this discussion about what constitutes a major and a grand slam. Jones resisted the idea of calling it the Masters. "Entirely too presumptuous" he wrote.

Sid Matthew: Jones was a very modest man by nature. And he said anyone who won the Masters wasn't really champion of anything. That it was a tournament, that it really wasn't a championship. And, of course, it has evolved into exactly that, primarily because Jones started it.

THR: To your mind, what makes it a major?

Sid Matthew: Well, of course, it attracts an international field of the finest players. And anyone who wins the championship can say, 'I beat the best in the world.' There's quite a few championships that don't have that strong a field. The U.S. and British Opens do, and the PGA arguably does. But the Masters has the finest international players in the world and always has.

THR: And that's certainly a reflection of its founder.

Sid Matthew: Jones was one of the first people ever to travel across the pond and win both the British and the U.S. Open championships. And he was the one who Arnold Palmer referred to when he went over and sort of revitalized it.

THR: You mentioned something …Jonesitis. It's the way Gene Sarazen described the psychological torment of knowing that someone the caliber of Bob Jones or Tiger Woods is out there. Do you think Chris DiMarco might be feeling some Jonesitis this weekend?

Sid Matthew: I think Phil Mickelson should breath a sigh of relief that he's not being paired with Tiger today (Saturday). And I think DiMarco is definitely going to feel this Tigeritis. You know it was Nicklausitis, Palmeritis. It was Jonesitis. The fact is you can't help as a rookie being intimidated by playing with the greatest player in the world. DiMarco is going to try and play his own game but everybody in the crowd is going to be cheering for Tiger. All the emphasis is going to be on him. It's going to be very difficult for DiMarco today.
DiMarco is definitely going to feel this Tigeritis. You know it was Nicklausitis. Palmeritis. It was Jonesitis.

THR: In Ben Crenshaw's new book, he writes: "Players know where the sound is coming from. Who's playing and what that player made on the hole. I mean it. You know what an eagle roar sounds like. And you know what a par and a birdie sound like. And the decibel level when Jack Nicklaus makes an eagle just shakes the trees. It's truly amazing."

Sid Matthew: That is one of the glorious things about Augusta. The fans talk to themselves. The patrons…'over on 18, yes, that's Palmer, he's going up 18 with Player and Nicklaus. And yes, Duval, he's making an eagle over on 13. And there's Woods over there. He's just made birdie.' You can tell by the roar exactly who's on what hole and what they're doing. And the players listen to it.

THR: There aren't too many people around who could appreciate the pressure Tiger's put on himself. Of course, the times are different. The stakes are certainly different. But the intensity is something that I think Bob Jones, Tiger and maybe only Byron Nelson, were they to sit down together, could converse about quite candidly, don't you think?

Sid Matthew: Well, I agree with that. And, of course, everyone is saying: 'Is it a grand slam? Is it a grand slam?' All the top players in the world from Sam Snead on down have been asked that and they've said no. It is a calendar year not a fiscal year. But the fact is if Tiger holds all four major championships at the same time, you've got to take your hat off to him. It's a terribly uncommon feat. And Bob Jones said, 'you don't even have to go that far. Anyone who wins the U.S. Open and the British Open in a single year, that is the champion golfer of the world.' So, those were the two that Jones emphasized.
Instead of a grand slam, call it Tiger's Slam Dunk.
I would call this instead of a grand slam - Tiger's slam dunk. I think it's a certainty that Tiger is going to win. I was watching him yesterday and he just has that glaring determination about him.

THR: He looks very comfortable over his shots, doesn't he?

Sid Matthew: He really does. He's swinging very well, staying within himself. I think if he can get Janzen, Mickelson or Duval with him on the last nine holes in match play that he'll win.

THR: In Down the Fairway, Jones mentions that he lost 12 pounds during the 1925 U.S. Open. That's somebody, when you talk about the players at the very top, who's wound very tight. The pressure he put on himself in the big events must've been amazing.

