Bobby Jones-IAH201

BOBBY JONES

"Golf is the one game I know
which becomes more and more
difficult the longer one plays it."

Robert Tyre Jones, Jr.

A painted portrait of Bobby Jones at Hoylake.

              "All I did was hear Jones, all I did was hear major championships, and
                from the time I was an amateur, that's what I prepared for," says Jack
             Nicklaus, winner of 20 majors, about Bobby Jones on ESPN's
              SportsCentury show. Jones, the only winner of golf’s Grand slam,
              was voted No. 44 among North American athletes of the 20th
               Century by Sports Century’s distinguished 48-person panel.

                          The Story of Bobby Jones
                                With the possible exception of Jack Nicklaus, Jones is the most famous
                                and admired golfer ever. In all, he won 13 Major Championships, but it
                                was his 1930 Grand Slam sweep that one recent national golf survey
                                ranked as the greatest achievement in golf history. In that year Jones
                                won the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Amateur and British Open.
                                He burst on the scene as a teenager and then won a slew of victories in
                                the 1920s, including the U.S. Open in 1923 and the U.S. Open and
                                British Open in 1926. Debate continues as to who was the greater golfer
                                of the 1920s, Jones or Walter Hagen, but Jones' 1930 Grand Slam seems
                                to have tipped the scales in his favor. Jones founded the Augusta National
                                Golf Club in 1932 and its Masters tournament in 1933. Jones was an
                                amateur golfer in an era when amateur sport was more esteemed than
                                professional sports.

                                Robert (Bob) Tyre Jones, Jr., was born on St. Patrick’s
                                Day, 1902, in Atlanta, Georgia. The amateur golfer Bob
                                Jones dominated the game of golf from the early 1920’s
                                through 1930. From 1923 through 1930, Jones won 13 of
                                21 major championships he entered. His record includes five
                                United States Amateur Championships, one British Amateur
                                Championship, four U.S. Open Championships and three
                                British Open Championships. In 1926 he was the first man
                                ever to win the Open Championship of both countries in the
                                same year.

                                In 1930, Jones won the British Amateur on the Old Course
                               at St. Andrews, the British Open at Royal Liverpool in
                                Hoylake, England, the U.S. Open at Interlachen Country
                                Club in Minneapolis and the U.S. Amateur at Merion to
                                capture golf’s Grand Slam. In 11 of the last 12 Open
                                championships he played, nine U.S. Opens and three British,
                                he finished first or second. At the age of 28, Jones retired
                                from competitive golf except for playing yearly at the
                                Masters.

In 1971 at age 69, Jones died of the spinal disease
syringomyelia.

ODDS AND ENDS

Jones won a remarkable 13 majors in the last 21 he competed in (1923-30).
He was 4-for-8 at the U.S. Open, 5-of-8 at the U.S. Amateur, 3-for-3 at the
British Open and 1-for-2 at the British Amateur.

During this span, he also finished second in three U.S. Opens, including twice
in 36-hole playoffs by a stroke (1925 and 1928). He led Willie MacFarlane by
four strokes with nine holes to go in 1925, but lost when he bogeyed the final
hole. In the first round of that tournament, Jones called a penalty stroke on
himself when his ball moved a fraction of an inch as his iron grazed the grass.

Before that, from the ages of 14 through 20 (1916-22), Jones was winless in
10 majors (five U.S. Amateurs, three U.S. Opens, one British Open and one
British Amateur).

In 1930, Jones won the first Sullivan Award winner as the top amateur athlete
in the U.S.

In the early 1930s, Jones conceived and helped designed the Augusta National
Golf Club. It was a very private course, built for Jones and his friends. National
was his refuge. "I like the human race as a tribe, but I prefer it in small doses," he
once said.

Despite being in much pain because of syringomyelia (a rare spinal-cord
disorder), Jones returned to St. Andrews in 1958 and was treated like a
returning hero. The Royal Burgh of St. Andrews made Jones a Freeman of the
Burgh, an honor that had been bestowed to only one other American, Ben
Franklin.

A sculpture of Bobby Jones by
renowned artist Chapel.

The Georgia Historical Society - Click here to find information about The Georgia Historical Society
dedicating a historical marker in Augusta to the great Bobby Jones.

ESPN Sports Century - Click here to find out about Bobby Jones being named #44 of American athletes of the 20th Century. Also, find out about other heros of the 20th Century, such as Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey.

The Bobby Jones Open - Click here to find out information about the Bobby Jones Open, which supports the research of syringomyelia, the disease that took the life of the great Bobby Jones. Also, find out information about this disease.

United States Postal Service - Click here to see the collection of Bobby Jones stamps issued by the USPS.
The Postal Service dedicated a stamp collection to Bobby Jones because of his great achievements, and his importance to the game of golf in the 1920's and today.

The United States Golf Association - Click to view the Bobby Jones room of the USGA museum known as
The Golf House. View the Quick Time VR scene offered, it's really great.

The Masters - Click to view information about the history of the Master, also a page with information about Bobby Jones and other great golfers.

This webpage was made for IAH201 Section 88
under the supervision of Dominique Tieman
at Michigan State University
by Aaron T. Jeanguenat