Jones at age 14, in the 1916 US Amateur
'Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr.' (
March 17,
1902 –
December 18,
1971), born in
Atlanta, Georgia, was one of the greatest
golfers to compete on a national and international level. He participated only as an amateur, primarily on a part-time basis, and chose to retire from competition at age 28.
Jones was a child prodigy who won his first children's tournament at the age of six and made the third round of the
U.S. Amateur Championship at 14. Jones graduated from
Georgia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1922. Jones added an A.B. in English from
Harvard in 1924. He then attended
Emory University's School of Law.
As an adult, he hit his stride in 1923, when he won his first
U.S. Open. From that win at New York's Inwood Country Club, through his 1930 victory in the U.S. Amateur he won 13
Major Championships (as they were counted at the time) in 20 attempts. Jones was the first player to win The Double, both the U.S. Open and the
British Open in the same year (1926). He is still the only player ever to have won the
Grand Slam, or all four major championships, in the same year. He represented the
United States in the
Walker Cup five times, winning nine of his 10 matches. He also won two other tournaments against professionals: the 1927 Southern Open and the 1930 Southeastern Open. Jones was a life-long member of the
Atlanta Athletic Club and the
Capital City Club in Atlanta.
Jones is considered one of the five giants of the
1920s American sports scene, along with
baseball's
Babe Ruth,
boxing's
Jack Dempsey,
American football's
Red Grange, and
tennis player
Bill Tilden. He was the first recipient of the
Amateur Athletic Union's
James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. He was the first person ever to receive two
ticker-tape parades in
New York City, the first in 1926 and the second in 1930. Astronaut
John Glenn was the only other person so honored. Jones is memoralized in
Augusta, Georgia at the Golf Gardens and has the Bobby Jones Expressway, also known as
Interstate 520, named for him.
Sportsmanship
Jones was not only a consummately skilled golfer, but he also exemplified the principles of
sportsmanship and fair play. In the beginning of his amateur career, he was in the final playoff of the U.S. Open. During the match, his ball ended up in the rough just off the fairway, and as he was setting up to play his shot his iron caused a slight movement of the ball. He immediately got angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself. The marshals discussed among themselves and questioned some of the gallery if anyone had seen Jones' ball move. Their decision was that neither they nor anyone else had witnessed any incident, so the decision was left to Jones. Bobby Jones called the two-stroke penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by one stroke. When he was praised for his gesture, Jones replied, "You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank." The
United States Golf Association's sportsmanship award is named the
Bob Jones Award in his honor.
St Andrews, Scotland
Jones had a unique relationship with the town of
St Andrews,
Scotland. On his first appearance on the
Old Course in
The Open Championship of 1921, he withdrew after 11 holes in the third round. He firmly stated his dislike for the Old Course and the town reciprocated, saying in the press, "Master Bobby is just a boy, and an ordinary boy at that." He came to love the Old Course and the town like few others. When he won the Open at the Old Course in 1927, he wowed the crowd by asking that the trophy remain with his friends at the
Royal and Ancient Golf Club rather than return with him to Atlanta. In 1958, he was named a
Freeman of the City of St Andrews, becoming only the second American to be so honored, the other being
Benjamin Franklin in 1759. Today, a scholarship exchange bearing the Jones name exists between the
University of St Andrews and both
Emory University and the
Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. At Emory, four students are sent to St Andrews for an all-expenses-paid year of study and travel. In return, Emory accepts four students from St Andrews each year. The program, the Robert T. Jones Scholarship, is among the most prestigious scholarships offered by either university. A similar exchange exists in
Canada between St Andrew's University and the
University of Western Ontario and
Queen's University; the associated foundation is under the patronage of
Prince Andrew, Duke of York as a member of the
Canadian Royal Family.
Later life
Jones's grave in Oakland Cemetery
Jones was successful outside of golf as well. He earned his
Bachelor of Science in
Mechanical Engineering from
Georgia Institute of Technology where he was a member of the
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and a
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from
Harvard University where he was a member of the Owl Club. After only one year in law school at
Emory University, he passed the
bar exam.