Sid Matthew: No doubt. Walter Hagen used to laugh. He'd say: "I used to go around in 69 strokes. Jones would go around in 69 cigarettes." But he was very high strung. Of course, the pressure was on him. He'd already told everybody that he was going to win the grand slam. Tiger has not done that. But there's no doubt that he's pointing toward it. Everyone who's ever asked, if you win is it a grand slam, he hasn't said, 'no it's not.' He's said, 'it'd be ok if you called it that.' There's no doubt that he desperately wants to do this. Let's face it, if he wins this one, he might win all of the others this calendar year and silence all the critics.

THR: There's that photograph of Jones posing with all the hardware set out in front of him. If Tiger were to have that similar shot, I don't know what anyone could say.

Sid Matthew: I contend also that Tiger has got to set a mark that will withstand the test of time. And I think that mark is to win all four in a calendar year. Because you're going to have nay Sayers from pretty substantial quarters saying, 'well, he really didn't do it.' So I think he's going to have to try to do that. And he'll have to announce it….'this is what I'm trying to do.' Jones resolved in 1926 to win the slam. He never told anybody until 1930.

THR: It makes me uneasy that Tiger enunciates his goals so specifically and continues to talk about them. You look at other players - they hate to talk about those kinds of things. They keep them very private. My understanding was that Jones was the same way.

Sid Matthew: Well, in 1926, that is when he resolved to win the Grand Slam. That year he won the U.S. and British Opens, which was remarkable in and of itself. But it wasn't until 1930 when he got his second shot at it that the cat was out of the bag. And by the fourth championship at Merion everybody knew that Jones was pointing towards winning all four majors. And, of course he put the heat on himself; that's why nobody wants to announce it because they'll only disappoint themselves if they don't speak out publicly. Here everybody knows that Tiger desperately wants to win this. As Jones was the favorite to win at Merion in 1930, Tiger is a very heads-on favorite to win this.

THR: Sid, people don't realize. Masters week is almost like Mardi Gras for Augusta, isn't it?

Sid Matthew: It's the most civilized sporting event in the world. Everyone who's been to the British Open, they are some of the most knowledgeable golf viewers, but here not only is everyone knowledgeable, they know everyone's history, who's playing in the tournament; they know where everyone stands. They know the rules; but they're terribly civilized. It really is remarkable. Anyone who's been to the British Open can really appreciate this even more.

[The fans] know everyone's history who's played in the tournament. They know where everyone stands in the championship. They know the rules. They're terribly civilized.

THR: Well, maybe not quite Mardi Gras, but a very festive atmosphere… If Tiger wins, does he get a ticker-tape parade through lower Manhattan?

Sid Matthew: I think so. I think they recognize this as a terribly uncommon feat and I think that they recognize it as the first leg of the grand slam this year. And he can silence all the critics by winning this one and saying, 'I'm going to do it again.' And then we'll see who can match that.

THR: What're we going to call that one?

Sid Matthew: I call it the slam dunk, either way.

THR: Either way?

Sid Matthew: Yes. I believe the Tiger legend is going to create this Tigeritis. These players don't fear him but once again when you're up against him you still have to make your golf clubs talk.

THR: Tell us about the press coverage of Jones when he was pursuing the slam.

Sid Matthew: Well, of course, in the '20s the amateur ruled. So when you looked at the front page of the sports section when golf was happening, it was who was winning the U.S. Amateur. It was who was winning the Western. The amateur absolutely ruled during the teens and '20s. Later, when Jones came into his own you began to see in blaring headlines on the front page of papers across the country: Jones wins Major Championship. On the sports section, it would be Babe Ruth hits Home Run. But on the front page, on a column on the side it would be Jack White Indicted in Fraud Case, but it would be Bob Jones wins British Open. And this was throughout the country. We've collected about 250 pages of these newspapers with Jones blaring in the headlines [in the book Bobby Jones Extra]. Very unusual.