Jones was married in 1924 to the former Mary Rice Malone. They had three children, Clara, Robert Tyre III, and Mary Ellen. When he retired from golf at age 28, he concentrated on his Atlanta law practice. In addition, he made eighteen instructional films, worked with
A.G. Spalding & Co. to develop the first set of matched clubs, co-designed the
Augusta National course with
Alister MacKenzie and was one of the founders of
The Masters Tournament, first played at Augusta in 1934. During
World War II, while he was serving as an officer in the
U.S. Army Air Forces, Jones permitted the
U.S. Army to graze cattle on the grounds at Augusta National. Later, in 1945, he founded Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta and co-designed the course with Robert Trent Jones.
In 1948, Jones was diagnosed with
syringomyelia, a fluid-filled cavity in his spinal cord which caused first pain, then paralysis. He was eventually restricted to a wheelchair. He died in Atlanta, Georgia, in December of 1971, about a week after becoming a Catholic, and was buried in Atlanta's historic
Oakland Cemetery. He became a member of the
World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Major championships
Wins (7)
1 Defeated Bobby Cruickshank in 18-hole playoff: Jones (76), Cruickshank (78)
² Defeated Al Espinosa in 36-hole playoff: Jones (72-69=141), Espinosa (84-80=164)
Amateur majors:
★
U.S. Amateur: 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930
★
British Amateur: 1930
It is noteworthy that National Amateur championships were counted as majors until quite recently. Jones' actual major total using the standard in place in his lifetime was 13.
Films
Jones appeared in a series of short instructional films produced by Warner Brothers in 1931 titled ''How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones'' (12 films) and in 1933 titled ''How to Break 90'' (6 films). Actors and actresses, mostly under contract with Warner Brothers, but also from other studios, volunteered to appear in these 18 episodes. Some of the more well known actors to appear in the instructional plots included
James Cagney,
Joe E. Brown,
Edward G. Robinson,
W.C. Fields,
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.,
Richard Barthelmess,
Richard Arlen,
Guy Kibbee,
Warner Oland and
Loretta Young. Various scenarios involving the actors were used to provide an opportunity for Jones to convey a lesson about a particular part of the game. The shorts were directed by the prolific
George Marshall.
Jones was the subject of the quasi-biographical 2004 feature film '' in which he was portrayed by
James Caviezel. The film was a major box office flop, grossing only $1.2 million the first weekend and $2.7 million overall, against a production cost of over $17 million. The film was also littered with historical inaccuracies. The Jones legend was also used to create a supporting character in ''
The Legend of Bagger Vance'' in 2000, and the event where he called his own penalty is used for the main character, Rannulph Junuh.
Books
Jones authored several books on golf including ''Down the Fairway'' with O.B. Keeler (1927), ''The Rights and Wrongs of Golf'' (1933), ''Golf Is My Game'' (1959), ''Bobby Jones on Golf'' (1966), and ''Bobby Jones on the Basic Golf Swing'' (1968) with illustrator Anthony Ravielli.
Jones has been the subject of several books, most notably ''The Bobby Jones Story'' and ''A Boy's Life of Bobby Jones'', both by O.B. Keeler. Other notable texts are ''The Life and Times of Bobby Jones: Portrait of a Gentleman'' by Sidney L. Matthew, and ''Triumphant Journey: The Saga of Bobby Jones and The Grand Slam of Golf'' by Richard Miller. Published in 2006, "The Grand Slam" by
Mark Frost has received much note as being evocative of Jones' life and times.
The Bobby Jones Golf Company
Founded in 2003, the Bobby Jones Golf Company designs, develops, and sells metal-wood golf clubs. The company has an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with the family of Bobby Jones (known as Jonesheirs, Inc.) and the internationally renowned Hartmarx Corporation for the use of the Bobby Jones name for golf equipment and golf accessories.
See also
★
Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
★
Golfers with most major championship wins
External links
★
bobbyjones.com
★
World Golf Hall of Fame Profile
★
Bobby Jones at Find-A-Grave
★
Bobby Jones Profile at Golf Legends
★
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