THR: He was also very well served by those who were writing about him.

Sid Matthew: He was. He grew up in the golden age of sport when you had people like O.B. Keeler and Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon and Westbrook Pegler, Paul Gallico, wonderful writers. And they were the ones who chronicled all of Jones's feats.

THR: As an attorney, and a keen student of human nature as all attorneys are, don't you find something peculiar in the pairing of Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts?

Sid Matthew: Well, they had an unusual relationship. Cliff was brilliant in his own way, which was more towards finance and administration and of course, Jones was brilliant in his own way in that he was a wonderful friend, and, of course, probably had the greatest collection of friends in the world. So he was more an expert in public relations. When you merge those two together, you have the makings of the most prestigious sporting event in the world. With Roberts getting the financing to build the National and start the Masters and to administer it in infinite detail. There is no stone unturned in favor of the patrons' enjoyment of this golf tournament. They pay very close attention that you've got a place to sit, that you've got a place to view the tournament. A sandwich is like, so inexpensive, that's it cheaper to eat there than it is outside the gate.

THR: And they don't hit you up for parking.

Sid Matthew: There is no charge for that. The tickets are extremely modest. And the entire thing is geared towards one thing, and that is the enjoyment of golf.

THR: For those who have never been, how do you paint them the picture?

Sid Matthew: However spectacular you paint the picture, when you first walk inside the gates and see that rolling vista down to Rae's Creek, you simply have to breath in. You're so taken by it that you simply have to breath in. You're never disappointed no matter how anyone builds you up. When you look at that rolling vista right by the clubhouse where the big tree is, you simply say, 'I must be dead and gone to heaven.' It's as close to golfing heaven as you could ever imagine. It is absolutely spectacular. The flowers are just like a painting. And, of course, you've got all of the patrons lining the fairways and up in the stands and they're sort of tucked out of the way so that the vista is absolutely incredible.

No one can explain to you the elevations. When you go from the 10th tee down to Rae's Creek, the elevation is just incredible, and 'course, anyone who has not been, do whatever it takes to get here because it would certainly complete your golfing experience.

THR: What do you make of Mr. Johnson's comments that extensive changes need to be made to the golf course? Do we put this in perspective with the other extensive changes made through the years?

Sid Matthew: I'm awfully glad that they made that announcement before the championship began because then no one can say that it was a reaction to what happened. There's nothing wrong with remodeling parts of the golf course. You know, No. 16 used to be, the green used to be on the left-hand side of a small creek. There was no pond there. They asked Robert Trent Jones to dig the pond on 16 and Trent told me that when they dug the pond a huge rainstorm came up and they ran into the woods and when they came back their Caterpillar tractor was in the bottom of the pond totally covered over with water.

There's plenty of room to extend the golf golf course . . . You're not going to see a whole lot of changes to the greens.
But, the point is, there's plenty of more room to extend the golf course and as long as you're going to allow these Big Berthas and Titleist Pro V golf balls, I think it's fair to extend the golf course and I think it's fair to protect it. You're not going to see a whole lot of changes to the greens, though. Bob Jones said that the way to protect a golf course was around the greens, to create little subtle mounds and increase the speed of the greens, that's the way to defend the golf course - and you're going to see some more of that too.

© THR, 2001

Talking Points - Edition I - Ron Green
Talking Points - Edition II - Dr. Patrick Cohn
Talking Points - Edition III - Bradley S. Klein
Talking Points - Edition IV - Doug Sanders
Talking Points - Edition V - Curt Sampson
Talking Points - Edition VI - Geoff Shackelford
Talking Points - Edition VII - Bryan Gathright
Talking Points - Edition VIII - Tim Rosaforte, Ray March and Gary Player
Talking Points - Edition IX - Dave Pelz
Talking Points - Edition X - Don Wade